bouwer

François Xavier Tourte “the Younger”

*± 1748 , Parijs †1835 , Parijs

François Xavier and Nicolas Léonard Tourte are often regarded as the bow makers to whom we owe our modern bow. The younger of the two, François Xavier, is sometimes called the “Stradivari of bow makers.” For someone who worked as a clockmaker for fourteen years, that is a remarkable achievement.

François Xavier was the youngest son of Nicolas Pierre Tourte and Marguerite Geneviève Rollin. His father was a cabinetmaker and later a violin maker. His mother was a homemaker. The family lived in Faubourg Saint-Antoine, a neighborhood just outside the walls of Paris. He was born there in 1748.

The Faubourg Saint-Antoine neighborhood was an interesting place to grow up. Since the 15th century, craftsmen had been allowed to set up shop there freely. It was a lively, rebellious neighborhood populated mainly by woodworkers and furniture makers. They enjoyed a golden age there because they were not subject to the strict authority of the powerful guilds. The freedom that prevailed in Faubourg Saint-Antoine gave artisans the space to produce their finest work. These were often ingeniously decorated pieces of furniture that the guilds would never have permitted elsewhere in Paris. That freedom attracted people who loved innovation. And of rebellion, for it was the citizens of Faubourg Saint-Antoine who stormed the Bastille in 1792—an event that would prove decisive in the French Revolution.

Workshop(s)

Parijs, ±1774-1835

From this builder

Instrument

violin bow

François Xavier Tourte “the Younger” Paris

played by
Marta Lemanska

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Life and Career

François Xavier Tourte’s father worked in this neighborhood. He was a cabinetmaker—a profession considered the aristocratic craft among woodworkers. Nicolas Pierre Tourte made not only furniture there, but also violins and, occasionally, bows. He had presumably learned the art of violin making from Jean Matthias Wolters, a German violin maker who lived in his neighborhood. It was not until 1742 that he began calling himself a violin maker and seriously devoted himself to making bows. Until then, bows had been regarded merely as a secondary accessory; the true craft of bow making did not yet exist. His first wife died that year. In 1743, he remarried. From that marriage, Nicolas Léonard was born in 1746 and François Xavier in 1748.

Despite the bustling trade in Faubourg, incomes were so low that poverty prevailed there. Nicolas Pierre wanted to spare his youngest son from this fate and therefore sent him to his cousin Antoine Lévêque to train as a clockmaker. That profession carried prestige and offered a better chance at a bright future. His apprenticeship lasted six years, and it took him eight years to become a master craftsman. After that, he called it quits; he was twenty-five years old at the time. His father had already died when he was sixteen, and his eighteen-year-old brother, Nicolas Léonard, had taken him under his wing. It was likely Nicolas Léonard who persuaded François to become a bow maker. It was from him that François ultimately learned the trade.

After completing his training, he set up his own workshop in the Clôitre de Notre Dame. This was also located within the Faubourg Saint-Antoine district, not far from his brother’s workshop. The close relationship between the brothers allowed them to inspire one another. During that period, they experimented with the choice of wood, the shape of the bowl, the length of the stem, and the shank.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm Cramer, a German violinist, had arrived in Paris with a new model of bow. He had made it—or had it made—in Mannheim. Cramer first came into contact with Nicolas Léonard, and later with François Xavier. Cramer had already achieved success in Germany with this revolutionary bow; now he was looking for someone who could introduce it for him in Paris. Nicolas Léonard saw new possibilities in the Cramer model and asked François Xavier to make it for him and, where possible, even improve upon it. The new bow quickly gained unprecedented popularity, particularly in high society.

Rather than sticking to a single successful model, François continued to experiment. Viotti heard about this when he arrived in Paris in 1782. As a celebrated violinist and director of various opera companies, he wielded enormous influence both within and outside the Paris Conservatory at that time. He noticed that, influenced by changing musical and performance practices, violinists were finding the limitations of the existing bow model increasingly problematic. Viotti found in both the Tourtes brothers the craftsmanship needed to take the next step in developing a new bow. Together, they solved a number of problems. This led to a concave-curved bow design in which the hair no longer sat loosely in the frog but was held together by a metal ring with a wedge. This bow also had better balance. Thanks to Viotti’s influence, Tourte’s new bows quickly became popular among the leading musicians of Paris.

