Informationen zu "Giovanni Bottesini Ed: David Heyes Two Arias - orchestral tuning Double Bass & Voice, Voice, Double Bass & Piano"
Verlag: Recital Music
Verlagsnummer: RM775
EAN: 9790570457755
ISMN: M-57045-775-5
Beschreibung
Giovanni Bottesini was the greatest double bass virtuoso of the 19th-century
and many of his compositions for double bass are still at the heart of the
solo repertoire. He spent much of his life in the opera house, as both
conductor and composer, and his music is inspired by the lyrical, cantabile
and virtuosic pyrotechnics of 19th-century Italian opera. He also transcribed
a number of works for his own recitals and both arias are attributed to
Bottesini, but are in fact by other composers. Une Bouche Aimee is
originally by Charles Gounod (1818-1893) and is based on 'My Beloved Spake',
for soprano, violoncello obbligato and piano. Composed in London in 1871/72
and setting words from 'The Song of Solomon', Bottesini transcribed it for
voice, double bass and piano, transposing it into a lower key and adding new
words. Tutto il Mondo Serra is a transcription of Frederic Chopin's 'Etude
in C sharp minor' Op.25, No.7, originally for solo piano, but also
transcribed by many others for different instrumental combinations. The words
for both arias are by an unknown author and are unlikely to be by Bottesini.
The double bass part in the piano accompaniment includes the original
Bottesini bowings, and the printed solo parts are edited by David Heyes.
'How he bewildered us by playing all sorts of melodies in flute like
harmonics, as though he had a hundred nightingales caged in his double
bass... I never wearied of his consummate grace and finish, his fatal
precision, his heavenly tone, his fine taste. One sometimes yearned for a
touch of human imperfection, but he was like a dead shot, he never missed
what he aimed at, and he never aimed at less than perfection.' [H.Haweis,
1888] Giovanni Bottesini was called the 'Paganini of the Double Bass' and
was the finest double bass soloist of the 19th-century. He was born in Crema
(Lombardy) on 24 December 1821 and studied at the double bass at the Milan
Conservatoire with Luigi Rossi, alongside harmony and composition with Nicola
Vaccai (1790-1848) and Francesco Basili (1767-1850). His remarkable career as
a soloist began in 1839 and lasted fifty years, taking him to every corner of
the world. From Italy, his travels took him to Cuba (1846), USA (1847),
England (annually from 1849), Egypt, Ireland, France, Germany, Russia,
Mexico, Spain, Belgium, Monte carlo and many other countries throughout a
long and distinguished career. Bottesini was also famous as a composer
writing at least 13 operas (Cristoforo Colombo, 1847 / Il diavolo della
notte, 1856 / Ali Baba, 1871 / Ero e Leandro, 1879), a Messa da Requiem
(1880) and an oratorio, The Garden of Olivet (1887 - first performed at the
Norwich Festival), works for orchestra, 11 string quartets, string quintets,
songs and many virtuoso works for double bass. As a conductor he is
remembered primarily for directing the first performance of Verdi's Aida in
Cairo in 1871, but was also a repsected composer of Italian opera, including
seasons in Mexico, Paris, Palermo, Barcelona, London, Buenos Aires and Parma.
Bottesini's music for double bass is still at the heart of the solo
repertoire into the 21st-century, even though his orchestral and operatic
music has generally fallen from favour, but his Elegia for double bass and
piano is one of the most recorded works of the 20th-century. Giovanni
Bottesini died in Parma on 7 July 1889.
