A Look at Musical Instrument Making
Résumé
From its creation in 1888 until the 1990s, the La Couture-Boussey Wind Instrument Museum has been intimately
linked to the manufacturing activity of the La Couture basin, an expression of pride of a community and village
known for being the “cradle of wind instruments” since the seventeenth century. For much of the twentieth century,
this activity accounted for nearly 80% of French production, or about 25,000 to 30,000 instruments produced per
year, almost all of which were exported, mainly to the United States but also to Japan, Australia, India, Mexico,
Canada, and throughout Europe.
Local figures—entrepreneurs, bosses and workers, men and women—have contributed to the reputation
and fame of this small Normandy village. Their advanced level of know-how and technical mastery, their
inventiveness, their musical skills, and their ability to collaborate with leading artists have successfully contributed
to the development of production techniques, to the improvement of the tone and quality of instruments, and to the
establishment of effective commercial networks.
The paper describes the social history of the territory, of the organisation of work at home, in the
workshops which were often epicentres of family life, or at the factory without ever being cut off from the outside
world. This manufacturing activity has deeply marked La Couture-Boussey with its footprint, even in its
topography, through street names and architecture. Finally, we would like to place local history in a broader
perspective by highlighting in particular the interactions between the makers and (mostly Parisian) musicians who
have greatly participated in the development of instrument making in the La Couture basin.
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