The Bossi were one of the most important ancient dynasty of Italian organ builders; their origin is comasco-ticinese and goes back to the XVIth century: their presence in Bergamo is documented from 1703 to 1911.

At the moment we have still few historic information about them: in 1978 Pier Maria Soglian published the first book about their genealogy. However, a deeper study about their secular activity has still been lacking, but of course this is not an easy task. As a matter of fact, the vastness of their works requires a great deal of inquiry, which is even more difficult because of the scarce knowledge not only of XVIIIth century documents but also of the different firms (three in the XIXth century) which arose from the stock.

They mostly worked in the north and in the centre of Italy as well as in Asia Minor. There isn't any catalogue of their works: it can be supposed that their workshops built about a thousand organs. The organs which have been surviving since the eighteenth century are few; instead those of the nineteenth century are many. The land of Bergamo keeps many of them. Contemporaries and posterity held them in high esteem, not only for their excellent timbre and sound, but also for their great ability to satisfy the various requirements of the churches both from a contractual and musical point of view.

Up to few years ago, the Bossi's work was almost completely ignored by scholars. Yet, in the eighteenth century these organ builders were even more famous than the Serassi; the proof is given both by the organ of the cathedral of Bergamo, built in 1728 and in 1737 by Antonio Bossi and his son Angelo, and by the remaking of the organ of S. Maria Maggiore in 1782. So, in this century the privilege to serve the two most important churches in Bergamo was given to the Bossi.

The contemporaries appreciated them too, and sometimes they expressed their judgements in a superlative manner: in 1713 Antonio Bossi was described as a "very good builder" (Astino); his son Angelo as a "very remarkable builder" (Cenate S. Leone, 1760); or as a "famous organ builder" (Gorlago, 1763); the Bossi are defined "the most excellent and praised Artificer in such a trade" (Zorzone, 1767).

They had their own, definite style: in the construction of pipes and of wooden, mechanic sctructures (windchests and rollers); in the planning; in the marking of the chest, rackboard, pipes according to the Arabian numbering system (the note is marked with a cross); in the tonal disposition; in timbre and sound: thanks to these elements and characteristics, the Bossi can be considered a real organ building school. They worked in many territories: Como, Brescia, Milan, Parma, Venice, Piedmont.

In Milan, Giovanni Antonio Bossi restored the organ of the Duomo (after 1729); from 1750 his son Angelo worked together with the Milanese Rocco Longone Binago in the restoration and maintenance of the organs of the Duomo, and in this city he had a work-shop. By the way, a document says: "He built many organs in the land of Bergamo and Milan, and he always got approval". Again in Milan, Giuseppe, Angelo's son, is pointed out for the construction of a particular kind of organ, ordered by the duke Serbelloni in 1780: it had quarters of tones and was called "enarmonico".

The Bossi's role in the XVIIIth century organ building art in Lombardy and in Bergamo is still to be studied. They recall the Flamish builder Hermans's work: they knew very well the important organ of the Duomo in Como (1650), since they restored it in 1718: this organ became a symbol of the most advanced organ building art, it enchanted for its power and its different sounds, to such a point that "it is possible to obtain sounds of birdsong, bells, siskin, bourdon and so on". In 1728 the vestry-board of the Duomo in Bergamo ordered the Bossi the construction of an organ which had to be "like that of the cathedral of Como".

Till Angelo I's death (1776), the Bossi were incredibly daring and bold in the construction; in general we can say that they looked after the sounds and the construction quality. For instance, joinery was of the best quality; pipes were carefully built, metals and timbres were well worked; mechanics (rollers and stop action) were strong, prompt and rationally put. In pipes, lead was usually used in the feets, and tin in tubas. In sonorous taste, they preferred warm, round sounds in comparison with the Serassi's clear, open ones.

After Angelo I's death (1776), his two sons Francesco and Giuseppe began working on their own account in the same house in Borgo Canale; such a division weakened their operative, contractual power. Their work developed thanks to the continuous comparison with the Serassi and their technical innovations: the Bossi learnt by them, but never gave up their timbrical features. The very Giuseppe Serassi II in his Lettere (1816) mentioned the Bossi among the most praiseworthy builders of his time. Let's distinguish the two branches:

• Carlo (1770-1836) descended from Giuseppe (1742-1816): he was the preminent figure in the Lombard organ building outline between the XVIIIth and the XIXth centuries. Among his sons, interested in organ building art (Felice 1797- after 1873, Don Giuseppe 1800-1862, Pellegrino 1802-?, Gerolamo 1804-1877, Adeodato 1806-1891) someone got very important like Felice, who in the middle of the century definitively moved to Turin with some workers and Giacomo Vegezzi Bossi from Bergamo, his adoptive son: in Turin he created a firm which would become the leading character in the Italian outline at the end of the XIXth century; and Adeodato, who was one of the best Italian builders.
  
  
• Giovanni (1779-1821) and Angelo II (1793- after 1861) descended from Francesco (1738-1803); they created an active firm, that after Giovanni's premature death (in 1821) was called "Bossi Angelo and Nephews"; the nephews were: Aurelio (1812-1847), Francesco II (1818-1861) and Giovanni (1821- after 1863).

