Annibale Mengoli & Luigi Savi: Gran Studio per Contrabbasso di Concerto for double bass & piano

About the Composition

Gran Studio per Contrabbasso di Concerto is a fascinating study or recital piece and is ideal for the intermediate bassist. The two contrasting sections, primarily in bass clef, offer musical and technical challenges in equal measure with an opportunity to display the lyrical and technical possibilities of the double bass throughout its orchestral register.

Gran Studio per Contrabbasso di Concerto is a marriage of two works: an Adagio by Annibale Mengoli (1851-1895) and an Allegro section from the seventh of Twelve Duets for violin and double bass by Luigi Savi, a double bassist and teacher in Piacenza in the 1870s.

The manuscript copy of the work comes from Emilio Provinciali (1861-1908), at the time a student of Mengoli and later of Bottesini, who completed his copy in Turin on 12 May 1883. These were the last days of Mengoli’s stay in Turin (1878-1883), where he had been active as Principal Bass of the Teatro Regio and as a Professor at the School of Music.

Gran Studio per Contrabbasso di Concerto was written for a three-stringed double bass in orchestral tuning.

This edition includes accompaniments for solo and orchestral tunings.