Domenico Dragonetti
Encyclopedia
Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti (April 7, 1763 – April 16, 1846) was an Italian
double bass
virtuoso
and composer
. He stayed for thirty years in his hometown of Venice, Italy and worked at the Opera Buffa
, at the Chapel of San Marco
and at the Grand Opera in Vicenza
. By that time he had become notable throughout Europe
and had turned down several opportunities, including offers from the Tsar of Russia. In 1794, he finally moved to London
to play in the orchestra of the King's Theatre
, and settled there for the remainder of his life. In fifty years, he became a prominent figure in the musical events of the English capital, performing at the concerts of the Philharmonic Society of London as well as in more private events, where he would meet the most influential persons in the country, like the Prince Consort and the Duke of Leinster
. He was acquainted with composers Joseph Haydn
and Ludwig van Beethoven
, whom he visited on several occasions in Vienna
, and to whom he showed the possibilities of the double bass as a solo
instrument. His ability on the instrument also demonstrated the relevance of writing scores
for the double bass in the orchestra
separate from that of the cello
, which was the common rule at the time. He is also remembered today for the Dragonetti bow
, which he evolved throughout his life.
Dragonetti was born in Venice, Italy of Pietro Dragonetti, a barber and amateur musician, and Caterina Calegari. He began playing the guitar and the double bass by himself on his father's instruments. He was soon noticed by Doretti, a violinist and composer of ball music, who took him along for public performance in Venice. At the age of twelve, he was placed under the tuition of Berini, the best master for the double bass in Venice, who decided after only eleven lessons that he could not teach the boy anything more. At the age of thirteen, Dragonetti was appointed principal player at the Opera Buffa in Venice. At fourteen he was appointed principal double bass player in the Grand Opera Seria at the San Benedetto theatre.
When about eighteen, in Treviso
, he was invited to join the quartet of the Tommasini, and was noticed by Morosini
, procurator of San Marco
, who indulged him in auditioning for the admission in the Chapel of San Marco. He made a first attempt in 1784, which was lost to Antonio Spinelli. He finally joined the institution on September 13, 1787 as the last of the five double bass players of the Chapel with a yearly income of 25 ducat
s. He soon became the principal bassist. He later was offered a place by the Tsar of Russia, which was declined and got him a salary raise in the Chapel. He became very famous at the time, started playing solo pieces, which was exceptional at the time for the double bass, and even got elected as of the directors of a musical festival held for the coming of fourteen sovereign princes to the republic of Venice
. One of his concerto
s was particularly remarked by the queen of Naples
.
When in Vicenza for an engagement at the Grand Opera there, he acquired his famous Gasparo da Salò
double bass from the Benedictine Nuns of the Convent of San Pietro (La Pieta) in Vicenza, which is now housed in the museum of St Mark's Basilica
. He was offered another position to the Tsar of Russia, which he declined after the procurators of St Mark increased his salary to an exceptional 50 ducats. They even granted him a leave for a year, with a continuation in his wages, to go to the King's Theatre in London. That leave was extended for three more years afterwards, but finally Dragonetti never returned to Venice for more than a brief period during the French occupation of the city, 1805-1814.
Dragonetti had no close family, but had many close friends in the musical world in London. The story that he kept and often traveled with a collection of life-sized cloth mannequins, bringing them to his concerts and having them placed in front row seats of theaters, and even introducing one of these dolls as his wife, is completely unsubstantiated. He was an avid collector, and did indeed collect dolls, sometimes taking one along on trips to amuse the children, of whom he was very fond. He never did learn to speak English, expressing himself in a mixture of Italian, English, French and Venetian dialect, but was an astute businessman, and in fact, helped his surviving family in Venice financially. The authoritative source for information on him is the book of Dr. Fiona Palmer, Domenico Dragonetti in England (1794–1846) pub. Oxford University Press
Zenobia in Palmira, by Giovanni Paisiello
, on December 20, 1794. After only a few months, he became very famous in London, and his brilliant career was to last till the end.
Later he became intimate with the Prince Consort and the Duke of Leinster. He took part between 1816 and 1842, in forty-six concerts held by the Philharmonic Society of London. At the Italian Opera orchestra, he met the cellist Robert Lindley, who became his close friend and with whom he shared the stand during fifty-two years. They made a specialty at playing Arcangelo Corelli
's sonatas.
At the age of 82, Dragonetti visited Bonn
in August 1845 to participate in the 3-day music festival held as part of the inauguration of the Beethoven Monument
there. Various major Beethoven works were conducted by Louis Spohr
and Franz Liszt
.
