Georges Cochevelou

Georges Cochevelou
Born	(1889-05-13)13 May 1889 Paris, France
Died	Saint-Mandé, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Civil servant in the French Ministry of Finance musician luthier
Spouse(s)	Fanny-Julienne Dobroushkess
Children	3, including Alan Stivell

Georges Cochevelou (1889–1974) was a man of many jobs (including translator, soldier, banker) and many artistic and crafting hobbies. He reconstructed the Celtic harp of the Middle Ages, and, along with his harpist son Alan Stivell, was responsible for its revival in Brittany in the 1950s.

Biography

Georges (Jord or Jorj in Breton) Cochevelou was born on May 16, 1889 in the rue Vercingétorix (Vercingétorix Street) of the 14th arrondissement of Paris. His father was a native of Nouec Vihan in Gourin, and his mother of Pontivy. Georges was baptised in Vannetais territory in the south of Brittany, after which his family moved away from Paris. He was raised for some years by his maternal grandmother in Moustoir-Ac, and lived in Morbihan until he was around thirty years old. He was raised as a speaker of Gwenedeg (French: vannetais).

As a soldier in World War I he was wounded and taken prisoner in Germany in 1917. At the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, he was in Poland, where he studied Polish and Russian. After the war he worked as a banker, administrator and translator, but his real passion was for the arts. He was a winner in the Lépine competition for several eclectic works (the astignomètre, an ophthalmological device, for example), created a lounge lamp (sold by Lancel, French leatherware), built furniture like a professional cabinet maker (French polish, marquetry) and painted in an original technique "of water-color in oil" on panels of hardboard painted in white, which were shown at an exhibition of independent artists at the academy of Raymond Duncan.

Brittany was not his principal interest at this time but he followed from afar its cultural influences and in the 1930s frequented the Breton circles of Paris. On August 1, 1932, he married Fanny-Julienne Dobroushkess, native of Baltic states, from which her father, Hain-Woulf Dobroushkess, tailor by trade, had emigrated. Of this union was born a son, Jean, in December, 1935. On the eve of the Second World War Georges was fifty years old, and although he was over the age limit for his rank (captain of the reserves) and not mobilizable, he considered it his duty to answer the call and was allocated to the east army to Épinal and to Saint-Dié. His wife and their son joined him in the spring of 1940. Their second child Yves was born on May 18, 1940 in Épinal, a few days before the German offensive. At the beginning of June, the east army started their withdrawal. They travelled for a week before finding a welcome from a family near Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Georges eventually found employment in Châtel-Guyon where his family lived until autumn 1945.

On January 6, 1944, Alan Cochevelou, the future Alan Stivell, was born. A short time later, the family settled down in Paris again. At that time Georges was working as an English translator and contract employee for the Ministry of Finance, where he translated from English, Russian, Polish and Spanish. Fanny was working in the secretarial department of the civic and social Feminine Union, at 25 Rue de Valois. Cochevelou lived for five years in a small apartment on the boulevard of Belleville. They then lived on Rue Marne, then in Vincennes. Georges would seem to have adopted ideas appropriate to the right-wing bourgeoisie, although he and his family had relatively low incomes. His wife Fanny encouraged him to resume contact with family members remaining in Brittany.

Gradually Georges' interest in Brittany was rekindled, particularly in the Breton movement, of which he had never completely lost sight. One of his passions was in cabinetmaking—he made furniture and musical instruments. Furthermore, he played the piano, the transverse flute and the oboe. He tried to recreate the Celtic harp, an instrument forgotten when the Duchy of Brittany lost its independence, at the end of the Middle Ages. He researched it more and more seriously in the years 1946-1951, increasing his number of meetings and document retrievals, until finally he produced a prototype based on his personal designs. At the age of sixty three, he brought ambition, passion and perfectionism to this work which began in April, 1952 - in the evening and the weekends - which lasted a year. Fifteen years of work allowed him to create a "perfect and magic harp" according to his son, realizing his dream in the early 1950s. He created, in April, 1953, "Telenn gentañ", a harp model equipped with nylon strings. This work was the outcome of much research and calculation.

The sound of this harp, as well as the various performances and the recitals by his son Alan, created an enthusiasm which caused the revival of the instrument in Brittany in the 1950s. In 1959, he harmonized and arranged the pieces of Alan's first record. He produced about twenty copies which would be bought by the Celtic circles of Saint-Malo, Pontivy, Redon. In 1964, he created an instrument inspired by the 15th or 16th century Irish harp, fitted with metallic strings which gave him a tone similar to the twelve-stringed guitar or zither.

Jord died on December 20, 1974 in Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne). In 1976, Alan dedicated his album Trema'n Inis ("Towards the island") to Georges. Jord's wife died on September 26, 2005 in Limeil-Brévannes (Val-de-Marne) at the age of 102. Alan paid tribute to her with the song "Over there, over there" on the album Explores in 2006. Both rest in the cemetery of Gourin, following the wishes of Georges.

Family tree

Family of Georges Cochevelou

8. François Cochevelou (11/15/1785 in Gouloudic – 5/3/1857 in Gourin)                       4. François Cochevelou (5/22/1818 in Gourin – 11/7/1887 in Gourin)                             9. Marie Ursule Le Pensec (3/9/1783 in Gourin – 2/9/1853 in Gourin)                       2. François-Pierre-Marie Cochevelou (9/29/1864 in Nouec Vihan – 3/10/1893 in Pontivy) railway worker in 1889                                   10. Maurice Coroller (b. 1805 in Gourin)                       5. Marie Anne Coroller (b. 2/25/1832 in Gourin)                             11. Marie-Catherine Pasquet (d. 11/15/1848 in Gourin)                       1. Georges Cochevelou (5/13/1889 in Paris – 12/20/1974 in Saint-Mandé) civil servant in the French Ministry of Finance                                         12. Hypolite Schutz (2/20/1812 in Saint-Hippolyte, Haut-Rhin – 8/16/1860 in Hennebont)                       6. François Lintanff (7/3/1806 in Plouaret – 5/25/1868 in Mûr-de-Bretagne)                             13. Françoise Le Denmat (8/19/1815 in Malguénac – 12/30/1849 in Rennes)                       3. Anne-Marie-Eulalie Lintanff (b. 3/25/1869 in Pontivy)                                   7. Suzanne Boscher (4/8/1810 in Mûr-de-Bretagne – 1/18/1867 in Mûr-de-Bretagne)