Leandro Bisiach
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Leandro Bisiach (16 June 1864 – 1 December 1945) was an Italian
violin maker A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be u ...
, who was born in
Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Northwest Italy, northwestern Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po River, Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montfe ...
and died in 1945 in
Venegono Superiore Venegono Superiore is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about southeast of Varese. Venegono Superiore borders the following municipalities: Binago, Castig ...
near
Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...
.


Biography

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 leaving his sons Andrea and
Carlo Bisiach Carlo Bisiach (1892–1968) was a violin maker born in Milan, Italy. Bisiach's work contributed to the rebirth of violin making in the region after the difficult times of World War I and World War II. After working with his father Leandro in Mil ...
to continue the business in Milan. Bisiach was a prominent figure in the commerce of antique violins. He trained a number of luthiers, including Gaetano Sgarabotto, Igino Sderci, Pietro Borghi, Ornati and Garimberti. His workshop can be considered the most important in Italy in that period. The following instrument makers worked at Bisiach's:
Riccardo Antoniazzi Riccardo Antoniazzi (19 December 1853 – 10 November 1912) was an Italian violin maker, the brother of Romeo Antoniazzi. Early life and career Antoniazzi was born in Cremona, the sixth child and pupil of Gaetano and was the most consistent ...
,
Romeo Antoniazzi Romeo Antoniazzi (4 May 1862 – 7 May 1925) was an Italian violin maker. He was the eighth son and pupil of Gaetano Antoniazzi. Antoniazzi was born in Cremona. Initially he worked with his father and brother and like them made instruments (of the ...
, Gaetano Sgarabotto,
Giuseppe Ornati Giuseppe Ornati - (1887 in Albairate near Milan – 1965 in Milan) was an Italian violin maker or Luthier. Biography Considered to be one of the greatest violin makers of his time, he trained as a carpenter and then received the first notions of ...
,
Ferdinando Garimberti Garimberti, Ferdinando (6 January 1894 – 26 March 1982) was an award-winning Italian violin maker. Biography Garimberti was born in Mamiano di Traversetolo, a province of Parma. In 1902, he and his family moved to Milan. He studied wit ...
,
Igino Sderci Igino (Iginius) Sderci (1884 - 1983, born in Gaiole in Chianti, Italy) was a violin maker who studied under master maker Leandro Bisiach. Making more than 700 instruments including many large violas, he won gold medals at the prestigious Stradi ...
,
Rocchi Sesto Sesto Rocchi (1909–1991) was a violin maker from Reggio Emilia, Italy. Biography Sesto Rocchi was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy. He started his violin making studies at the School of Violin Making at the Parma Conservatory under Gaetano Sg ...
, Carlo Carletti, Cipriano Briani, Camillo Mandelli, Ferriccio Varagnolo, Camillo Colombo, Vincenzo Cavani, Pietro Paravicini, Albert Moglie, Andrea Bisiach,
Carlo Bisiach Carlo Bisiach (1892–1968) was a violin maker born in Milan, Italy. Bisiach's work contributed to the rebirth of violin making in the region after the difficult times of World War I and World War II. After working with his father Leandro in Mil ...
, Pietro Borghi, Mirco Tarasconi, Leandro Jr. & Giacomo Bisiach, Iginio Siega and Carlo Ferrario. With the death of the last of the great Cremonese masters towards the end of the 18th century, only the Cerutis remained in
Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...
. It was the Antoniazzis who undertook the task of transferring the scant knowledge saved from oblivion from Cremona to Milan. Leandro Bisiach did a great deal of research and found some old recipes, which he used to create antiqued varnishes for the numerous copies he made. He primarily used a varnish of a light red-orange color although it varied greatly from one instrument to another. To give an instrument an aged look he very often shaded off the varnish only at the base of the back plate. Bisiach used a large number of diverse models but principally those of
Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloqui ...
, Amatise and other models of
Guarneri The Guarneri (, , ), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati ...
, Balestrieri, Guadagnini, Gagliano,
Enrico Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from '' Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry ( English), Henri ( French), ...
and
Giovanni Battista Ceruti Giovanni Battista Ceruti (1756–1817) was an Italian violin maker, and is considered a direct link to the grand tradition of the Cremonese master violin makers of the 18th century. He is known for his violins, cellos and double basses. Biography ...
or other violin makers from Veneto in the 18th century. He also utilized many others as chance would have it. Bisiach received various awards and recognition from exhibitions at Atlanta 1895-1896,
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
1898,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
1900, Milan 1906 and
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
1910. "The shaping of the back, in Bisiach's instruments, can be identified by the accentuated hollowing out that emphasizes the border, which is rounded. The inlay has a large central white strip and two very narrow black threads, short and slightly closed corners, an echo of the Stradivarian style. The F holes are cleanly and precisely cut, while the columns of the ribs are clearly inspired by the classic Cremonese school. Bisiach's varnishes, usually a beautiful red-brown, have brilliant yellow-gold reflections." - Pardo Fornaciari, Arte Liuteria Musicians who owned Leandro's instruments included American violinists Sebastian Campesi and
Nathan Milstein Nathan Mironovich Milstein ( – December 21, 1992) was a Russian and American virtuoso violinist. Widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, Milstein was known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works and for wo ...
.


