Klarinet Archive - Posting 001295.txt from 1998/04

From: Alan Woodcock <Alan.Woodcock@-----.net>
Subj: [klarinet] Re : Buffet and Vandoren factories, and other sights of Pari
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 07:11:11 -0400

On 20th April Scorp1014 asked for information on visiting Buffet and Va=
ndoren
factories.
Now I don't know what you can visit but maybe the following will help :=

Vandoren's shop is (51??) rue Lepic, Montmartre district.

As a previous contributer pointed out, Buffet's factory is at Mantes-la=
-Jolie
(train station
Mantes-la-Ville).
But best would be to go by car (autoroute A13) because ...
then you can head south-west from Mantes down the D928 towards Anet (ch=
ateau of
Diane de
Poitiers, well worth a visit) and then up to LA COUTURE BOUSSEY...
a very small village in beautiful countryside and ... birthplace of the=
French
woodwind industry...

It was here that the local furniture manufacturers, back in the 17th-18=
th
centuries would,
when trade was slack, turn out the odd bagpipe; and suddenly when such
folk-instruments
became popular with the court, found themselves promoted to supplying R=
oyalty...
It was here that the Hotteterre family remodelled the flute, the oboe a=
nd the
recorder to create the
classic baroque instruments. Unfortunately they did not invent the cla=
rinet.
All the major woodwind (and clarinet) makers set up here or in neighbou=
ring
towns
(Ivry-la-Bataille) and some are still here, I'm not sure whether it's S=
elmer or
Leblanc.
Maybe they let you visit, I don't know.
There is a very nice little museum with examples of instruments from ea=
rliest
times down to the
present day. If it looks closed, wait around, when the "guardienne" se=
es you
she will open it (good
tip expected but the museum is free).
This is better than any pilgrimage to Elkhart...

Also while you are in Paris you will stroll up the rue de Rome, there a=
re a lot
of instrument shops
there, even selling ophicleides (though if you want antique instruments=
there's
a specialist near
the Place des Vosges).

And you will visit the Mus=E9e de la Musique : get a free preview at
http://www.cite-musique.fr/

With so much to do you won't have time to spare for all that football
nonsense...
=

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org