Double bass stories 💫

 

In 1824, Domenico Dragonetti commissioned the Venetian violin maker Giovanni Battista Bodio three necks with heads for three Gasparo Da Salò double basses that can be identified as:

1).The Gasparo Da Salò "Dragonetti", which rests today in St. Mark's Basilica, Venice, at the wish of the double bassist.

2).The Gasparo Da Salò in the Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, formerly owned by Dragonetti, Duke of Leinster, W.E. Hill and Sons and R.S. Williams.

3).The D. Dragonetti - Duke of Leinster Gasparo Da Salò double bass whose head is presented in this photograph, currently in private hand in Madrid.

The tuning keys and the plates of all three are by the same craftman. Each treble faceplate was engraved D.Dragonetti (the "Dragonetti" Gasparo Da Salò), in the case of the other two instruments, Duke of Leinster is engraved above the bassist´s name (The Gasparo Da Salò in the Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gasparo da Salò that we refer to in this photo).

-. Domenico Dragonetti in England (1797-1846) 

The Career of a Double Bass Virtuoso.  FIONA M. PALMER.

-. Liutai in Brescia: 1520-1724, Eric Blot Edizioni. Duane Rosengard.

-. Letter by Thomas and George Martin.