Do All Things With Joy
I just felt like writing about bassists today, so what the heck. Let’s do this.
The feature article from July 31st chronicles the life of Domenico Dragonetti and some of his amazing accomplishments and contributions over the course of his impressive career. Recently, I have taken to looking at his 5 etudes for the double bass. I have found them to be clever, interesting, and relatively intermediate in their difficulty. These qualities make them enjoyable to play with a certain level of satisfaction in their proficiency, as they do command a moderate skill to accomplish. Dragonetti is an entertaining subject because of the curiosity he must have invoked when exhibiting his virtuosity. The double bass was not a well-known instrument in the late 18th century for its soloistic qualities, and he must have been quite a sight to see when entering performance venues. Even I experience a certain degree of reverence in our modern times when people see me walking my double bass into a restaurant or small club to perform. It still commands respect now, so it is no wonder Dragonetti was impressive back then.
François Rabbath (1931- ) is another bassist that I have had the privilege to study. Born in Syria to a musical family, Rabbath studied the double bass with only the help of an instructional book written by Parisian bassist Edouard Nanny. At the age of 24, Rabbath traveled to France to meet Nanny, only to discover he had been dead for 10 years. He continued to study, and by 1964 began recording his performances. Rabbath is most known for his innovations in technique regarding finger positions for the left hand, as well as some bowing variations. With the double bass, the notes registering below the 12th fret only allow for one whole-step of range for the left hand, as opposed to the electric bass, which enjoys one whole-step and a half-step of range. Simply put, you can play more notes with the electric bass without moving your hand than you can with the upright. Rabbath made explorations into the use of pivoting, which allowed for a greater range of notes without shifting. The component of this story that I found interesting, was how changes in the approach to an instrument can appear in the absence of formal instruction, and how this pattern exists in many places of virtuosity in music. People like Jimmy Hendrix, Dave Grohl, and Prince are just a few of the legendary modern musicians that have popularly been noted as never having formal instruction.
Rabbath lead me to read a few notes on Edouard Nanny, the French bassist and author of Rabbath’s primary instructional tool. Nanny was fascinating to me in that he completed a very compressed set of instructional books that provided mastery to one who could complete them in the course of 5 years, at most. While obviously, this claim is subjective, the techniques outlined in the books were important contributions to creating a standardized instructional method for the modern double bassist. Franz Simandl is another important figure, and often cited as the starting point for many learning the instrument in today’s world, but Edouard Nanny was a critical contributor in France. Nanny’s connection to Dragonetti is a curious one. There are two concertos that are commonly attributed and remain in the repertoire written by Edouard Nanny. One is his Concerto in E minor, and the other is his Concerto in A major. The bassist Sasha Brandt writes of the concerto in A major,
"The Dragonetti Concerto (secretly by Edouard Nanny) is one of the most popular pieces in the student bassist's repertoire. It's a fun romp across the positions, with catchy melodies and a lot of energy shot into the first and third movements. The second movement is a pleasant contrast, full of lyricism and expression. The concerto is fun to play and can also serve as an introduction into harmonics for younger players."
Part of my love for Dragonetti is seen in this fun piece penned by Nanny and is a wonderful tribute to his nature and joy for the music the double bass can invoke. His hand seemed to reach through inspirational players and one of his lasting qualities was his playful nature. Formal instruction or not, (whatever that might mean), if you find yourself amidst the throws of learning to play an instrument, I implore you to infuse it with the joy. These sounds tend to carry far further than many of those that are intwined in technical accomplishment, alone.
Let’s enjoy Edouard Nanny’s concerto in E minor, as performed by Thierry Barbé in 2009 in today’s listening example. Thanks for reading!