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BOTTESINI, GIOVANNI (1823–1889)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 306 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOTTESINI, GIOVANNI (1823–1889) , See also:Italian contrabassist and musical composer, was See also:born at See also:Crema in See also:Lombardy on the 24th of See also:December 1823. He studied See also:music at the See also:Milan See also:Conservatoire, devoting himself especially to the See also:double-See also:bass, an See also:instrument with which his name is principally associated. On leaving Milan he spent some See also:time in See also:America and also occupied the position of See also:principal double-bass in the See also:theatre at See also:Havana. Here his first See also:opera, Cristoforo See also:Colombo, was produced in 1847. In 1849 he made his first See also:appearance in See also:England, playing double-bass solos at one of the Musical See also:Union concerts. After this he made frequent visits to England, and his extraordinary command of his unwieldy instrument gained him See also:great popularity in See also:London and the provinces. Apart from his triumphs as an executant, Bottesini was a conductor of See also:European reputation, and earned some success as a composer, though his See also:work had not sufficient individuality to survive the changes of See also:taste and See also:fashion. He was conductor at the Theatre See also:des Italiens in See also:Paris from 1855 to 1857, where his second opera, L'Assedio di Firenze, was produced at See also:Barcelona. During these years he diversified the toils of conducting by repeated See also:concert See also:tours through the principal countries of See also:Europe. In 1871 he conducted a See also:season of Italian opera at the See also:Lyceum theatre in London, during which his opera See also:Ali Baba was produced, and at the See also:close of the See also:year he was chosen by See also:Verdi to conduct the first performance of Aida, which took See also:place at See also:Cairo on 27th December 1871. Bottesini wrote three operas besides those already mentioned: Il See also:Diavolo della Notte (Milan, 1859); Vinciguerra (Paris, 1870); and Ero e Leandro (See also:Turin, 1880), the last named to a libretto by Arrigo See also:Boito, which was subsequently set by Mancinelli. He also wrote The See also:Garden of Olivet, a devotional See also:oratorio (libretto by See also:Joseph See also:Bennett), which was produced at the See also:Norwich festival in 1887, a See also:concerto for the double-bass, and numerous songs and See also:minor instrumental pieces.

Bottesini died at See also:

Parma on the 7th of See also:July 1889.

End of Article: BOTTESINI, GIOVANNI (1823–1889)

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