Bow Making Port Townsend: The Mirecourt of the United States
Violins, violas and cellos mostly get all the attention. They’re the principle instruments in the orchestra; they are played by the most recognized of string musicians (rare exception: Yo-Yo Ma and his cello). When you see a violinist traveling in an airport, the case shape gives away the nature of the contents, but that shape says nothing about the accompanying bow.
The 12 Apostles Violin Cases by W.E. Hill and SonsThey don’t make the music but ensure the instrument gets to its audiences. This London violinmaker created some of the most beautiful cases ever made.
Carl Frederick Becker: The Dean of American ViolinmakingThe 17th and 18th centuries produced the Stradivariuses. But the 20th and 21st centuries had the Chicago violinmaker Carl Fredrick Becker.
Why Mirecourt, France Is the Bow Making Capital of the WorldThe discovery of the New World brought prosperous trade in Brazillian Pernambuco wood to Miracourt – establishing a legacy of fine bowmaking Mirecourt, France is famous for two things: Violin and stringed instrument bow making, and the making of fine lace. That fact is as true today as it was in the 16th century.
Folk Fiddles and Rattlesnake RattlesThe place of the violin in the hills of Appalachia and on the plains of Texas, and along many points in between, is one of great cultural richness. Before electronically recorded music, the fiddle was perhaps the only source of music available to the common man. There may not have been a “name” violin maker in Kentucky, no Stradivarius in South Carolina, and no fine cellos or violas made in Tennessee. But whether through roaming Roma (gypsy) troupes and merchants, or later from the Sears catalogue, those fiddles found their way to the churches, dancehalls, schools and barns of the old South. And people danced.
