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NEW EDITION of "CARNIVAL of VENICE" for IMC

revised by THOMAS MARTIN

Playing with a very low action without having any problem with the fingerboard

Thomas Martin is one of the most important biograph for what regarding to Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889).

Link to his website and you will be able to read "In search of Bottesini" by Thomas Martin.

A very pleasure lecture about the "Paganini of the Double Bass".

Read what maestro TOM MARTIN tells us about ANTONIO TORELLO (italian origins)

Mr. Martin explains to us:

"Here is the only little recording (ca 1932) we can find of Antoni Torello the great Catalan bassist and "great-grand student" of Bottesini. It's just a few little movements from a Corelli violin sonata which was part of a set of demonstrations "Instruments of the Orchestra". It gives us a valuable glimpse into the past. It was made on a guitar shaped Catalan bass by Gullermi with three pure gut strings - I think it has ended up with Alberto Bocini.

After his studies under Pedro Valls and a period of solo concerts and work as solo bassist in the Gran Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, Torello emigrated  to the United States in the first decade of the 1900's. Warnicke mentions him well in his treatice "Der Kontrabass Ad Infinitum" in 1909. After a period in New York and Boston, he bacame Principal bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy and was the first professor at the Curtie Institute of Music. His class included Oscar Zimmerman, Warren Benfield, Roger Scott (my teacher), Jacques Possell, Henry Portnoi and other outstanding American bassists. He was a lifelong friend of Isaia Bille although, as Oscar Zimmerman pointed out, Torello was a Sapnish Catholic and Bille and Italian Jew."

by THOMAS MARTIN

 Roger Scott was principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 47 years, performing with many of the world's greatest conductors including Philadelphia maestros Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. For decades Scott was a master teacher at the Curtis School of Music, imparting a love of the double bass repertoire to a new generation of musicians.

Roger Scott's musical career began at Cheltenham High School with the encouragement of Walker D. Taylor, head of the CHS music department. Taylor encouraged Scott to join the school's orchestra so that Scott, a dedicated Boy Scout, could earn his music merit badge. Scott took up the double bass and was soon leading a small ensemble that was heard on local radio. In addition to playing in the school orchestra, Scott joined Mr. Taylor's shipboard orchestra where he performed with other CHS students on boat trips to South America in the summers of 1934 and 1935. During his time at Cheltenham, Scott also participated in the Carnegie Foundation's influential "Pennsylvania Study", an extended experiment whose results helped advance American education. An honor student, Scott graduated from Cheltenham in 1936.

Following a year of intense study of the double bass, Scott was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music, an institution with which he has enjoyed a lifetime relationship. He studied with Anton Torello, then the principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Following his 1941 graduation from the Curtis Institute, Scott toured the United States with the All-American Youth Orchestra under the baton of the Leopold Stokowski. With the outbreak of World War II, Scott found himself in the U.S. Marine Band in Washington D.C., playing the baritone horn in concerts and parades and frequently appearing as bass soloist. As a member of numerous chamber ensembles, Scott often performed at the White House for the first family and foreign dignitaries.

After the war Scott spent a year in New York as a freelance musician, performing with a number of radio and opera orchestras. He played for a season with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner, his former conductor at the Curtis Institute, but soon returned to his Philadelphia roots. He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra during its golden age under legendary music director Eugene Ormandy, creator of the world-famous "Philadelphia sound". Scott became a member of the bass section in 1947, and was appointed principal bass by Ormandy during the 1948-1949 season. He would retain this post until his retirement 47 years later. During his remarkable career, Scott recorded countless works of the classical repertoire with Ormandy and performed over 10,000 concerts in cities all over the world.

Roger Scott has also distinguished himself as an outstanding teacher of music. Succeeding his mentor Anton Torello, Scott began teaching double bass at the Curtis Institute in 1948. An incomparable teacher, Scott has guided more than 50 pupils through the intricacies of double bass technique. His pupils have gone on to become renowned teachers and performers themselves, including five current members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and numerous first chair players in orchestras around the world.

As a teacher and a performer, Scott strove to establish the double bass as a solo instrument. In solo recitals and recordings, he brought to the instrument a level of technique and sophistication taken for granted on the violin and cello. During the 1966-1967 season, Scott played the challenging bass solo in the premiere of Alberto Ginastera's Concerto for Strings. Scott counts among his proudest possessions a solo bass made by Lorenzo Evangelisti in 1735.

In 1972, the Philadelphia Orchestra honored Scott with the C. Hartman Kuhn Award for his ability and enterprise in enhancing the standards and reputation of the orchestra. After a long and distinguished career in music, Scott retired from the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1995. He now lives in Philadelphia and Cape May with his wife Eleanor Huston Scott, ‘36. They have four children and three grandchildren.

                                     by THOMAS MARTIN

Giovanni Bottesini was born into a musical family on December 22nd, 1821, in Crema, a town in Lombardy, Italy. His mother was Maria (born Spinefli) and his father, Pietro, was a local musician, a well-known claxionettist who also was interested in composition, having written several methods for various instruments. A composition of his is in Milan. His sister, Angelina, also studied music and became a fine pianist. She died in Naples in 1877.

Young Giovanni’s talent, indeed genius, for music luckily had a chance to show itself in such a musical home. He began his study of the violin at five and at the age of ten he was put in the care of his uncle, Cogliati, a priest, who was the first violinist in the orchestra of the Cathedral at Crema. He remained in this tuition for three years singing as a boy soprano, playing the drums at the Teatro Communale, continuing serious study of the Pianoforte as well as experimenting with the cello and double bass. In 1835 his father heard of two places on scholarship at the Conservatono in Milan, one for the bassoon and one for the double bass. Thus, the decision was made that was to launch Bottesini on his fantastic career. They made the journey to the big city one week ahead of the audition in order for young Giovanni to meet Professor Luigi Rossi and have some lessons prior to the big day. He impressed Rossi and the panel, and at one point in his examination made the famous remark: ‘I know, Gentlemen, that I play out of tune; but when I know where to place my fingers this shall not happen anymore.”

http://www.thomasmartin.co.uk/articles/bottesini_page1.asp