Obscure Music Monday: Bottesini's Andante Sostenuto

Giovanni Bottesini (Dec. 22, 1821 - July 7, 1889) was an Italian conductor, composer, and double bass virtuoso, born in to a musical family. Young Bottesini learned much about music from his father, a clarinetist, and was playing timpani with an orchestra at the tender age of 11. He also played violin, and intended to study at the Milan Conservatory, but the his family was too poor to send him. The only instruments available for scholarship were the bassoon and double bass, and in a matter of weeks, Bottesini prepared a successful audition on the double bass. In just a few years he won a prize for his solo playing, and was dubbed the "Paganini of the Double Bass". Bottesini would go on to play in opera orchestras, and also had a successful conducting career as well.

While most people know Bottesini for his double bass works, he also wrote for many other genres, including Andante Sostenuto, which is scored as a sextet (two violins, viola, two cellos, and double bass) but can be played as a string orchestra.

The mournful introduction starts with the cellos in the lower range, immediately setting a somber tone, and the main sad theme is repeated in several sections before it comes in again, led by the violins with great dramatic flare. Bottesini's cantabile writing is of no surprise to anyone familiar with his other compositions, particularly his (relatively unknown) operas, and of course his works for double bass. The melodic writing is beautiful, and as the piece goes on, the somber mood slowly dissolves, and a more hopeful atmosphere emerges.