A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Dragonetti, Domenico
DRAGONETTI, Domenico, one of the greatest known players on the double-bass, born at Venice 1755 [App. p.618 "the date of birth should probably be altered to April 7, 1763"]. As a boy he showed remarkable talent for music, teaching himself the guitar and violin, which however he soon exchanged for his own special instrument. On this he quickly outstripped his master Berini, and was admitted to the orchestra of the 'Opera bufia' at 13, and a year later to the 'Opera seria' at San Benedetto, and to all performances of importance. In his 18th year he was appointed to the post in the choir of St. Mark's, hitherto occupied by his master, who himself persuaded him to accept it. He had now attained to such perfection that nothing was too hard for him; he composed sonatas, concertos and capriccios for his instrument, and frequently played upon it the violoncello part in string-quartets. At Vicenza he played in the opera orchestra, and while there was fortunate enough to discover the marvellous double-bass, with which he never again parted, although often tempted by large offers of money. This instrument belonged to the convent of S. Pietro, and was made by Gasparo di Salò, master of the Amati. He tested its powers on the monks of S. Giustina at Padua, by imitating a thunderstorm and bringing them out of their cells in the dead of the night. Meantime his fame had spread beyond Italy, and he was offered an engagement at the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg, upon which the Procurators of St.Mark's immediately raised his salary. Shortly after, however, he obtained a year's leave of absence, having been persuaded by Banti and Pacchierotti to accept an invitation to London, where he arrived in 1794, and was immediately engaged for the opera, and for the concerts at the King's Theatre. He made his first appearance on the 20th of Dec., and gave a benefit-concert on the 8th of May, 1 795, when he was assisted by Banti, Viotti, the harpist Le Fourneur, Harrington, Monzani, Holmes, and the brothers Leander, French-horn players. The force and expression of his playing and his power of reading at sight excited universal astonishment, and he was at once invited to take part in all the great provincial performances. Henceforth he became the inseparable companion of the violoncellist Lindley; for 52 years they played at the same desk at the opera, the Antient Concerts, the Philharmonic, the Provincial Festivals, etc., and their execution of Corelli's sonatas in particular was an unfailing attraction. Great as was Dragonetti's power of overcoming difficulties, it was his extraordinary tone, and the taste, judgment, and steadiness of his performance, that characterised him, and made him so indispensable to the orchestra.
Soon after Dragonetti's arrival in London he met Haydn, with whom he became intimate. On his way to Italy in 1798 Dragonetti visited the great master in Vienna, and was much delighted with the score of the 'Creation,' just completed. In 1808 and 9 he was again in Vienna, but from caprice would play before no one but the family of Prince Starhemberg, in whose palace he lived, and whose wife often accompanied him on the piano. Here he made the acquaintance of Beethoven, and also that of Sechter, afterwards court-organist, a sound musician, who was teaching the porter's children, and whom Dragonetti requested to put a pianoforte accompaniment to his concertos. To him he played unasked, though he locked up his instrument because the Starhembergs invited some of the nobility to their soirées. His silence was perhaps partly caused by his fear of Napoleon, who was then in occupation of Vienna, and who wished to take him by force to Paris. With Sechter he corresponded all his life, and remembered him in his will. In August 1845, when 90, he headed the double-basses (13 in number) at the Beethoven Festival at Bonn; and Berlioz, in his 'Soirées de l'orchestre,' writes that he had seldom heard the scherzo in the C minor Symphony played with so much vigour and finish. Thus, in his old age, he rendered homage to the great master, of whose friendship he was reminded on his death-bed. Shortly before his end, when surrounded by Count Pepoli, Pigott, Tolbecque, and V. Novello, he received a visit from Stumpff, the well-known harp maker, who, as Dragonetti held out his great hand covered with callosities and unnaturally spread from constant playing, said with emotion, 'This is the hand which Beethoven our great friend, whose spirit now dwells in purer regions, bade me press.' He died in his own house in Leicester Square, April 16, 1846, and was buried on the 24th in the Catholic chapel at Moorfields. His works were few. It is not generally known that he wrote for the voice, but three canzonets with Italian words, written during his stay in Vienna, still exist in a collection of 'XXXIV Canzonette e Romanzi,' by various composers, and dedicated to the Archduke Rodolph, Beethoven's friend and pupil. He was a great collector of pictures, engravings, musical instruments, and music; and left to the British Museum alone 182 volumes of scores of classical operas. His eccentricities were many and curious. He was an inveterate snuff-taker, and had a perfect gallery of snuff-boxes. Among his treasures were found a quantity of curiously-dressed dolls, with which he used to play like a child, taking a selection of them with him to the musical festivals, especially a black one which he called his wife. His dog Carlo always accompanied him in the orchestra. The most curious thing about him was his speech, a mixture of his native Bergamese dialect with bad French, and worse English. He was a man of kindly temper and a warm friend, though in money matters very close. His picture as 'Il Patriarca dei Contrabassi' was published by Thierry, after a half-length taken in crayons by Salabert, of London. His precious instrument, his companion for nearly sixty years, he bequeathed to the 'Vestry of the Patriarchal Church of S. Mark at Venice.'