A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bottesini, Giovanni
BOTTESINI, Giovanni, a very celebrated virtuoso on the double bass, also an excellent conductor and composer, was born on Dec. 24, 1822, at Crema in Lombardy. He is the son of a good musician and clarinet player of his native town, and as a boy sang in the chapel choir. He early displayed such a remarkable talent for music that at the age of eleven application was made for him to be admitted into the Conservatorio at Milan. It so happened that there was only one vacant place, and that for a contrabassist. Bottesini accordingly commenced the study of the double bass, was admitted at the Conservatoire and, it is said, before long played almost as well as he did afterwards, when his marvellous command over this unwieldy instrument excited the admiration of the whole musical world of Europe. His masters were Rossi for the double bass, Basili and Vaccai for harmony and composition. On leaving the Conservatorio he travelled with his fellow pupil Signor Arditi (then a violin player) and afterwards went to America. Eventually he accepted a lucrative engagement at the Havana as principal double bass in the orchestra, which he retained for many years. Here his first opera, 'Christophe Colombe,' was given in 1846.
His first appearance in this country was on June 26, 1849, at the Musical Union, where he played the violoncello part of one of Onslow's quintets, which, it will be remembered, contain prominent solo passages for that instrument. By his performance of this and of a solo he astonished all present, and at once won for himself the reputation which he has ever since enjoyed, of being the most accomplished virtuoso on the double bass in the annals of musical history. Those alone who have heard him play can realise the beauty of the performance. It is not only marvellous as a tour de force, but the consummate skill of this great artist enables him to produce a result delightful even for the most fastidious musician to listen to. Extraordinary agility and strength of hand, dexterous use of the harmonics, purity of tone and intonation, perfect taste in phrasing—in fact all the requisites of a great solo player—are exhibited by Bottesini on this cumbrous instrument. It can only be regretted that such exceptional powers should not have been devoted to an instrument more worthy of them. It may be mentioned that Bottesini plays upon a three-stringed bass, which he prefers as being more sonorous, and with a bow made and held somewhat like that of the violoncello, whereas the curved bow generally employed in the orchestra was used by Dragonetti. (The relative merits of these two forms of bow were the subject of an enquiry by a committee nominated by the Paris Conservatoire at the time of its foundation. Dragonetti was consulted and the pattern of his bow adopted for the orchestra of the institution.) Bottesini is also distinguished as composer and conductor. In this latter capacity he presided over the orchestra of the Italian Opera in Paris from 1855 to 1857. He was afterwards director of the Italian Opera at Cairo. He has written several pieces for his instrument, among which his fantasia on Sonnambula, the Carnival of Venice, and duets which he played with Signori Sivori and Piatti, will long be remembered—also the opera of 'L'Assedio di Firenze' produced in Paris in 1856, 'Ali Baba,' written for and performed in London with considerable success in 1871, 'Ero e Leandro' (produced successfully at Turin in 1879), and one or two quartets. For some time he has paid, with more or less regularity, an annual visit to England. At the Norwich Festival of 1887 an oratorio by him, to words by Mr. Joseph Bennett, entitled 'The Garden of Olivet,' was performed for the first time. It only remains to be added that Bottesini is as amiable as a man as he is excellent as an artist, and that he enjoys the universal goodwill of the musical profession. (Died July 7, 1889.)[ T. P. H. ]