He died in his Leicester square lodgings at the age of 83, and was buried on April 23, 1846 in the vaults of the Roman Catholic chapel of St Mary, Moorfields
, and was moved in 1889 to the Roman Catholic cemetery at Wembley
. Vincent Novello
and Count Carlo Pepoli (librettist of Vincenzo Bellini
's I puritani
) were among his most famous friends in London.
to visit England and conduct new symphonies with large orchestras. The visit was a huge success and generated some of his best known work. Another trip was therefore scheduled in 1794-1795. On that second occasion, Haydn met Dragonetti, who became a very good friend, and who visited him in Vienna in 1799. On that first trip to Vienna, Dragonetti also met Beethoven in a famous encounter.
"Two new and valuable, though but passing acquaintances were made by Beethoven this year, however - with Domenico Dragonetti, the greatest contrabassist known to history, and Johann Baptist Cramer
, one of the greatest pianists. Dragonetti was not more remarkable for his astounding execution than for the deep, genuine musical feeling which elevated and ennobled it. He was now - in the spring of 1799, so far as the means are at hand of determining the time - returning to London from a visit to his native city, Venice, and his route took him to Vienna, where he remained several weeks. Beethoven and he soon met and they were mutually pleased with each other. Many years afterwards Dragonetti related the following anecdote to Samuel Appleby, Esq., of Brighton, England: "Beethoven had been told that his new friend could execute violoncello music upon his huge instrument and one morning, when Dragonetti called at his room, he expressed the desire to hear a sonata. The contrabass was sent for, and the Sonata, n°2, of Op.5, was selected. Beethoven played his part, with his eyes immovably fixed upon his companion, and, in the finale, where the arpeggios occur, was so delighted and excited that at the close he sprang up and threw his arms around both player and instrument". The unlucky contrabassists of orchestras had frequent occasions during the next few years to know that this new revelation of the powers and possibilities of their instrument to Beethoven was not forgotten." (Alexander Wheelock Thayer
, 1967)
To this day, the mastering of the Beethoven double bass symphonic parts are considered a basic standard for all orchestral double bass players. Dragonetti came back to Vienna for an extensive stay in 1808-1809. On that second trip he became friends with composer Simon Sechter
, who would become the court organist in 1824, and professor of composition at the Vienna Conservatorium in 1851. He wrote piano accompaniments to some of his concert pieces, and they maintained a lifelong correspondence. Dragonetti was again in Vienna in 1813 and got to meet once more Beethoven, who had just written Wellington's Victory
, to celebrate the victory of Wellington
over the French armies of King Joseph Bonaparte
at the Battle of Vitoria
. The premiere of this work, as well as of Beethoven's seventh symphony
was performed on December 8, 1813, in the University's Festsaal, with Dragonetti leading the double basses.
This was not at all standard in these times, as most players used to play - in one position - one note with the index finger, and one with the other three fingers in combination.
's music, which is now conserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum
in London; a very fine Domenico Montagnana
Basso di Camara (from Venice); a Gasparo da Salò double bass dated 1590; an Amati
double bass; a Maggini double bass; a Stradivarius
violin (once played by Paganini), now known as the "Dragonetti"; a Gasparo da Salò violin; two Amati violins; one Lafont violin; a Stradivarius violin copy; 26 unnamed violins; a Gasparo da Salò viola; an Amati viola; a Hill viola; 5 unnamed violas; 6 cellos; a large cello; 3 guitars; 2 bassoons; 3 French horns.
Mention is made of this on The Contrabass Shoppe web site which says...
"There are various stories of how Dragonetti came into possession of the famous Gasparo da Salo bass. The fascinating and highly commendable biography Domenico Dragonetti In England by Fiona M. Palmer (Clarendon Press Oxford 1997) seems to offer the most plausible account. Because of Dragonetti's unprecedented virtuosity as a soloist, attractive offers of work were made from both London and Moscow. As remuneration for renouncing the offers and remaining as principal bassist with the orchestra of the Ducal Chapel of St Mark's in Venice (an orchestra of considerable importance), a decree made in 1791 gave Dragonetti a financial gratuity.
Similarly, it is reputed that Dragonetti was presented with an instrument made by Gasparo da Salo (1542–1609) by the Benedictine nuns who occupied St Peter's monastery in Vicenza
where Dragonetti lived and played in the Grand Opera. In the Palmer biography, a footnote refers to a 1906 account by C.P.A. Berenzi, who suggests that the instrument may have been made for the monks of St Peter's, Vicenza, by Gasparo da Salo, and acquired by the procurators of St Mark's to entice Dragonetti to remain in their employ."
