Leandro Bisiach

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Leandro Bisiach in his atelier

Leandro Bisiach (1864 – 1946) was a violin maker born in Casale Monferrato Italy and died in 1946 at Venegono Superiore Milan.

Trained as a violinist, he made his first violin on his own and received praise for it. Thus he decided to become a violin maker and moved to Milan to work with the Antoniazzi family in 1886. With them he established a partnership of exceptional importance, putting to good use his artistic skills and business ability. After having moved his workshop to various premises, he retired to his villa in Venegono (Varese) leaving his sons to continue the business in Milan.

Bisiach was an outstanding figure in the commerce of antique violins but above all had the merit of raising a generation of great luthiers, among whom for example Gaetano Sgarabotto, Igino Sderci, Pietro Borghi, Ornati and Garimberti come to mind.

His workshop can be considered as the most important in Italy in that period. Besides Leandro Bisiach himself, the following instrument makers worked in his labaratory: Riccardo Antoniazzi, Romeo Antoniazzi, Gaetano Sgarabotto, Giuseppe Ornati, Ferdinado Garimberti, Igino Sderci, Rocchi Sesto, Cipriano Briani, Camillo Mandelli, Ferriccio Varagnolo, Camillo Colombo, Vincenzo Cavani,Pietro Paravicini, Albert Moglie, Andrea Bisiach, Carlo Bisiach, Pietro Borghi, Mirco Tarasconi, Leandro Jr. & Giacomo Bisiach, Iginio Sieg and Carlo Ferrario.

As is known, after the death of the last great Cremonese Masters after the middle of the 18th century, only the Cerutis remained in Cremona to prevent that memorable tradition from dying out completely. It was the Antoniazzis who undertook the task of transferring the scant knowledge saved from oblivion from Cremona to Milan.

However the most important event for the renaissance of violin-making in Lombardy was certainly the meeting between Riccardo Antoniazzi and Leandro Bisiach; the latter, thanks to his talent, his taste and his business ability succeded in founding, at the end of the 19th century, a workshop which soon gained international fame.

Leandro Bisiach did a great deal of research and found some old recipes. The varnish on the instruments from his best period is very beautiful; of transparent and flexible quality. He primarily used a light red-orange color although it varied greatly from one instrument to another. He had a special talent for creating "antiqued" varnishes for the numerous "copies" he made. To give it the old look he very often shaded off the varnish only at the base of the back plate. He used a large number of diverse models but principally those of Stradivari Amatise and other models of Guarneri, Balestrieri, Guadagnini, Gagliano,Ceruti or other violin makers from Veneto in the 1700's. He also utilized many others as chance would have it.

He received various awards and recognition at the World Exhibition of London 1895, Atlanta 1895-1896, Turin 1898, Paris 1900, Milan 1906 and Brussels 1910.

1 References
2 Quotes
3 Instruments
4 Bisiach Family Heritage

[edit] References

Eric Blot, Un secolo di Liuteria Italiana 1860-1960 - A century of Italian Violin Making - Emilia e Romagna I, Cremona 1994. ISBN 88-7929-026-6

La Liuteria Italiana / Italian Violin Making in the 1800's and 1900's - Umberto Azzolina

I Maestri Del Novicento - Carlo Vettori

La Liuteria Lombarda del '900 - Roberto Codazzi, Cinzia Manfredini 2002

Dictionary of 20th Century Italian Violin Makers - Marlin Brinser 1978

Dictionnaire Universel del Luthiers - Rene Vannes 1951,1972, 1985 (vol.3)

Universal Dictionary of Violin & Bow Makers - William Henley 1970

Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst - Walter Hamma 1964

[edit] Quotes

"Became the most esteemed Italian maker of his time. Made many perfect replicas of old instruments, also many of new appearance. Varnished from a long-lost Strad recipe dated 1704 which came into his possession, and subsequently caused much controversy among connoisseurs as to its authenticity. Lovely textured and lustrously transparent of orange-red shade, irresistibly urging the onlooker to immediately draw the bow across the strings, and finds viola-like sonority on the G and D with brilliant clarity on the a and E." - Universal Dictionary of Violin & Bow Makers - William Henley 1970

"He had as clients virtually all of the most important performers of his time, a fact readily apparent from the innumerable photographs which filled his walls, and his instruments had won many awards at the great International Competitions." - Philip J. Kass

[edit] Instruments

"Leandro Bisiach did a great deal of research and found some old recipes. The varnish on the instruments from his best period is very beautiful; of transparent and flexible quality. He primarily used a light red-orange color although it varied greatly from one instrument to another. He had a special talent for creating "antiqued" varnishes for the numerous "copies" he made. To give it the old look he very often shaded off the varnish only at the base of the back plate. He used a large number of diverse models but principally those of Stradivari Amatise and other models of Guarneri, Balestrieri, Guadagnini, Gagliano, Ceruti or other violin makers from Veneto in the 1700's. He also utilized many others as chance would have it." - Eric Blot