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Virtual Tour of
"Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna:
Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance
1789-1848"
Three Bows by Knopf, Gaulard, and Voirin
1. Violin bow attributed to Christian Wilhelm Knopf, Markneukirchen, ca. 1828-1837
NMM 3408. Violin bow attributed to Christian Wilhelm Knopf, Markneukirchen, ca. 1823-1837. Markneukirchen, Klingenthal, and other small towns in Saxony (near the Czech border) were major centers for musical instrument building, exporting thousands of instruments each year to countries around the world, including the United States. Christian Wilhelm Knopf was the founding father of the Knopf bowmaking family, a dominant force in the development of German bowmaking in the 19th century. His bows would have been well known in Vienna. The mother-of-pearl floral inlays on the sides of the frog are typical of his work. The use of nickel silver in the decoration points to a date after 1823, when nickel silver was first produced in Saxony. Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984.
2. Violin bow attributed to François Jude Gaulard, Mirecourt, ca. 1845-1850
NMM 3412. Violin bow attributed to François Jude Gaulard, Mirecourt, ca. 1845-1850. Perhaps a copy of a bow by Charles Tourte. The frog decoration - mother-of-pearl shields with mother-of-pearl suns set in black mastic - is typical of bows from Gaulard's workshop. Ex coll.: Bisiach, Milan. Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984.
3. Violoncello bow by François Nicolas Voirin for
Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris, ca. 1850
NMM 3406. Violoncello bow by François Nicolas Voirin for Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris, ca. 1850. Born and apprenticed in Mirecourt, Voirin became a great bow maker who moved to Paris and produced bows for Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the most influential French violin maker and dealer of the 19th century. Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984.
Source: André P. Larson, Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848, with essay by John Koster, exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003 (Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003), pp. 30, 31, and 36.
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