Mirecourt Paul-François Blanchard Violin

This violin, built after the Guarneri del Gesù model, comes from the house of Lyon violin maker Paul-François Blanchard. Considered an excellent violin maker and repairer, he climbed the career ladder early on with his own workshop, awards and the position of “violin maker of the conservatory” – a high honor. Although he did not build all of the instruments himself – industrialization and the corresponding demand for a mass of instruments such as those produced in the Vogtland or Mirecourt at the time was in full swing – even those that he commissioned to be marketed as his own were always of high quality and designed for a soloist tone.

This violin is no exception. Bright and clear in tone, direct and uncompromising in its response, it enables those who play it to produce a full-bodied sound and also offers a high degree of malleability of tone. It demands quite a bit of concentration from the player to keep the balance on this knife edge. It is a demanding instrument, but one that offers just as much in the way of rewards when its characteristics are appreciated and utilized.

The varnish is of an intense reddish-brown saturated coloration, which is also typical of Blanchard – the seductive play of the reflective, highly flamed maple makes the fingers almost literally feel the warmth of the fire that this color suggests.