Giovanni Bottesini: Adagio Melancolico ed Appassionato for double bass & piano (ed. David Heyes)

About the Composition

Adagio Melancolico ed Appassionato is a beautifully lyrical and expressive piece which explores and exploits the lyrical and sonorous qualities of the double bass. Played primarily in the solo register, this is ideal for the advanced bassist and would fit easily into any recital and for any audience or occasion. The accompaniment is colorful and supportive enabling the bassist to create wonderfully shaped phrases and emotions throughout its solo register.

Adagio Melancolico ed Appassionato is based on Élégie Op.10 for violin and piano by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814-1865), one of the most outstanding violinists of his day and one of Paganini’s greatest successors. Ernst composed many virtuosic works for the violin and was also known for his slow and soulful pieces which were popular during his lifetime and remain so to the present day. Élégie was first published in Vienna in 1840 and was probably composed a few years before.

The edition includes two double bass parts, with the original bowings by Bottesini and a newly edited one by David Heyes, alongside piano accompaniments for both solo and orchestral tuning.

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.

About the Editor

David Heyes (b.1960) studied double bass with Laurence Gray and Bronwen Naish, later at the Royal College of Music in London, and completed his post-graduate studies in Prague with František Pošta (Principal Bass, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). He has given recitals and masterclasses in 20 countries over the past few years and has been a juror at a number of international competitions, three times as chairman.

David's collaborative work gained him a prestigious award from the David Walter Charitable Trust of New York for his pioneering activities as a soloist, teacher, publisher, and commissioner of new music for double bass and he works with composers throughout the world to expand the double bass repertoire by commissioning new music and by rediscovering forgotten ones. Since 1983 more than 750 works have been written for him, music from one to twenty basses and from beginner to virtuoso, and he has premiered ten contemporary concertos with orchestra.

David began to compose in 2013 and has had music performed and recorded in 32 countries across five continents and is proud to be a D'Addario Performing Artist.