It has been extremely rewarding to finally get to the bottom of this one! Part of Harpguitars.net since inception (in the Composite Forms Gallery) and examined personally by Benoit-Meulle-Stef and yours truly in 2016, it nevertheless eluded more detailed provenance until very recently. Click on the image below for the brand new 18-page PDF article!
A fascinating article, and also the one of 2016!
My article, “Les cuivres de la maison Louis et Münchs – et une attribution” in Larigot (Bulletin de l’Association des Collectionneurs d’instruments à Vent, no. 68, October 2021) tells the story of the partnership 1831-35 between Chevalier Louis Christien Louis (Christien-Louis Louis) and Conrad Michel Münchs as musical instrument retailers and publishers, with details of their military careers, and alludes (only briefly) to their collaboration with Charpentier on his invention of the guitare multicorde.
Münchs and Charpentier (1821-25) were colleagues as military band musicians in the 6th regiment of the garde royale in 1823, as witness the title page of their composition: “Bouquet Militaire” of January that year, in which Charpentier is lyricist and arranger.
Information on Charpentier’s given names was sent to me by M. Raymond Lapie: “François Marie Bélonie” /”François Marie” / “Marie François”, and occupations as: “musicien gagiste”, “ténor”, “tromboniste”.
With kind regards,
Martin Prowse