Giovanni Bottesini

Giovanni Bottesini (born Dec. 22, 1821, Crema, Austrian Empire [now in Italy]—died July 7, 1889, Parma) was an Italian double bassist, composer, and conductor, best known for his facility with the double bass and for his contribution to double bass technique.

Bottesini received basic training in music at an early age from his father, a composer and clarinetist. He chose to specialize in the double bass because, upon his application to the Milan Conservatory in 1835, it was one of only two remaining scholarships. He learned within weeks to play the instrument well enough to be accepted for the scholarship. He left the conservatory in 1839 and toured throughout the United States and Europe, earning the nickname “the Paganini of the double bass.”

Bottesini’s first opera, Cristoforo Colombo, was first performed in Havana in 1847. On one of his tours, he met Giuseppe Verdi in Venice, and they became lifelong friends. In 1849 Bottesini made the first of many appearances in England, where he enjoyed great popularity for many years because of his extraordinary skill as a double bass virtuoso. Bottesini was also known throughout Europe as a conductor, and he directed the first performance of Verdi’s Aida at Cairo in 1871. From about 1870 he devoted an increasing amount of time to composition, turning out a number of operas, sacred works, orchestral pieces, and works for the double bass.