It seems rather astonishing to believe that singers could be found to sing that which took a violinist years of practice to perform, especially in view of the fact that France at that period almost neglected the vocal art, and we must regard Corette’s criticism as somewhat biased, notwithstanding he was “a furious partisan of the French school of music.” No doubt the French had to supply their repertoires of chamber music (when they required it) from the Italian composers, the music of France in Lully’s time being mostly composed for the lyric drama, which was then greatly in vogue. The first to call into existence a French school was Jean Marie Leclair, who received his instructions from Somis, an Italian. He does not, however, appear to have formed any great performers, owing, probably, to the European fame of the great Italian masters. According to one historian the real founder of the French school was Pierre Gavinies, born at Bordeaux in 1726. Be this so or not, he certainly produced some fine masters. Indeed, during the eighteenth century, France was productive of the finest violinists that had been heard. We have only to mention such names as Lahousaye, Barthélémon, Rode, Kreutzer, Lafont, Baillot, Habeneck and De Beriot, in proof of this assertion. * * * * * * * * The early records of violin making in France, like those of other countries, seem buried in obscurity. Its literature offers but scant information of a reliable character, and we are therefore compelled to make the most of such evidence as is afforded by the slender testimony of paintings and ecclesiastical monuments. We are told that Baltazarini was the first to introduce the violin (or rather the performance of it) into France, in the year 1577, so that it is safe to assume no maker of any note existed anterior to this period. One authority tells us that, in the year 1566, the name of Tywersus of Nancy appears as a lute and violin maker, and is reported to have assisted Andreas Amati to finish certain instruments made for the chapel of Charles IX. Soon after this period several names of makers are recorded, but little seems to be known of them, or of their work. Excellence in violin making seems to have commenced with the middle of the eighteenth century, when the name of Nicholas Lupot appears on the scene as the founder of the French school. Before he died, however, in 1824, France had given birth to John Baptiste Vuillaume, in whose hands the construction of violins attained the utmost perfection. His instruments are much admired and often realise large sums of money. Many makers of great merit have since cropped up, which has had the effect of establishing France as the greatest producer of the instrument, the subject of these pages. IV.—GERMANY.