Domenico Dragonetti: A case study of the 12 unaccompanied waltzes
Abstract
This thesis uses the 12 waltzes composed by the famous double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, as a case study to examine certain key aspects of his playing style. More specifically, this thesis seeks to answer the question: what aspects of Dragonetti’s playing could be deemed virtuosic? I select a number of instances in the waltzes where the demands posed by various passages suggest a specific solution required to execute the passage. I suggest various solutions to these passages that reveal the types of solutions Dragonetti might have employed and help shed light on my initial question. The analysis reveals that Dragonetti might have been an athletic musician who was agile across the fingerboard, and whose bow technique afforded him a large palette of articulations that helped him achieve polyphonic textures on the instrument