ORIGINS

At the start of the 19th century, an anecdote in the form of a legend circulated that a certain TYWERSUS founded stringed-instrument making in Mirecourt. This eminent Italian stringed-instrument maker, without proven existence or signed instrument, was supposed to have worked among the servants of the Duke of Lorraine and, finding himself in Mirecourt, decided to live here and train disciples. Reported by a stringed-instrument maker at the end of the 18th century, this story or legend has already worn out several researchers, who have not been able to attach the slightest historical fact to it.

However, basing the origin of stringed-instrument making in Mirecourt on the arrival of an Italian stringed-instrument maker gave a certain legitimacy to the Lorraine stringed-instrument makers, who were excellent imitators of STRADIVARIUS.

THE CRADLE OF THE FRENCH SCHOOL

If the presence of violin players is proved in the parochial and official archives, the oldest apprenticeship contract that we have dates from 1629. This is nearly a century before the constitution of instrument makers as a trade, an organisation ordered by the duchess Elisabeth-Charlotte and enshrined in the charter signed on 15 May 1732. Becoming a full trade with its inheritance rules, its policy, and its atypical marketing method, stringed-instrument making in Mirecourt grew rapidly during the 18th century.

Learning the techniques from German makers, discriminating amateurs of Italian stringed-instrument making, the makers of Mirecourt with their innate skill combined these influences and invented another way of making : Lorraine stringed-instrument making. Spreading through instruments and manufacturers well beyond the Lorraine frontiers, stringed-instrument making in Mirecourt radiated throughout the world. By the time it became French, the small Vosges town, boasted having generated or trained the greatest stringed-instrument and bow-makers in France. This is a story neglected for a long time that is gradually being revealed by patient research.