Antoine Courtois

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Antoine Courtois is a renowned French company in the field of musical instrument making , founded in Paris in 1789 . It builds and sells high-quality wind instruments under the manufacturer's brand of the same name . Since 1994, the company's headquarters and workshops have been located in Amboise in the Loire Valley , where a manufacturing facility was established as early as 1956.

Company history

In the revolutionary year of 1789, an instrument maker named Courtois set up his first workshop on Rue Mazarine in Paris . Since his first name has not been passed down, one speaks of Courtois the founder . A horn (Berlin) and a cavalry trumpet (Paris, Museum der Cité de la musique ) have been preserved from him.

Antoine Courtois (1770–1855), one of the three sons of the "founder", settled as an instrument maker in the Rue du Caire , as did his two brothers, his cousin Auguste Courtois and later his three sons. He was the founder of the company that still exists today and created the quality brand "Antoine Courtois" for the wind instruments built in his workshop such as cornets , horns , flugelhorns , trombones , ophicleids and the like. He primarily supplied the army, but also solo winds at the Paris Opera and, after Dieppo had opened a trombone class at the Paris Conservatory, also gave instruments to outstanding students. For example, he rewarded the first graduate Antoine-Jean Simon (1870–1883), who became a member of the Paris Opera Orchestra, and Paul Delisse (1817–1888), who later succeeded Dieppo. In 1844 Antoine Courtois retired.

Antoine Denis Courtois († 1880) succeeded his father. In 1856 he moved to Rue du Caire . Among other things, he specialized in the construction of slide trombones and, together with Jean-Baptiste Arban (1825–1889), created the Arban cornet patented by him in 1883. He exhibited his instruments, which were among the most expensive of the time, at the world exhibitions of 1851 (London) , 1855 (Paris) , 1862 (London) , 1867 and 1878 (Paris) . He died with no offspring.

Auguste Mille (1838–1895 / 98) took over the company in 1880 and managed it until his death. He had joined the company in 1856, which had moved to Rue du Marais that year, and in 1878 had been promoted to head of the workshop. In 1881 he employed 25 people. Mille introduced improvements for the trombones and in 1886 presented a valve cornet in four tunings based on an invention by the Italian Alexander Scuri. His instruments enriched the world exhibitions of 1889 (Paris) and 1872 (Moscow).

E. Delfaux , partner of Mille, ran the Courtois company on his own after his death . He was followed by his sister Marguerite from 1908 to 1917. She was assisted by the skilled engineer Legay, who designed a tenor bass trombone with a rotary valve.

Emmanuel Gaudet (1860–1933) bought the company in 1917 and, together with his business partner and commercial director P. Deslaurier, led it to new successes.

Paul Gaudet (* 1911), son of Emmanuel, became the sole owner of the traditional house through the purchase of Deslaurier's shares in 1937, but had to close the workshops as a result of his mobilization shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War , until he moved out of the main camp XX B in Gotenhafen near Danzig was released. During his imprisonment, he directed an orchestra which, thanks to the help of the Red Cross, had been equipped with instruments from the Courtois collection. In 1956 he commissioned the construction of the workshop in Amboise that still exists today.

Jacques Gaudet (* 1948), son of Paul, has been General Manager of the traditional company since 1980. He joined his father's company in 1967 at a very young age and, like his predecessors, maintains good contacts with the great instrumentalists of his time, with whom he continues to improve and further develop the Courtois instruments. In 1995 he founded the annual brass band music competition "Open France de Brass Bands d'Amboise".

Since January 4, 2006 , Antoine Courtois has been part of the French company Buffet Crampon .

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