Serassi, Giuseppe

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Serassi, Giuseppe

Serassi, Giuseppe, Italian organ builder, known as “il Vecchio;” b. Corno, 1694; d. Crema, Aug. 1, 1760. He settled in Bergamo about 1730, and built the organs at San Pellegrino, Lodi, and the Santuario di Caraveg-gio. His son, Andrea Luigi Serassi (b. Bergamo, May 19, 1725; d. there, 1799), carried on the business, and built the cathedral organs in Crema, Fossano, Parma, and Vigevano. His son, Giuseppe Serassi, known as “II Giovane” (b. Bergamo, Nov. 16, 1750; d. there, Feb. 19, 1817), continued the family tradition and built about 350 organs. He pubi, a description of the new organ at Corno (1808), with a short history of the organ and good rules for registration; also brought out a pamphlet, Sugli organi (Bergamo, 1816). After his death, the family tradition was carried on by his son and grandson; the business was dissolved in 1870.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire