The first manufacture of brass winds in France was created by the COURTOIS family. COURTOIS Senior, opened his first workshop in 1789 in rue Mazarine in Paris. Of the instruments manufactured at that time, one cavalry trumpet, marked « Courtois rue Mazarine », is still exhibited in the Museum of the National Conservatory of Paris. This instrument belonged to aid of the officer sent by Napoléon to
discuss terms with the besieged inhabitants of Saint-Jean-d’Acre in 1789. In 1803, ANTOINE COURTOIS (1770-1855), one of the founder’s sons, settled the present firm. Several instruments, dating from this period, are still kept by the Conservatory: a half-moon-shaped trumpet with a similar sonority as of a French horn, an infantry-bugle adopted by the French Ministry of War in 1823, a slide-trombone and the first cornets, key-flugelhorns, French horns and ophicleids. In 1844, ANTOINE COURTOIS Junior, invented the famous cornet « Arban system », known all over the world. He died in 1880 leaving no heir. We owe his colleagues and successors important inventions, musical and mechanical improvements, which greatly contributed to the progress of the French brass wind industry. Among these creations: the first six-valve bass, immediately used by the “Opéra” and “Opéra Comique”, and the first tenor and bass with rotary-valve trombone. A unique prize-list of distinctions in international exhibitions and fairs proves the constant success and the universal fame of ANTOINE COURTOIS’ name. In 1956, Paul GAUDET decided to decentralise his company by building a factory in Amboise (Indre-et-Loire), which expanded rapidly. Mr Jacques GAUDET, his son, perpetuated the tradition of quality and technical perfection which made ANTOINE COURTOIS famous still goes on to-day, thanks to a continuous research and modernisation of the manufacturing processes and a fruitful collaboration with the most renowned artists in Europe. In 1944, he centralised activities on Amboise location, and decided to integrate a well-known European group, JA MUSIK. In 2006, the company ANTOINE COURTOIS comes back to its French origins and enters the BUFFET CRAMPON group, another prestigious brand created in Paris in 1825, world leader of clarinets with an international distribution network. Manufactured in Amboise, all the instruments are tested, perfected and checked by the best among international musicians. The artists from the world all agree that an instrument signed ANTOINE COURTOIS is a guarantee of technical and high workmanship.