Quotes

"The baron Andrea Paganini, grandson of the famous Niccolo, wrote a letter of thanks to Bisiach in 1839 for the repair in admirable style of his Stradivarius. Other clients included Sarasate, Joachim, and violoncellist Alfredo Piatti, who trusted his violoncello (a Stradivarius, from which Bisiach made a reproduction) to no one else. This patriarch of violin making must have had a rather striking personality, if his own maestro, Riccardo Antoniazzi, to say nothing of Antoniazzi's father Gaetano and brother Romeo, joined the company that Bisiach had created in his own name." - Pardo Fornaciari, Arte Liuteri "Leandro Bisiach began in his native town of Casale Monferrato, in 1886, and immediately transferred himself to Milan where, as student of Riccardo Antoniazzi, thanks to Antoniazzi's maestro
Enrico Ceruti Enrico Ceruti (1806–1883) was an Italian violin maker born in Cremona, known as the last of the great line of violinmakers of Cremona. He was the son of Giuseppe Ceruti and grandson to Giovanni Battista Ceruti. He was also an active dealer of ...
(1803-1883) and of his teacher, Claudio Storioni, he could claim more than just an imaginary affiliation with the great Cremonese school. In fact Storioni had been a student of Carlo Bergonzi, the only true custodian of the secrets of Stradivarius. We must say that Leandro Bisiach honoured his significant inheritance, which in actuality was not only symbolic. By one of those tricks of fortune that make one suspect the hand of destiny, Leandro senior had come into possession of tools and models that had belonged to the various old Cremonese masters. This seems strange enough in itself, a curious coincidence. In reality, he had much greater luck; among the documents and papers obtained by Fanny Rossi, the widow of Giacomo Stradivari (1822-1901), Bisiach found the most precious and extraordinary item imaginable, that is, the formula for the varnish of the great Antonio Stradivarius from 1704. In truth, it was not the only varnish of the eighteenth century that Bisiach could use. He had at hand another formula used first by Giovan Battista Ceruti (1755-1817) and later by two other generations of the same family. In addition, in 1929 he gained possession of a collection of documents attributed to Stradivarius, among which he found another formula that dated back to the great Cremonese." - Pardo Fornaciari, Arte Liuteria "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 (Venice) in the 18th century. He also utilized many others as chance would have it."
Eric Blot
"Leandro was one of the most influential violin makers and dealers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He won important recognition and prizes in International exhibitions in London (1895), Atlanta (1895-96), Turin (1898), Paris (1900), Milan (1906), and Brussels (1910), and in 1905 opened and successfully ran a workshop that can be compared to the great workshops of J.B. Vuillaume and W.E. Hill and Sons."
Stefan Hersh
""One can easily say that Leandro was as influential in 20th century as J.B. Vuillaume was in the 19th century. Auction Record:Leandro Bisiach, Violin Milan 1895 Brompton's (London, England) Nov.3, 2008 $93,893 / £59,220"
Gennady Filimonov


References

* The STRAD magazine April 1929 "Interview with Leandro Bisiach" * The STRAD magazine December 1971 *The STRAD magazine November 2020 Dispatches from the Front Line by Gennady Filimonov * * *


External links

* La Liuteria Italiana / Italian Violin Making in the 19th and 20th centuries - 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 Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes between 9 and 11 species, depending on the taxonomic authority. Name The family's common name is thought to derive from their resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike. Taxonomy Th ...
1978 * * *
Walter Hamma Walter Hamma (22 September 1916 – 11 August 1988) was a German violin maker. His father, Fridolin Hamma, was an influential violin maker. Walter Hamma was pupil of the violin making school in Mittenwald Mittenwald () is a German municipalit ...
, ''Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst'', Wilhelmshaven 1993,
Liuteria Parmense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisiach, Leandro 1864 births 1946 deaths Bowed string instrument makers Italian musical instrument makers Italian luthiers People from Casale Monferrato