Author:Nicolas Léonard Tourte(1746)
Category：Entertainment
Year：ca. 1785
Introduction：A good bow is crucially important to the timbre and volume of an instrument because it must be able to respond to complex performance techniques and create outstanding performances. Therefore, exceptional performers are quite particular about the instrument and bow they choose.
It takes several centuries for the bow to evolve to its standard design today. Early on violin bows were relatively short in length and convex. The bows used for the erhu (Chinese fiddle) have not changed much, and are still quite similar to their original state. When making the modern bow, the stick is heated to make it concave, which allows more tension between the bow and the strings and more flexibility of control, so the instrument can be played louder. This bow from the CHIMEI collection was made by Nicolas Léonard Tourte and is a prototype of the modern bow.
Nicolas Léonard's father Nicolas Pierre Tourte was first a carpenter in Paris and later a master of bow-making. Nicolas Léonard was the eldest son, he became an apprentice in his father’s workshop at the age of 10, and by the age of 18, his bows were favored by many musicians in those days. The musician, Wilhelm Cramer, came to Paris in 1769 and brought a new model of bow originated in Mannheim, Germany. This new type of bow inspires Léonard to develop his own version of Cramer style bow, with the head higher and weightier. When the bow was introduced in 1770, it aroused great attention within musicians and was popular for the next 20 years. Even though musicians of later time found the Viotti style bow could provide broader playing possibilities, the importance of the Cramer style bow had already been engraved in the history of bow making.
In 1780, Nicolas Léonard Tourte started making bows with his younger brother, François Xavier Tourte. However, after the French Revolution erupted in 1789, Nicolas was no longer active. François Xavier took over the family business of bow making, making improvements and developing the Viotti style bow, which not only became the original design of the modern French bow but also the prototype of the modern bow. The three Tourtes wrote the French bow making history and their bows are the archetype of bow making history.
Accession Number:0009572
Place of Orgin：Paris, France