BOTTESINI | Fantasia per contrabasso sopra motivi dell'Opera La Sonnambula di V. Bellini | FULL ORCHESTRA MATERIAL
FILE FORMAT: PDF | 600 dpi | 102 pages
SCORES: conductor's score and parts: picc, 1fl, 2ob, 2cl(A), 2fg, 2cor(E), 2cor(A), 2trp(E), 3trb, timp, solo d.b., strings
EXTRAS: this release includes performance practice hints and critical comments
SOURCE: composer's personal orchestra material, archived in Biblioteca Palatina, Parma, Italy
RELEASE: final, Urtext edition, unamended
COMMENT: Fantasia (also designated by the composer as Concerto) on themes from Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “La Sonnambula” is among Giovanni Bottesini’s earliest works. The earliest documented performances date from the early 1840s. The present Urtext edition is based on a single primary source: a set of handwritten orchestral parts deriving from Bottesini’s original material and used under his direction in the 1880s. Some orchestral parts contain annotations by performers indicating dates and places of performance, including Rio de Janeiro (1879), Lisbon (27 and 28 January 1881), and Valencia (17 April 1884). These parts, prepared by several copyists, most likely represent the complete orchestral material. However, no full score has survived and - characteristically for Bottesini’s sources - no separate solo part is preserved. This absence is particularly significant, as the extant traces of the solo line in the orchestral parts reveal notable divergences from the first printed edition for double bass and piano (Paris: S. Richault, early 1870s).
The solo double bass part, including performance practice notes and critical commentary, can be downloaded free of charge from the “Free Scores” section, at the bottom of the previous page.
Watch an unlisted YouTube video of a rehearsal with Antalya State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alessandro Cedrone from April 2026:
The manuscripts have been prepared as a professional edition in accordance with the highest editorial standards, tested and ready for performance with symphony orchestra. The high-resolution PDF is formatted for double-sided printing on A4 format.
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