During his training as a clockmaker, François had also learned to work with gold and silver. As a result, he was presumably the first—and only—person capable of fitting the most precious bows with gold and tortoiseshell mounts made entirely by his own hand. Before him, bow makers had had to rely on silversmiths. He made many of these bows for his brother, who had developed an ever-growing network of connections among Freemasons and the Parisian elite, which provided him with an impressive list of wealthy clients for these precious bows.

The French Revolution, which broke out in 1789, had a different impact on the two brothers. François Xavier was able to adapt flawlessly to those changes and thus became one of the most important bow makers in history, while for his brother, the revolution nearly proved fatal. Nevertheless, historical research points to the likelihood that it was precisely their many years of collaboration that proved decisive for their ultimate success—even during this turbulent period. François Xavier was able to continue developing the bow only because he and Nicolas Leonard had laid the groundwork for it.

The advantage his brother Nicolas Léonard had enjoyed through his associations with the Parisian elite would be short-lived. The French Revolution put an end to that. It not only radically altered political, social, and cultural relations, but also drastically changed the world of music. Initially, only the aristocrats, the bourgeoisie, and the Freemasons were persecuted, but later the persecution also affected everyone who had served them. It was not uncommon for them to end up under the guillotine. Until 1792, Nicolas Léonard was still able to go about his work undisturbed, but after that he was forced to go into hiding. François Xavier had never associated with the elite and was therefore able to continue his work undisturbed. He still collaborated with Nicolas Léonard, but they had to do so in secret. François was now the only remaining Tourte who could openly make and sell their bows.

It wasn’t until 1800, when he was 52 years old, that François Tourte would call himself a “facteur d’archets” for the first time. That year, he moved to Quai de l’École; experts would later conclude that this marked the beginning of his finest period. His wife would witness this for another 17 years. She died in 1817. Their only daughter continued to care for him until his death. His collaboration with Nicolas Léonard had been gradually diminishing since 1800. Weary of all the persecution, Nicolas Léonard died in 1807. François then continued to develop his craft on his own. Around the age of sixty, François Xavier made his finest bows, but he remained active at least until he was 75 and presumably for several years afterward. Shortly before his death, he moved one last time to the other side of the Seine, where François Xavier Tourte died in 1835.

Work and Influence

François Xavier made his first bows together with his brother between 1782 and 1786. They were refined and slender, often with silver end plates, which were believed to provide added strength. Starting in 1786, they based their bows primarily on the model that Cramer had brought with him, which is considered a transition between the Baroque bow and the modern bow. In the period that followed, they developed bows under the guidance of and in collaboration with Viotti.

A few years before the outbreak of the French Revolution, François Xavier’s first gold-mounted bow appeared. Around 1783, he began fitting the bow with a ring made of silver or gold, as well as the end button. It was not until 1795 that he added a sliding plate and a wedge to the sleeve that pressed the ribbon flat against it. However, the characteristic mother-of-pearl eyelet was often missing from his sleeves. Until 1805, François’s bows were almost always round; thereafter, they were predominantly octagonal. The sleeve still slid along the rod without the metal spacer that later became standard. Experts believe that one of his most significant contributions was likely the logarithmic taper of the bow, which tapers from thick to thin. This innovation ensured that the bow hair remained evenly tensioned along the entire length of the bow while playing. The impact this had on violin playing would not be fully understood until years later. Compared to modern bows, Tourte’s bows are only slightly concave.

Around 1810, he perfected his technique. He would make only a few minor adjustments in response to changing stylistic trends. Even into his old age, he continued to craft his bows with astonishing precision.

François Tourte’s influence can hardly be overstated. He quickly gained recognition for having achieved a high degree of perfection in his bows; even during his lifetime, his bows were copied far beyond the borders of France. Many skilled bow makers based their work on his model, including Jacob Eury, Joseph Henry, François Lupot, Nicolas Maire, Nicolas Maline, Dominique Peccatte, and Jean Pierre Marie Persoit.