Although the Bossi 's work was very important in this century, we cannot express exhaustive considerations yet, but only sketch their most important representative's work and figure: the organ builder Adeodato, interesting inventor, artist with active talent during all the century. He was thirty when, after his father's death (1836) started working on his own account along with other three brothers: Don Giuseppe, Girolamo and Pellegrino. He added his maternal surname, Urbani, to the paternal one, so he distinguished his organ workshop from that of his brother and his cousins. Chronicles call him a "clever inventor", a "sublime builder", "celebrity of the art", "very worthy master", "second to none". Endowed with courage and extraordinary inventiveness, in 1847 he got famous in Italy for the construction of the organ of S. Colombano al Lambro in the zone of Lodi: this organ had 107 stops and 4,463 pipes (unfortunately it doesn't exist any longer) and was projected by the praised organist Padre Davide da Bergamo. His notoriety got bigger and bigger after S. Colombano's organ, and his organ inventions received authoritative recognitions.

In 1846 he received honorific mention by the Imperiale Regio Istituto di Scienze ed Arti di Venezia thanks to the "Eolomotore", an air-pump which produced air for the organ bellows. Later, it was improved to such an extent that in 1855 he was given a silver medal by the Imperiale Regio Istituto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti di Milano. This ingenious machine was formed of four pumps (small bellows), two by two set in motion through an handle: the pumps fed a bellows of reserve, more developed in heigh than in width. In such a way, it was possible to obtain a prompt, regular, strong air blow produced by the power of a single handle set in motion by a light pressure, so that "only two bellows are enough for an organ which should have at least eight ones, and a ten or twelve-year-old boy can keep up steam with only one hand"; the organ is "quickly prepared, and the wind is always kept in a perfect equality". Every kind of wavering, which is a too common defect in organs, is absent; finally, the invention "gives the organ an incredible strength, muffling the irregularity of sound called asthma".

Adeodato was called to build organs in important churches in Italian and foreign cities (Faenza, Rome, Bologna, L'Aquila, Piacenza, Cremona, Locarno, Smirne, Costantinopoli...) as well as in the church of the Stimmate (Rome, 1856) where he was awarded a golden medal striken with his name.

In 1858 the famous organist Padre Davide wrote that Adeodato Bossi was the best Italian organ builder of that moment. Then, in 1881 he was awarded at the national Esposizione of Milano for the invention of the double pallet (of the chest); its aim was to attenuate the air pressure, that's to say, to defeat the resistance so that the keyboard could be lighter "and the organ easy to the touch". In 1887 he was the first in Italy to apply electricity to the organ mechanical action (in the Serassi organ, 1871, in cornu Evengelii of S. Alessandro in Colonna's church, Bergamo); in 1888, when he was eighty-two (!), he received the Diploma di Benemerenza and a silver medal at the Esposizione di Bologna. He got married to Zoe Gilardoni, and his successor was his very skilful nephew Luigi Balicco Bossi (1833-1911).

Adeodato was always very highly thought by the most famous music masters, and great musicians like Mayr, Padre Davide, Nini, Ponchielli, Pagnoni professed to him a sincer friendship. Here is what a very dear friend of him, Pietro Benigni, said after his death (1891) on the "Gazzetta Provinciale di Bergamo": "Such is Adeodato Bossi, and such are his exceptional qualities that not one, but many columns of a newspaper, and a volume would be necessary to portray him in a worthy manner. However, who could believe it? Adeodato Bossi's last quality was the fame. He built hundreds of big and small organs in the most remarkable temples all over the world, like in S. Colombano Lodigiano, 120 stops, in S. Maria a Pera in Costantinopoli, in the cathedrale of Smirne, at the Domenicans in Bologna, in the Stimmate in Rome, in Corte Maggiore Parmigiana, in Romano di Lombardia, in Calusco, in S. Alessandro, in S. Maria Maggiore and so on. His works, extolled by clever people, sung by excellent poets and awarded with enviable honours, were not better than his virtue of friend (I don't say of father because he hadn't any son), of husband and of pure, loving man: he had an admirable delicacy in behaviour, he was kind-hearted, amiable in his manners, sweet in character, frank and confident. Tireless soldier of the art, he was faithful to his duty and scrupolous executor of his engagements, even if his work was not rewarded. Ambition and business never darkened his mind: his only ambition was to improve more and more his art. Activity, work and study: these were the constant spur of his life...".

Regarding the mere organ point of view, on occasion of final inspections to his organs, the chronicles of his times were rich in praises. The constant elements are: continuous innovation, efficiency and accuracy in mechanics; soft, round sounds; proportioned strength and neatness in the Principal chorus; invention and continuous improvement in the timbre of reed pipes (even today, they are famous and inimitable); solidity in construction; utilization of the best quality materials (both wood and metal); unexceptionable, clever, plain, functional working. Corrado Moretti said about him (1973): "He built organs which had an exceptional mechanic, sound perfection with a personal, noble style".

After his death, his firm continued with his nephew, his sister Ottavia's son, Luigi Balicco Bossi from Bergamo, "his favourite pupil, modest, with a fervent genius and very skilled in the organ building art". His work, always high in quality, was mostly turned to the restoration and maintenance of his family's huge organ patrimony, along with the construction of new excellent works. In 1911, with his death, one of the best dynasties of the Italian organ history came to an end.