Charles Georges BRUGÈRE Workshop Violin Paris 1899

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Charles Brugère (1865 -1930) was born in Mirecourt, France and was the son of Charles Joseph. He apprenticed to Etienne Drouin at Mirecourt in 1878 and worked with Paul Blanchard in Lyons in 1881. He also studied with Paul Baily in Paris and worked for Gand and Bernardel 1885-1892. Charles must have been gifted in the administrative area too as he was called on to manage the business of Eugene Henry’s violin shop for three years. Brugère began his own workshop in Paris 1895 and employed three assistants. He retired from the violin trade in 1920 and went back to live out the last decade of his life in Mirecourt.

Our instrument is a workshop violin, made by one of his assistants, in very good condition. The spruce top plate is tight straight grain in two sections. The back plate is maple and one piece. The oil varnish is orange/ brown in color infused with red/brown in the orange, all on a golden ground. The varnish is well preserved and I did work on a few areas that needed retouching and faded it softly to match. The instrument has no condition issues. I gave the violin a new set up: pegs, tailpiece, chinrest, and button, all done in rosewood. After hearing the violin for 20 minutes I went back and replaced the fingerboard and nut for a better grade of ebony and set up the instrument with a grade B Despiau bridge and a new soundpost.

Corpus 361.0 mm., Major Width 208.0 mm., Minor Width 169.0 mm., Rib Height 30.0 mm.

Yes, it is a French violin from the 19th century and there is no such thing as a French sound. I don’t believe so. The violin stands on its own merits and I think it just needs to be played-in a bit more to warm up its maturity. The instrument has been hanging in our workshop for close to a decade, hiding behind a pile of instruments. It is a hidden gem waiting for someone’s bow to make it come to life again. It will. The sound is excellent. The instant I got a bow to the strings I could feel the body moving, pumping, resonating. The bottom G & D strings have an edge to the sound adding to the sustain, overtones, and carrying power of the instrument. The sound is more than powerful, it is robust, a presence that you instantly feel that makes this violin jump. The sound is not muddy or dull, it speaks well. The treble side has just as much power with drive or what I call frequency sizzle. The treble side has much life – WOW! and is slightly brighter than the bottom strings. The violin has a big response, masculine tone, and a strength that just needs to be played-in to become even better.