Fantasia on Themes from Norma (Bellini)

Giovanni Bottesini (1821–1889), called 'the Paganini of the double bass,' brought the instrument to a virtuosic level previously thought impossible, and his fantasies on operatic themes were the showpieces of his legendary concert career. The Fantasia on Bellini's Norma (c. 1850s) takes the opera's most famous melodies—above all the 'Casta diva' cavatina—and transforms them into vehicles for the double bass's unexpectedly singing upper register, exploiting harmonics, cantilena passages, and rapid passage-work to reveal the instrument's Romantic expressivity. Bottesini's writing pushes the double bass to the very top of its range, requiring the soloist to negotiate flageolet harmonics and singing cantabile phrases of operatic breadth that seem scarcely possible on so large an instrument. The work has become a cornerstone of the double bass's solo repertoire and a favorite encore piece for the instrument's greatest exponents, demonstrating that the bass could indeed be a solo instrument capable of challenging the cello in expressive richness.