Instrument
basse de violon
Egidius II (Gilles) Snoeck
Brussels,
± 1715
Te leen op projectbasis
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Egidius II (Gilles) Snoeck
*1664 , Brussel †1734 , Brussel
Before Egidius made a name for himself as a violin maker, members of the Snoeck family were organ builders in the southern part of the Low Countries. For religious reasons, the family first moved to Leiden and later to Amsterdam, where Gilles Egidius (Jelles) I was born in 1595. He became the VOC’s chief physician and Amsterdam’s chief accountant. It is not known when the family moved to Brussels, but Egidius II was born there in 1664 as the fourth child of Joannis Snoeck and Jeronima van de Velde.
Egidius apprenticed with the violin maker Gaspar Bonbon. He served as a violin maker at the Brussels court, which had recently hired a violin maker capable of making the modifications to the instruments necessary to play the evolving repertoire; Gaspar was the first violin maker to receive this appointment. In addition, he continued to work as an independent violin maker. He modeled his violins after Amati and Da Salò; they are also finished with great care. Egidius succeeded his master as the court luthier. For Egidius, Gaspar Borbon’s various instruments formed the basis for his own development.
The cellist and biographer Willem de Mirandolle places father and son Borbon alongside Cornelis Kleynman, Hendrik Jacobs, Pieter Rombouts, and Johannes Cuypers as fine cello makers of the Low Countries. They were also known for their basse de violon, an instrument of which Egidius Snoeck also built several.
Egidius apprenticed with the violin maker Gaspar Bonbon. He served as a violin maker at the Brussels court, which had recently hired a violin maker capable of making the modifications to the instruments necessary to play the evolving repertoire; Gaspar was the first violin maker to receive this appointment. In addition, he continued to work as an independent violin maker. He modeled his violins after Amati and Da Salò; they are also finished with great care. Egidius succeeded his master as the court luthier. For Egidius, Gaspar Borbon’s various instruments formed the basis for his own development.
The cellist and biographer Willem de Mirandolle places father and son Borbon alongside Cornelis Kleynman, Hendrik Jacobs, Pieter Rombouts, and Johannes Cuypers as fine cello makers of the Low Countries. They were also known for their basse de violon, an instrument of which Egidius Snoeck also built several.
Workshop(s)
Brussel, 1710-1734
Student and friend of Gaspar Borbon
In 1688, Egidius Snoeck got married. The first of their four children, Gaspar, was presumably named after Egidius’s friend and mentor, Gaspar Borbon, who would later serve as a witness at the wedding of his godson and namesake. Marcus, who was born in 1694, was the youngest of their four children. Both Marcus and Gaspar became violin makers. Gaspar learned the trade from his father-in-law. Egidius trained Marcus himself. There is another cello that, judging by the inscription, was built jointly by Egidius and Marcus.
Cello by Egidius and Marcus Snoeck (1761), collection of the Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments
Actor, composer, and musician
Egidius Snoeck may have been a skilled violin maker, but he couldn’t make a living from it. As a violin maker, he earned about 125 florins a year. Singers and musicians earned between 350 and 650 florins during roughly the same period.
Until 1710, he was primarily employed as a musician, actor, and occasional composer at the Chapelle Royale of the Brussels court, where Pierre Antoine Fiocco served as director. In 1683, on the occasion of King Philip V’s birth, Egidius composed the music for a festive ballet in honor of the monarch. And in 1685, he played a role in a comedy-ballet that, commissioned by His Excellency in Brussels, was performed on the Feast of the Epiphany. He continued his career from 1706 to 1710 as director of the Orchestre au Théâtre Royal.
Violin bass from the collection of the Musical Instrument Fund
Violin Maker
Egidius’s first violins did not appear until around 1710, when he succeeded Gaspar Borbon as court violin maker. This appears to have been an informal position, as he is not listed as such in the Brussels “Conseil de Finances.” His careers as an actor, musician, and composer were completely over by 1714. Between 1714 and 1722, he built only a relatively small number of instruments. In addition to his violins, which were primarily based on the Amati model, he also built cellos, viols, violas da gamba, and a few unusual string instruments such as the basse de violon, violoncello da spalla, and viola pomposa. He finished his instruments with a distinctive bright-red varnish. Notable features include the fine edge inlay and the well-carved f-holes.
Snoeck’s violins were highly regarded by the German art and music historian Willibald L.F. von Lütgendorff-Leinburg. Most of Snoeck’s instruments that have survived to this day were collected around 1850 by César Charles Snoeck, one of Egidius’s descendants. These instruments are now part of the collection of the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels.
In 1722, Egidius stepped down as court violin maker, and Marcus succeeded him. Two years later, Marcus was promoted to director/collection curator but continued to serve as ballet master and composer. Egidius continued to work as an independent violin maker until his death in 1734.
Label: Egidius Snoeck to Brussels, 17... and
Egidius Snoeck in Brussels, 17...
Sources
Archives of the Musée de la Musique Philharmonie de Paris.
Amsterdam and Leiden City Archives, visited in 2024
Benoît J.D. Stringed Instrument Making in Brussels in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Haine, M., & Meeus, H., 1986, Dictionary of Musical Instrument Makers in Wallonia and Brussels.
Liebrecht, F., and Faber, B. 1924, *The History of French Theater in Brussels in the 17th and 18th Centuries*, Brussels
Moens L, Snoeck, Violin Makers at the Court of Brussels in the 18th Century.
- Auteur
- Jan Boekhout
- Date
- 16 October 2024
Given on loan