Abelardo Albisi

Abelardo Albisi was an Italian flute maker, flautist and composer active in and around Milan, where he was flautist at La Scala from 1897. He is generally placed as born in 1872 and died in January 1938 in Switzerland, although the exact place of his death is not known with certainty.

His best-known contribution is the albisiphon, a bass flute in C on the Boehm system, held upright and with a T-shaped head, which he devised in 1910 and described in a treatise published that same year in Milan. Mascagni (Parisina, 1913) and Zandonai (Melenis, 1912; Francesca da Rimini, 1914) used it in their scores.

He also designed other instruments. The Dayton Miller collection at the Library of Congress in Washington holds two baritone albisiphons in C and one tenor in F, as well as a "media flauta in do" (half flute in C) for which he composed a concerto. Around 1913 he made flutes with the Milanese maker Luigi Vanotti; between 1919 and 1923 he taught classes in Geneva.

As a composer he wrote studies for solo flute, suites for flute trio and chamber works for woodwind. His legacy rests above all in the extension of the flute family towards the lower registers, an influence felt in the orchestral practice of his time.