Claude Augustin Miremont

Life and Career

Claude Augustin Miremont was the eldest son of Evre Sebastien Miremont, a small-scale violin maker in Mirecourt, and Annemarie Lhot. His father was one of three brothers who all practiced the same trade. They did not have their own workshop but worked in one of the many workshops that Mirecourt was known for.

When Claude Augustin was born in 1827, one in six residents of Mirecourt worked in workshops where musical instruments were made. Over the years, the town would grow to become the place where most of France’s renowned violin makers either came from or had received their training. Claude Augustin gained his first knowledge of violin making from his father, but his real apprenticeship was with the violin maker Claude Nicolas Collin, also in Mirecourt. Shortly before he began working with him, his mother died. Claude Augustin was thirteen years old at the time. A year later, Sébastien remarried.

Claude Nicolas Collin, his teacher, had been trained in Brussels by François Nicolas Vuillaume, the brother of Jean Baptiste, with whom he had built some exceptionally fine violins in Paris. Collin had returned to Mirecourt in 1823, where he had set up his own workshop and was building instruments based on models by the great Cremonese masters. It was under him that Claude Augustin learned the craft of violin making over the customary four years.

Many violin makers left Mirecourt after completing their training. Most went to Paris. Claude Augustin Miremont also left for the French capital. In 1844, he began working for Joseph René Lafleur, a violin maker, bow maker, and musician. Lafleur had already been working in Paris for twenty years and had an interesting clientele of musicians to whom he supplied both violins and bows. Lafleur had established his workshop on Rue de Poissonnière, a street home to many renowned violin makers. While working for Lafleur, Claude Augustin Miremont built violins and cellos and learned from him how to make bows.

Around 1847, he changed employers and went to work for Sébastien Philippe Bernardel on Rue Croix des Petits Champs, next to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume’s shop. Bernardel was regarded in Paris as one of the three best violin makers in France. He had been an apprentice and permanent employee of François Lupot and built instruments modeled after Lupot’s.

Virtually all of Bernardel’s instruments demonstrated the quality of his craftsmanship and the excellence of his choice of materials. The latter, in particular, was not a given at the time. It required long-standing trade connections abroad. It is believed that Bernardel had taken over these connections from Lupot. Bernardel sought out new suppliers in America. Claude Augustin Miremont built violins and cellos for him based on Stradivari’s designs and, occasionally, on those of Maggini and Guarneri. The cellos he built for Bernardel were particularly popular.

Around 1850, the musical culture in Paris began to change. It was a time when café-chantants were emerging and concert halls were only half-full. Concerts were also held in parks, along the Champs-Élysées, and on the other Grand Boulevards. In the new orchestras, the clarinet and saxophone took on a role at least as important as that of the violin and cello.

This new musical culture came at the expense of “classical” concert practice. Verdi complained that the orchestras in Paris were so poor and undisciplined that, in his own words, he needed “a hundred” rehearsals to have his work performed properly. The concert halls became gathering places for the Parisian elite. With five intermissions per concert, the music was no longer the main focus. Many violin makers had to settle for declining incomes, while others left Paris.

Claude Augustin Miremont left for New York in 1852. America held great appeal for performing musicians from Europe. The New York Philharmonic and the Academy of Music consisted largely of European musicians. There were many German violin makers, but French makers gradually came to be appreciated as well. Claude Augustin Miremont gained a foothold in New York shortly after his arrival, unlike most of the French makers who had preceded him. In 1853, he was briefly located at 44 Forsyth, but from early 1854 until his departure in 1862, his business was located at 452 and 454 Broadway. “It is the most striking place in the United States. No other spot conveys such a vivid sense of the bustle and excitement of America’s great commercial city’, according to Harper’s Weekly in 1850. For the first two years, he was registered as a “violin maker,” and thereafter as a “violin industrial.” The latter description of his profession suggests that he had begun mass-producing instruments, but he still built each instrument with the same meticulous precision as before his arrival in America. By then, he had changed his name to “Mirmont,” which was easier to pronounce in English.

In 1853, the “Exhibition of the Industry and Culture of All Nations” was held in New York. It followed the successful Great Exhibition, held two years earlier in London, and was primarily intended to showcase the young nation’s national pride to the world.

Although Claude Augustin Miremont had only been in America for one year, he participated in this exhibition. For his entry, he was given a spot in the Crystal Palace, which had been built specifically for the occasion. He exhibited violins, violas, a small-sized or chamber bass, and a double bass, all “in imitation of the Instruments of the 15th Century,” as the catalog incorrectly stated. The exhibition drew over a million visitors. Although he did not win a medal, his name was cited in Paris as that of the most important French participant.

Three years later, the World’s Fair was held in Paris. The French considered the industrial and artistic exhibits at the fair to be superior to those of previous exhibitions. He participated in this exhibition as well. However, Claude Augustin Miremont was not listed among the French participants, but rather among those from the United States. This time, he won first prize. Jean Baptiste Vuillaume was awarded the “Grande Médaille d’Honneur.”

In 1862, he returned to Paris, where he opened a business on Rue Faubourg-Poissonière. It was located right next to the immensely popular café-concert and theater l’Alcazar and diagonally across from the Conservatory. The Société des Concerts du Conservatoire (the predecessor of the Orchestre de Paris) held concerts continuously in the institute’s hall, which could seat 1,200 people. The conservatory was progressive and had an exceptionally good reputation for its violin and cello programs.

