new Fanchon], with text by W.F. Riese (pseudonym W. Friedrich) after the French by Lemoins and the music by A. Schaffer [fn]. On account of these various productions the name 'Fanchon' became known in the 19th century beyond the borders of France, so that the hurdy-gurdy in Germany was characterized not only as a 'Bauernleier' or 'Bettlerleier' [translation JW: peasant or beggar's hurdy-gurdy], but also as a 'Fanchonleier'.
A plot similar to that of the "Fanchon" was employed by Gaetano Donizetti in his opera "Linda di Chamounix" first presented in 1842 at the Kärntnertor Theatre in Vienna. Linda is also a girl who comes from the Savoy, but here Linda does not make her living as a hurdy-gurdy player, but rather the country people who come with her from the village in Savoy to Paris earn their living thus.
The Fanchon of the theatre pieces was a virtuous maid who had nothing in common either with the life of Fanchon Chemin or with the girls who earned money by playing the hurdy-gurdy on the boulevards of Paris around the beginning of the 19th century. Among these were street girls who roamed about singing obscene couplets to the accompaniment of the hurdy-gurdy and sought to lure passers-by with the sharp sound of their instrument and by the character of the texts [fn].
Otherwise the theatrical pieces about 'Fanchon' had such great success that even outside the theatre a whole series of pieces for the hurdy-gurdy arose which for years secured for the instrument the attention of a greater segment of the public [fn]. The new hurdy-gurdy pieces, influenced by the Fanchon literature, belonged to the repertoire of the hurdy-gurdy players who lived in the cities as street and cafe musicians; little else is known about their music. Their repertoire however certainly did not originate from the folk music of the provinces. There the hurdy-gurdy was used especially as a dance instrument. In the hands of city players on the other hand it had only very little significance as a dance instrument. It was rather primarily used as an instrument for accompanying voice and as an entertainment instrument without voice.
There was still a hurdy-gurdy player in Paris shortly before 1870, a roaming street musician, who understood how to play his instrument with a great deal of talent and good taste. Often he sang and accompanied himself on the hurdy-gurdy or improvised interludes on the instrument. It is also reported of him that he played with other instruments. He then removed the drone strings from the wheel, played the melody on the hurdy-gurdy and was accompanied by the other musicians on the guitar and violin. It is particularly noted that he had an entirely independent repertoire. The reporter had often heard him play "Le Trio des Masques ou le sextuor de Lucie" [fn]. His artistic playing of the hurdy-gurdy is also expressly mentioned. Not only did he have a "coup d'archet de violon", but he also played a diminuendo by slowing the movement of the wheel, and then had the tone swell again by turning faster [fn].
Next to these forms of urban existence the hurdy-gurdy enjoyed undiminished popularity in the French provinces throughout the entire 19th century, above all in central France: in the Bourgogne, in Limousin, in the Auvergne,
in Nivernais, in Bourbonnnais, in Poitou, but also in Normandie and in Brittany. The instrument's central area was Berry, as it is today [in 1973]. The repertoire of the hurdy-gurdy in the provinces in the 19th century would have been similar to that which exists today. It is to be supposed that the country music played on the hurdy-gurdy even in the 18th century was founded, independent of its urban popularity, on an older musical tradition and did not experience much influence from the salon music. The effects of the hurdy-gurdy fashion in the cities was restricted in the provinces to changes in the construction of the instrument. In the countryside the hurdy-gurdy and the bagpipes were even in the 19th century the instruments with which musicians headed a wedding march or a procession and later played for danc