Ginislao Paris
| Ginislao Paris | |
|---|---|
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| Born | March 15, 1852 Naples, Italy |
| Died | unknown, after 1917 |
| Occupation | Trombonist, Mandolinist |
Ginislao Paris (1852-after 1917) was an Italian composer and musician in Tsarist Russia who played trombone with the Russian Imperial Opera Orchestra in St. Petersburg. He also played mandolin, founding the first mandolin orchestra in Russia, The society of amateur Mandolinists and Guitarists in the 1880s. That orchestra was important because it inspired Vassily Andreev, to form the first orchestra based on Russian instruments.
Paris invented a specialized mandolin which was named for him (Sistema Ginislao Paris) and built by the workshops of Luigi Embergher. The Paris Ginislao mandolins feature a double top (a second hollow space within the instrument, created by a false back between the soundboard and the instrument's back). The double top is a feature that mandolin makers are now experimenting with in the 21st century, to get better sound. Mandolinists such as Avi Avital and Joseph Brent use them, and they are custom instruments, today.
In 1905, Roman luthier Luigi Embergher made several mandolin family instruments based on Ginislao Paris' own design, featuring double top and special bracing system. Only four instruments of “Sistema Ginislao Paris” forming the mandolin family quartet are known presently. One is an Embergher Artistico mandolin model No. 8, held in the Theatre Museum of St Petersburg. Another is a Liuto cantabile (known as the Russian Embergher) of model 5 bis, another mandolin No.5 bis and a mandola model 5 bis, held in private collections.
Ginislao Paris was born Ginislao Cesare Antonio Paris in Naples, 15 March 1852. In Russian he was known as Джинислао Францевич Парис (Djenislav Frantzevich).
From 1868 to 1872 Paris served as a volunteer in Italian Military Forces. He began his career as a trombonist in the Orchestra of Russian Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra on 1 January 1876. He married Maria Alexandrovna Strasser in St. Petersburg in 1879. They had daughters: Violetta-Tamara (b.1882) and Margherita (b.1893). In the 1880's Ginislao Paris led the Society of Amateur Mandolinists and Guitarists of St. Petersburg (Circolo), which eventually became the first mandolin orchestra in Russia. According to Flaviy Sokolov's book, Vasily Andreyev was inspired by Ginislao Paris orchestra to turn from his solo balalaika performances to creation of a full orchestra of Russian folk instruments.
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