MARCEL CHARLES LAPIERRE AND THE MEN OF GOOD WILLWhenever I beg M° Navea Vera to make a bass bow, his reaction is always the same, he makes a face, mutters something in Castilian and holds a grudge for at least one week. The reason? They are exhausting to do, they break arms. Think about how many back pains the good Lapierre might have suffered , he did so many of them to be known almost only by bassists.
Violin bow by Marcel Charles Lapierre To tell the truth, skilled bowmakers turn up their nose when you ask them to build a bass bow, also because they are the easiest one to be made and they look at you as if to say - " Do I really have to make this carpenter work ! ? " Of course, if you want to do a good job, even building for the bass is not exactly a simple thing, but it is undeniable that violin bows are immensely more difficult. This is also the reason why the great ones of this discipline; Tourte, Peccatte, Persoit, built very few of them in their career. The Grandeur of the bass bows came with the great laboratories in Mirecourt, such as Bazin and Morizot. Those were workshops that employed many workers from the apprentice until the foreman, and of course the simplest and tiring tasks were assigned to the young and inexperienced or those ones who were not exactly the highlights of the workshop. The classic example is represented by the Morizots, where to the most skilled André Auguste, was given the making of violin bows , while bass bows were assigned to the least gifted Fireman until coming to the Oldie, probably there just by accident , who had to rough thoughout his life. I write these words with a hint of sadness, because as you know I've been a bass player, but this unjustified interest for the construction of bass bows has altered a lot even the bass players' technique. A violinist or a cellist, obviously if he has money to spend, can have the luck and honor to meet Peccatte, Tourte, Pajeot, authors who clearly understood and interpreted the machine bow, so that the bows themselves were the teachers of violin playing technique . If the bow is not built according to the mechanical criteria, which incidentally are the same for the whole family, it will force the player to make incorrect movements, which in the best case affects only the quality of the music, though more often they produce real physical problems mainly to bassist players. The bass players unfortunately are the most penalized precisely because no great one built for them. This indeed happens even in the purely musical field, the literature for bass is immensely poorer than that one of other components of the quartet. Furthermore let's consider in addition the level of the composers; for sure Fryba is not worthy as Bach! With that in mind, let's deal with Marcel, one of those who built bass bows. He was born in Mirecourt on March 20, 1907 by Francois Lapierre, plasterer, and Anne Charlotte Antoinette Berly, employed at Laberte workshop. In this period the instrument industry is so much growing that is able to create working opportunities for women as well, giving them the opportunity to begin the process of social emancipation. The first approach to bowmaking is given him in Thibouville-Lamy's workshop, by which he remains from 1921 to 1923. Later on he works for a company that had a very short life Brouillier & Lotte, operative between '25 and '26. When Francois Lotte leaves Brouillier, Marcel remains with the former, for whom he works until 1936. Over the next ten years he worked for more than a laboratory. First by Louis Bazin, then Morizot brothers, until he reaches Emile Auguste Ouchard. After the departure of this latter one for New York, he leaves Mirecourt in 1946 and goes to Geneva by Vidoudez. He remained there only a year, giving way to Bernard Ouchard, who, unlike him, will remain by Vidoudez for 22 years. In 1948 he settles in Mirecourt, opens his own business in rue Vuillaume and later on in rue Gambetta, where he will continue to work, without praise or blame, until the date of his death, June 24, 1979. The bows
Bass bow by Marcel Charles Lapierre There's very little to say about Marcel's bows. As you already might have understood, not being exactly the greatest of all time, he has built a few violin bows and many for double bass. His working art, in the best period, between '50 and '60, is good, but it always shows a hidden carelessness until turning into ugliness in the last period of his life. As in Morizot , also in his production of frogs , there are many "Hill" supports , similar to the "Vuillaume", but octagonal. Widely used even in the late period of Emile Auguste Ouchard, they were not just produced in France, judging by the screws that secure the silver coulisse to the frog, very popular in Germany at the time. Honor to the toilsome plane. If you want to deepen this topic: CHARLES NICOLAS BAZIN; THE FOUNDER LOUIS JOSEPH MORIZOT PERE AND THE DYNASTIES MORIZOT BROTHERS AND THE SUPER HEROES PECCATTE, THE SILENT REBELLION ETIENNE PAJEOT: THE THOUSAND-HEADED BOWMAKER LOUIS EMILE JEROME THIBOUVILLE-LAMY; THE MANAGING DIRECTOR FRANCOIS AND ROGER LOTTE; ANOTHER SMALL FAMILY CHARLES LOUIS AND CHARLES ALFRED; THE LAST BAZINS EMILE AUGUSTE OUCHARD; THE BOWMAKER OF TWO WORLDS BERNARD OUCHARD, THE HUMBLE EDUCATOR So long Paolo
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