Composer and contra-bassist, born at Crema, in Lombardy, on the 24th of December 1821. At an early age he was admitted to the Milan Conservatory, where he undertook the double-bass as a solo instrument. Upon a concert tour with Arditti in 1840, extending to America, he established fame as the greatest living master of the double-bass. From 1846 he was director of Italian opera in Havana, Paris, Palermo and Barcelona, and in 1864 began a series of compositions which included four operas and an oratorio. His Méthode Complète de Contre-Basse is a standard work, and his oratorio Garden of Olivet is highly esteemed. He died in 1889.
