Dominique Peccatte
Encyclopedia
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
luthier
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
and bow maker. He was apprenticed in Mirecourt
Mirecourt
Mirecourt is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly those of the violin family...
and later worked with Jean Baptiste Vuillaume
Jean Baptiste Vuillaume
Jean Baptiste Vuillaume was an illustrious French violin maker. He made over 3,000 instruments and was also a fine businessman and an inventor.-Early life:...
.
He is notable for adapting the "hatchet-shaped" type head — a model arrived at by Tourte
François Tourte
François Xavier Tourte was a Frenchman who, though trained as a watchmaker, soon changed to making bows for playing classical string instruments such as the violin....
— and is considered one of the most influential bow makers.
His brother François Peccatte
François Peccatte
François Peccatte was a very talented and excellent archetier / bow maker who was destined for greatness, but he died at the age of 34 before he was able to reach the height of his craft...
and nephew Charles Peccatte
Charles Peccatte
Charles Peccatte was a French Archetier . He was born in Mirecourt, the son of François Peccatte.He was probably trained by August Lenoble with whom he later had a partnership which lasted until 1881....
were also notable bow-makers. Peccatte’s two most well known pupils were Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry (bow maker)
Joseph Henry was a French bow maker for string instruments.Henry studied with Dominique Peccatte and established his own shop in 1851. His bows are quite rare and sought after...
and Pierre Simon
Pierre Simon
Pierre Simon , later known as Paul Simon, was a French archetier/bowmaker.Became one of the most important makers of his time. He worked in Paris for Peccatte, Vuillaume and Gand Frères. In 1847 he purchased Dominique Peccatte's business. His bows have 2 distinct head models, one his own and the...
.
He also purportedly taught François Xavier Bazin
François Xavier Bazin
François-Xavier Bazin was a French archetier and bow maker and was first of the Bazin dynasty.Bazin was born in Mirecourt. Notable experts suggest that he was influenced and purportedly studied with Dominique Peccatte in Paris, then established himself in Mirecourt around 1840.He was brother of...
.
Biography
Apprenticed to a violin maker in Mirecourt, Peccatte soon worked in the workshop of Vuillaume, from 1826 to 1837. Here he studied with Jean Pierre Marie PersoisJean Pierre Marie Persois
Jean Pierre Marie Persoit [Persois] - was a great and intriguing French bowmaker or Archetier.One of the first bowmakers to be hired by the young Jean Baptiste Vuillaume....
, and also met François Tourte
François Tourte
François Xavier Tourte was a Frenchman who, though trained as a watchmaker, soon changed to making bows for playing classical string instruments such as the violin....
. Like François Nicolas Voirin
François Nicolas Voirin
François Nicolas Voirin was a French Archetier , known in his time as the "Modern Tourte."F.N. Voirin was born in Paris France, the brother of Joseph Voirin and cousin to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume...
, his early bows were sometimes stamped "VUILLAUME A PARIS". By 1837 he had taken over the workshop of Nicolas Lupot
Nicolas Lupot
Nicolas Lupot - born in Stuttgart, 1758-1824, was one of the most illustrious French Luthier/ Violin Makers of his time. He apprenticed under his father and worked in Orleans until 1794....
.
He returned to Mirecourt in 1847.
Although majority of his bows were not branded, Peccatte used a singular brand, "PECCATTE" throughout his mature period.
Quotes
"Dominique Peccatte, (who is presumed to have learned his craft with Persoit, and apparently worked in the Lupot atelier as well, before a stint in the Vuillaume workshop) continued the trend with a bow patterned after Tourte’s strongest, heaviest model. The Peccatte concept for a bow was generally heavier than anything before him in France, and his output was vast and consistent. If not as flexible as earlier bows, Peccatte bows are still fairly flexible; the increase in weight from earlier concepts makes Peccatte bows well suited to the production of the volume of sound and degree of articulation appropriate to large, modern concert halls (of his time). The Peccatte bow is one, but not the only, ideal compromise in terms of tone production and handling. Although it neither produces the beauty of tone of a Tourte, nor handles with the nimbleness of a Nicolaus KittelNicolaus Kittel
Nicolaus Kittel, fully Nikolai Ferdinandovich Kittel was a Russian bow maker who until recently thought to be of German origin, and was known as the "Russian Tourte"....
, a fine Peccatte does everything it must do very well, and with a thick rich sonority. Peccatte’s two most well known pupils were Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry (bow maker)
Joseph Henry was a French bow maker for string instruments.Henry studied with Dominique Peccatte and established his own shop in 1851. His bows are quite rare and sought after...
and Pierre Simon
Pierre Simon
Pierre Simon , later known as Paul Simon, was a French archetier/bowmaker.Became one of the most important makers of his time. He worked in Paris for Peccatte, Vuillaume and Gand Frères. In 1847 he purchased Dominique Peccatte's business. His bows have 2 distinct head models, one his own and the...
."