Bottesini: Passione Amorosa for violin, double bass & string orchestra (Solo Tuning)

About the Composition

Bottesini composed a number of original works for two double basses, all thought to have been written during his studies at the Milan Conservatoire (1835-39) or in the years shortly afterwards. This was probably the only time that Bottesini performed with another bassist during his long and illustrious career and Giovanni Arpesani (1820-1855), a former student at the conservatoire, was his duo partner at the time [Also documented as Luigi Arpesani]. The duo performed together in 1844 at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, according to the biographer Gaspare Nello Vetro, but there is no mention of a performance of the Passione Amorosa.

Although still at the beginning of his career, Bottesini would have been steeped in the early 19th-century Italian opera of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti amongst others, and much of his music encapsulates the drama, passion and bravura of the opera house.

In three lively and contrasting movements and lasting only around ten minutes, the Passione Amorosa is essentially a mini three-act opera for a soprano and tenor soloist but portrayed by two virtuosic and serenading double bassists. The technical challenges are much simpler than in the Gran Duo Concertante, which was also originally for two double basses and piano, and this new digital edition was arranged some years ago for violin, double bass and string orchestra by David Heyes.

Passione Amorosa is lively and full of high spirits and drama, brimming with youthful energy and enthusiasm, from a composer who is able to display his extensive knowledge of the solo bass technique across its entire range successfully entwined with the operatic style of the day.

This edition is for double bass in solo tuning

*Recital Music also publishes editions for 2 double basses and string orchestra in both solo and orchestral tunings.

About the Composer

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 respected composer of Italian opera, including seasons in Mexico, Paris, Palermo, Barcelona, London, Buenos Aires and Parma.

Giovanni Bottesini died in Parma on 7 July 1889.