Jean-Baptiste VUILLAUME

Eldest son of Claude Vuillaume, b. Oct. 7, 1798, at Mirecourt; d. Feb. 19, 1875, at Paris. In 1817 was employed by Fr. Chanot to make violins on his newly-invented pattern. Went to Paris, 1818, and was a pupil of Georges Chanot for two years. In 1821 he entered the organ factory of Lete and soon became a partner ; " Lete et Vuillaume " settled in rue Croix-des-petit-Champs in 1825. They separated in 1828, and Vuillaume started his business at No. 46 in the same street, where he remained for nearly thirty-five years, moving to 3, rue Demours, in 1860. He tried at first to sell his own new instruments; but finding that the demand was all for Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati instruments, he changed his methods, and one day produced a splendid Stradivari violin, signed by the great master and having a fine tone, for the sum of £12 ! Orders at once flowed in and Vuillaume's fortune was made. His clever copies of Stradivari violoncellos originally sold for £20, but all his fine instruments have now increased in value four-fold. In 1828, having seen and studied a bass-viol of Duiffoprugcar, he began to make instruments in the same style, with beautiful inlaid work and heads quaintly carved. The wood used was of the finest quality, obtained from Switzerland and the Tyrol, and the varnish, especially on the instruments made after 1859, was extremely beautiful, no doubt a result of the care and time he expended on the study of the Stradivari varnish. He was awarded: silver medals at Paris Exhibitions, 1827 and 1834 ; gold medals at Paris Exhibitions, 1839 and 1844 ; the only large " Council " medal at the London Exhibition in 1851; and the only large medal of honour at the Paris Exhibition, 1855. Vuillaume was also decorated with the Legion of Honour. At the very first exhibition of his instruments, in 1834, the jury's verdict on his copies of Stradivari and Amati was that not only in external workmanship were they exact imitations, but that also the quality of tone was so perfect, even the most practised ear might be deceived. Vuillaume also made very fine bows; he had studied and accurately determined the proportions of those made by Tourte. He invented the fixed nut, which, firmly fixed to the stick, has inside another of brass to which the hair of the bow is attached, the hair, as usual, being tightened or loosened by the screw of the button. In 1834 he began to make bows in metal, and for ten years turned out 500 of them annually; they were originally sold, as were the wooden ones, for £1, and were very successful. He employed a large number of workmen, and at the time of his death nearly 3,000 instruments had been made in his workshop. He also invented, in 1851, the octo bass, a three-stringed instrument, tuned four notes lower than the double-bass, to C, G, C; the Contralto, in 1855 (both an octo-bass and a contralto are to be seen in the Paris Conservatoire Collection); and the pedal-sourdine, or chin-mute (1867), a contrivance by which the player has only to press his chin on the tail-piece, instead of placing a mute on the bridge. Labels : " Jean Baptiste Vuillaume a Paris, rue Croix-des-petits-Champs"; "J. B. Vuillaume, no. 21, rue Croix-des-petits-Champs. No. 30, Paris, 1829"; and "Jean Baptiste Vuillaume a Paris, 3 rue Demours-Ternes, 1844." He married Mile. Adele Guesnet, of Clermont (Oise). Vuillaume supplied Fetis with all the material for his work on Antonio Stradivari.