. Some were directly bequeathed by Dragonetti, some were offered by Vincent Novello
, and some were bought at auctions. Some of the compositions by Dragonetti include
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He stayed for thirty years in his hometown of Venice, Italy and worked at the Opera Buffa
Opera buffa
Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...
, at the Chapel of San Marco
St Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture...
and at the Grand Opera in Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
. By that time he had become notable throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and had turned down several opportunities, including offers from the Tsar of Russia. In 1794, he finally moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to play in the orchestra of the King's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
, and settled there for the remainder of his life. In fifty years, he became a prominent figure in the musical events of the English capital, performing at the concerts of the Philharmonic Society of London as well as in more private events, where he would meet the most influential persons in the country, like the Prince Consort and the Duke of Leinster
Duke of Leinster
Duke of Leinster is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier dukedom in that peerage. The title refers to Leinster, but unlike the province the title is pronounced "Lin-ster"...
. He was acquainted with composers Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
and Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, whom he visited on several occasions in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and to whom he showed the possibilities of the double bass as a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
instrument. His ability on the instrument also demonstrated the relevance of writing scores
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
for the double bass in the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
separate from that of the cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, which was the common rule at the time. He is also remembered today for the Dragonetti bow
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
, which he evolved throughout his life.
Venice 1763-1794
When about eighteen, in Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
, he was invited to join the quartet of the Tommasini, and was noticed by Morosini
Morosini
The Morosini were a noble Venetian family, probably of Romanian extraction, that gave many doges, statesmen, generals and admirals to the Venetian Republic, and cardinals to the Church. The origin of the name seems to be connected with the toponym Urbs Morisena, i.e. The City on Moris , and the...
, procurator of San Marco
Procurator of San Marco
The office of Procurator of San Marco was the second most prestigious life appointment in the Republic of Venice .-History:...
, who indulged him in auditioning for the admission in the Chapel of San Marco. He made a first attempt in 1784, which was lost to Antonio Spinelli. He finally joined the institution on September 13, 1787 as the last of the five double bass players of the Chapel with a yearly income of 25 ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s. He soon became the principal bassist. He later was offered a place by the Tsar of Russia, which was declined and got him a salary raise in the Chapel. He became very famous at the time, started playing solo pieces, which was exceptional at the time for the double bass, and even got elected as of the directors of a musical festival held for the coming of fourteen sovereign princes to the republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
. One of his concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
s was particularly remarked by the queen of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
.
When in Vicenza for an engagement at the Grand Opera there, he acquired his famous Gasparo da Salò
Gasparo da Salò
Gasparo da Salò is the name given to Gasparo di Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and expert double bass player of which many and very detailed historical records exist.He was born in Salò on Lake Garda, in a family with legal, artistic, musical and craft interests...
double bass from the Benedictine Nuns of the Convent of San Pietro (La Pieta) in Vicenza, which is now housed in the museum of St Mark's Basilica
St Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture...
. He was offered another position to the Tsar of Russia, which he declined after the procurators of St Mark increased his salary to an exceptional 50 ducats. They even granted him a leave for a year, with a continuation in his wages, to go to the King's Theatre in London. That leave was extended for three more years afterwards, but finally Dragonetti never returned to Venice for more than a brief period during the French occupation of the city, 1805-1814.
London 1794-1846
He left Venice on September 16, 1794, partly under the influence of his friend, Giovanni Battista Cimador, and participated in the first rehearsals at the King's Theatre, on October 20, 1794, and finally appeared as orchestra member in the operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Zenobia in Palmira, by Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and...
, on December 20, 1794. After only a few months, he became very famous in London, and his brilliant career was to last till the end.
Later he became intimate with the Prince Consort and the Duke of Leinster. He took part between 1816 and 1842, in forty-six concerts held by the Philharmonic Society of London. At the Italian Opera orchestra, he met the cellist Robert Lindley, who became his close friend and with whom he shared the stand during fifty-two years. They made a specialty at playing Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
's sonatas.
At the age of 82, Dragonetti visited Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
in August 1845 to participate in the 3-day music festival held as part of the inauguration of the Beethoven Monument
Beethoven Monument, Bonn
The Beethoven Monument is a large bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven that stands on the Münsterplatz in Bonn, Beethoven's birthplace. It was unveiled on 12 August 1845, in honour of the 75th anniversary of the composer's birth.-Background:...
there. Various major Beethoven works were conducted by Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
and Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
.