Just a few months after the opening, he was already in a position to send two violins and two cellos to the World’s Fair in London. And once again, he won first prize.

This was repeated in 1867 at the Exhibition Universelle in Paris, which, with nearly ten million visitors and more than fifty thousand exhibitors, was the largest exhibition ever held. There, he won a silver medal.

Three years later, the Franco-Prussian War made it difficult for Miremont to do his work. France lost the conflict after Paris had been besieged by German troops for months. Nothing could get in or out of the city. Trade had virtually come to a standstill. In response to the surrender, the Paris Commune struck hard in 1871. The uprising was crushed, and mass executions followed, in which some 30,000 people were killed. In addition, around 40,000 Parisians were taken prisoner. Those who could afford to left Paris. The great violin makers Vuillaume and Bernardel also left. It was virtually impossible to build instruments, let alone sell them. Vuillaume wrote about this period: “It is a miracle that I was not wounded, and as for instruments, I have nothing to sell or buy”. What was true for Vuillaume was no different for Claude Augustin Miremont; yet he remained in the city throughout this turbulent period.

The last time Claude Augustin Miremont submitted work was to the World’s Fair in Paris in 1878. That fair was held in honor of the reconstruction following the Franco-Prussian War and was even larger than previous World’s Fairs. It was an event attended by thirteen million people and featuring sixty thousand exhibitors. Just as at the 1867 exhibition, Claude Augustin Miremont won a silver medal there.

Both of his employees, who had each also submitted an instrument, received an honorable mention. Gand et Bernardel won the gold medal and, as a result, were invited to build all 80 instruments for the newly formed orchestra of the Palais du Trocadéro. It was such a large commission that other instrument makers also began working for Gand et Bernardel. Claude Augustin Miremont was one of them.

Around 1878, Claude Augustin Miremont moved from Rue Faubourg de Poissonière to a stately building on Boulevard Faubourg Poissonière. Claude remained there until he stopped working in 1884. He died in early 1887 in Pontorson on the Normandy coast. Since he had no heirs, his tools and instruments were auctioned off a few months after his death. The major auction house Drouot in Paris, which specializes in art and valuables, spent three days conducting the auction.

His work—and his cellos in particular—are highly regarded for the exquisite craftsmanship that goes into their construction and for their sound.

Claude Augustin Miremont used two labels:
World’s Fairs of 1853, 1855, 1862, and 1867 / four first prizes /
C.A. Miremont. Licensed by S.G.D.G. / Paris, Year 187..
C. A. Mirmont, New York, 542 Broadway, Year 185.”
C.A. MIREMONT/ fecit Parisiis / Anno Dni, 18..

Work and Influence

He built his first instruments in the traditional Mirecourt style, but slightly longer than usual. His varnish was a striking yellow-orange. He used wood with a broad “flamed” grain and often a back made from a single piece. Henley wrote about his craftsmanship: “.. he displayed remarkable precision in his work; not even the smallest detail can be faulted.” Miremont himself was also convinced of this and claimed that the sound quality of his instruments was superior to that of others of his time, according to Henley.

Later, he changed the color of his varnish to reddish-orange, and he used beautifully figured wood for the back panel, with the grain usually running upward. In the final years of his career, his varnish became progressively darker.

While working at Bernardel, Claude Augustin Miremont came into contact with the work of Stradivari and Guarneri “del Gesù”—instruments that needed to be repaired or maintained. This gave Claude the opportunity to study them in detail. It inspired him to begin building instruments in their style as well. Later, he added Gagliano to his list of models. His craftsmanship continued to refine throughout his life.

After returning from America, he began the only experiment for which he is known. A violin with two layers—two pieces of wood instead of one—forming the connection between the back and top. He believed that adding a second layer would allow him to enhance the sound. The experiment ended in failure, but that did not stop him from applying for a patent on it. From then on, his labels and stationery stated that he was “Breveté S.G.D.G.”

Many players describe the sound of his instruments as remarkably refined. The cellist Pierre Fournier was a great advocate of Miremont. He owned three cellos made by him and, throughout his career, preferred his Miremonts to other instruments.

Miremont had three employees: T. A. Barbe, G. Carnault (1873–1882), and S. A. Deroux (1873–1884)

Both instruments from the collection of the Musical Instrument Fund are magnificent examples of what he built during his final period.

Sources

Milliot, S. and Perrin, N. 2017, European Stringed Instrument Making Day. Cordes sur Ciel.

Henley W., 1959 Universal Dictionary of Violin and Bow Makers. Amati Publications. London.

Millant, B., Raffin, J.F., (2000) *L'Archet: French Bowmakers, 1750–1950*. Paris.

Carlson B., Schmitt J. F., Moroder I., Leonhard F., Italian & French Violin Makers, Paris.

Vannes, R., 1999, *Universal Dictionary of Instrument Makers*, Spa.

Jacquot, A., 1912, La Lutherie Lorraine et Française, Paris.

Tarisio; the Cozio archives, accessed in 2021.

Geneanet, accessed in 2021.

Cité de la Musique/Musée de la Musique, Violins, Vuillaume, a 19th-Century French Master Luthier, 1998, Paris.

Archives Nationales de France, accessed in 2021.

Archives of the Musée de la Musique, accessed in 2021.