He was acquainted with composers Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, whom he visited on several occasions in Vienna, and to whom he showed the possibilities of the double bass as a solo instrument.

His ability on the instrument also demonstrated the relevance of writing scores for the double bass in the orchestra separate from that of the cello, which was the common rule at the time.

At the age of twelve, he was placed under the tuition of Berini, the best master for the double bass in Venice, who decided after only eleven lessons that he could not teach the boy anything more.

At fourteen he was appointed principal double bass player in the Grand Opera Seria at the San Benedetto theatre.

The story that he kept and often traveled with a collection of life-sized cloth mannequins, bringing them to his concerts and having them placed in front row seats of theaters, and even introducing one of these dolls as his wife, is completely unsubstantiated.

At the Italian Opera orchestra, he met the cellist Robert Lindley, who became his close friend and with whom he shared the stand during fifty-two years.

At the age of 82, Dragonetti visited Bonn in August 1845 to participate in the 3-day music festival held as part of the inauguration of the Beethoven Monument there.

[2] He died in his Leicester square lodgings at the age of 83 and was buried on 23 April 1846 in the vaults of the Roman Catholic chapel of St Mary, Moorfields.

In 1791–1792, Joseph Haydn accepted a lucrative offer from German impresario Johann Peter Salomon to visit England and conduct new symphonies with large orchestras.

He was now - in the spring of 1799, so far as the means are at hand of determining the time - returning to London from a visit to his native city, Venice, and his route took him to Vienna, where he remained several weeks.

Beethoven played his part, with his eyes immovably fixed upon his companion, and, in the finale, where the arpeggios occur, was so delighted and excited that at the close he sprang up and threw his arms around both player and instrument".

The unlucky contrabassists of orchestras had frequent occasions during the next few years to know that this new revelation of the powers and possibilities of their instrument to Beethoven was not forgotten."

The premiere of this work, as well as of Beethoven's seventh symphony was performed on 8 December 1813 in the university's Festsaal, with Dragonetti leading the double basses.

It was particularly important at a time when the role of the double bass in the orchestra was to assist the concertmaster in maintaining the cohesion and establishing the tempo.

Mention is made of this on The Contrabass Shoppe web site which says... "There are various stories of how Dragonetti came into possession of the famous Gasparo da Salo bass.

[3] The fascinating and highly commendable biography Domenico Dragonetti In England by Fiona M. Palmer (Clarendon Press Oxford 1997) seems to offer the most plausible account.