Born in Crema in 1821, he was a double bassist, conductor, and composer.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Maestro achieved worldwide the highest level of success and fame to which a person of that era could aspire.
Still regarded today as the greatest double bassist who ever lived, so much so that he earned the nickname “the Paganini of the double bass,” Bottesini garnered widespread acclaim in America and Europe (particularly in Italy, France, England, and Scotland), as well as in Russia and Egypt. Among the cities where he enjoyed numerous triumphs were Naples, Palermo, Milan, Turin, Madrid, as well as Paris, London, Buenos Aires, New York, Mexico City, Havana, and Cairo.
Bottesini was also a prolific and original composer, moving with mastery across all musical genres. His most successful opera was Ero e Leandro, with a libretto by Boito, first performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1879. Between 1855 and 1857 he served as Musical Director of the Théâtre Italien in Paris; from 1863 to 1865 he was Musical Director of the Liceu Theatre in Barcelona; and from 1871 to 1877 he was Director of the Khedivial Theatre in Cairo, where on December 24, 1871, he conducted the premiere of Aida on the occasion of the inauguration of the Suez Canal.
In 1888 he was appointed Director of the Parma Conservatory, where he died in 1889.
His Metodo del contrabbasso was published by the Ricordi publishing house and is still studied today by double bassists all over the world.
