What do musicians get up to when they have a few spare hours whilst on tour?
The solo double-bass player Wies de Boevé, for example, follows in the footsteps of his great predecessors Giovanni Bottesini (1821–1889) and Domenico Dragonetti (1763–1846) wherever possible: “Residences, concert halls, cemeteries – there’s so much to discover!”
So he combined his concert in Milan last May with a visit to the Conservatorio, “where Bottesini studied, and where his original scores are freely accessible”. And after his performance in Yokohama, he continued to play – on that Testore double bass with which Bottesini travelled all over the world. A Japanese doctor and collector once bought it; today it belongs to his daughter, who, as it happens, married a double bassist. “They’re delighted whenever they can show the instrument off. And for me, it’s a real treat to play it.”
On his upcoming tours, he will visit the palace in Vienna where Dragonetti first met Beethoven. And in Baden-Baden, he will make a pilgrimage to the Kurhaus: “Bottesini played and conducted both in the hall and in the park.” Perhaps he also met Brahms, who was living in the city at the time: “It would be marvellous to find any evidence of that!”
