Prof. Fiona M. Palmer—Invited Speaker at the ‘Giornata internazionale di Studi Da Venezia all’Europa: gli autografi di Domenico Dragonetti (1763-1846), virtuoso del contrabbasso’ (Conservatorio di Musica ‘Benedetto Marcello’ di Venezia)
Prof. Fiona M. Palmer has just returned from Venice, where she was an invited speaker at a special International Symposium dedicated to the celebration and evaluation of recently rediscovered manuscripts in the library of the Conservatorio di Musica. These manuscripts extend the extensive collections relating to the extraordinary Venetian double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti (1763-1846), and dispersed among repositories including the British Library and Northwestern University Library.
A bassist herself, Prof. Palmer is the leading expert on Dragonetti’s career. Her OUP monograph Dragonetti in England (1794–1846): The Career of a Double Bass Virtuoso was cited by scholars and practitioners throughout the Symposium’s varied and fascinating discussions. The day concluded in the museum of the Basilica di San Marco where delegates had privileged access to the restored Gasparo da Salò double bass— bequeathed by Dragonetti to San Marco—and the principal bass of the Orchestra Teatro La Fenice demonstrated the instrument’s unique qualities.