Archive

More detailed information about stringed instruments and the history of violin making.

Klingenthal: the origin of violin making

Stephan von Baehr and the architecture of the violin

Bazin’s grandchildren: bow making in turbulent times

Markneukirchen: violin making at the crossroads of craftsmanship and trade

Jan Špidlen: Art, innovation – and sport

Hopf: a dynasty of Vogtland violin makers

Violin makers and masters: archive "A-C"

Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey: French master violin (certificate Hieronymus Köstler)

The fine French violin presented here is a mature late-period piece by Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey, whose workshop worked under the name H. Derazey, he constructed this violin around 1870 based on a large format model by Antonio Stradivari. The young master Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey was one of the great Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume's most valuable employees. Nine years of this intense and demanding task at JB Vuillaume honed Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey’s skills and left him with a steady hand, even at an advanced age, as this exquisitely crafted violin demonstrates with its natural elegance. Its unmistakably nature can be seen in the delicate blackened scroll and in the rich coat of luminously transparent and radiant orange-brown oil varnish with subtle antiquing and typical traces of age. The tone woods are of the highest quality: very even-grained spruce was selected for the top, whilst the two-piece back highlights the interesting flaming of the premium maple. The purfling and the meticulously crafted sound holes are flawless in their beauty. A single minor repair to the upper part of the right sound hole has no impact on the sound, value or stability. This very fine French violin is now ready to play after having been carefully set up at our atelier for restoration. This outstanding H. Derazey violin has a radiant appearance and a large, resonant, mature sound which is sophisticated, warm, precise and slightly dark in character. A certificate by the Stuttgart expert Hieronymus Köstler is included in the price.