He died in his Leicester square lodgings at the age of 83, and was buried on April 23, 1846 in the vaults of the Roman Catholic chapel of St Mary, Moorfields
Moorfields
In London, the Moorfields were one of the last pieces of open land in the City of London, near the Moorgate. The fields were divided into three areas, the Moorfields proper, just north of Bethlem Hospital, and inside the City boundaries, and Middle and Upper Moorfields to the north.After the Great...
, and was moved in 1889 to the Roman Catholic cemetery at Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
. Vincent Novello
Vincent Novello
Vincent Novello , English musician, son of an Italian who married an English wife, was born in London....
and Count Carlo Pepoli (librettist of Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
) were among his most famous friends in London.
Vienna
In 1791-1792, Joseph Haydn accepted a lucrative offer from German impresario Johann Peter SalomonJohann Peter Salomon
Johann Peter Salomon was a German violinist, composer, conductor and musical impresario.-Life:...
to visit England and conduct new symphonies with large orchestras. The visit was a huge success and generated some of his best known work. Another trip was therefore scheduled in 1794-1795. On that second occasion, Haydn met Dragonetti, who became a very good friend, and who visited him in Vienna in 1799. On that first trip to Vienna, Dragonetti also met Beethoven in a famous encounter.
Johann Baptist Cramer
Johann Baptist Cramer was an English musician of German origin. He was the son of Wilhelm Cramer, a famous London violinist and musical conductor, one of a numerous family who were identified with the progress of music during the 18th and 19th centuries.-Biography:Johann Baptist Cramer was born in...
, one of the greatest pianists. Dragonetti was not more remarkable for his astounding execution than for the deep, genuine musical feeling which elevated and ennobled it. He was now - in the spring of 1799, so far as the means are at hand of determining the time - returning to London from a visit to his native city, Venice, and his route took him to Vienna, where he remained several weeks. Beethoven and he soon met and they were mutually pleased with each other. Many years afterwards Dragonetti related the following anecdote to Samuel Appleby, Esq., of Brighton, England: "Beethoven had been told that his new friend could execute violoncello music upon his huge instrument and one morning, when Dragonetti called at his room, he expressed the desire to hear a sonata. The contrabass was sent for, and the Sonata, n°2, of Op.5, was selected. Beethoven played his part, with his eyes immovably fixed upon his companion, and, in the finale, where the arpeggios occur, was so delighted and excited that at the close he sprang up and threw his arms around both player and instrument". The unlucky contrabassists of orchestras had frequent occasions during the next few years to know that this new revelation of the powers and possibilities of their instrument to Beethoven was not forgotten." (Alexander Wheelock Thayer
Alexander Wheelock Thayer
Alexander Wheelock Thayer , was a librarian and journalist who became the author of the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, still after many updatings regarded as a standard work of reference on the composer.-Life:Originally a librarian at Harvard law school, Thayer became aware of...
, 1967)
To this day, the mastering of the Beethoven double bass symphonic parts are considered a basic standard for all orchestral double bass players. Dragonetti came back to Vienna for an extensive stay in 1808-1809. On that second trip he became friends with composer Simon Sechter
Simon Sechter
Simon Sechter was an Austrian music theorist, teacher, organist, conductor and composer.Sechter was born in Friedberg , Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, and moved to Vienna in 1804, succeeding Jan Václav Voříšek as court organist there in 1824. In 1810 he began teaching piano and voice...
, who would become the court organist in 1824, and professor of composition at the Vienna Conservatorium in 1851. He wrote piano accompaniments to some of his concert pieces, and they maintained a lifelong correspondence. Dragonetti was again in Vienna in 1813 and got to meet once more Beethoven, who had just written Wellington's Victory
Wellington's Victory
Wellington's Victory, or, the Battle of Vitoria, Op. 91 is a minor orchestral work composed by Ludwig van Beethoven to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory over Joseph Bonaparte's forces at the Battle of Vitoria in Basqueland on June 21, 1813...
, to celebrate the victory of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
over the French armies of King Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
at the Battle of Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
. The premiere of this work, as well as of Beethoven's seventh symphony
Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, in 1811, was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.At its debut,...
was performed on December 8, 1813, in the University's Festsaal, with Dragonetti leading the double basses.
Style
Dragonetti was known for his formidable strength and stamina. It was particularly important at a time when the role of the double bass in the orchestra was to assist the concertmaster in maintaining the cohesion and establishing the tempo. He had a huge hand, with strong, broad fingers, which allowed him to play with a taller bridge and strings twice as far from the fingerboard as the other bassists.
The physical quality is his huge hand: endowed, first of all, with prodigious strength so that its grip on the strings of the instrument is the equivalent of the grip of a blacksmith's vice... A hand endowed with five fingers so long, big and agile, that all five, including the bent thumb, go up and down the fingerboard each playing a note. (Caffi, 1855)
This was not at all standard in these times, as most players used to play - in one position - one note with the index finger, and one with the other three fingers in combination.
Instruments
Dragonetti was a lover of the fine arts, and a collector of musical instruments as well as many art-related articles, such as original scores and paintings. When he died, the following instruments were dispatched: a giant double bass attributed to Gasparo da Salò and stated to have been used in contemporary performances of HandelHANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's music, which is now conserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London; a very fine Domenico Montagnana
Domenico Montagnana
Domenico Montagnana was an Italian master luthier based in Venice, Italy. He is regarded as one of the world's finest violin and cello makers of his time....
Basso di Camara (from Venice); a Gasparo da Salò double bass dated 1590; an Amati
Amati
Amati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1549 to 1740.-Andrea Amati:Andrea Amati was not the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today...
double bass; a Maggini double bass; a Stradivarius
Stradivarius
The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...
violin (once played by Paganini), now known as the "Dragonetti"; a Gasparo da Salò violin; two Amati violins; one Lafont violin; a Stradivarius violin copy; 26 unnamed violins; a Gasparo da Salò viola; an Amati viola; a Hill viola; 5 unnamed violas; 6 cellos; a large cello; 3 guitars; 2 bassoons; 3 French horns.
Mention is made of this on The Contrabass Shoppe web site which says...
"There are various stories of how Dragonetti came into possession of the famous Gasparo da Salo bass. The fascinating and highly commendable biography Domenico Dragonetti In England by Fiona M. Palmer (Clarendon Press Oxford 1997) seems to offer the most plausible account. Because of Dragonetti's unprecedented virtuosity as a soloist, attractive offers of work were made from both London and Moscow. As remuneration for renouncing the offers and remaining as principal bassist with the orchestra of the Ducal Chapel of St Mark's in Venice (an orchestra of considerable importance), a decree made in 1791 gave Dragonetti a financial gratuity.
Similarly, it is reputed that Dragonetti was presented with an instrument made by Gasparo da Salo (1542–1609) by the Benedictine nuns who occupied St Peter's monastery in Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
where Dragonetti lived and played in the Grand Opera. In the Palmer biography, a footnote refers to a 1906 account by C.P.A. Berenzi, who suggests that the instrument may have been made for the monks of St Peter's, Vicenza, by Gasparo da Salo, and acquired by the procurators of St Mark's to entice Dragonetti to remain in their employ."
Compositions
When he left for London in 1795, Dragonetti left many papers and manuscripts, including a Complete system of the double bass, or instruction book for that instrument, containing many elaborate exercises and studies, in the care of a friend. Unfortunately, they were sold and could not be retrieved by their author when he returned to Venice after some years. Today, many of his letters, personal papers, compositions, solos and manuscripts are to be found in the British LibraryBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
. Some were directly bequeathed by Dragonetti, some were offered by Vincent Novello
Vincent Novello
Vincent Novello , English musician, son of an Italian who married an English wife, was born in London....
, and some were bought at auctions. Some of the compositions by Dragonetti include
- Adagio and Rondo in A major, for double bass and orchestra;
- Andante and Rondo, for double bass and stringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
; - Concerto in A major for string bass and orchestra;
- Concerto no. 5 in A major, for double bass and orchestra;
- Grande Alegro for Double bass and strings. There also exists an arrangement of Grande Allegro for double bass and piano by Simon Sechter (1788–1867) in British Museum, London (Add,17726)
- Menuet and Alegro for double bass and piano;
- Opera for double bass and piano;
- Sonata for double bass and piano;
- Alegretto for double bass and piano;
- Famous solo in E minor for double bass and piano;
- Adagio and Rondo in C major for double bass and piano;
- Concerto in G major (Andante, Alegretto) for double bass and orchestra
- Serenata, for piano and string bass
- Solo in D major, for double bass and piano
- Pezzo Di Concerto
- Twelve Waltzes for solo double bass