At last I shall know where to place my fingers.

First of all, Bassists of the Bottesini school have proven consistently honest and prudent in preserving and promoting knowledge and appreciation of Bottesini. Against overwhelming uncertainty, they have held on to every scrap of Truth about the Master they could find.

Secondly, the Bassists' version perfectly echoes Bottesini's famous youthful fingers statement; composer that he was, he would have been delighted by the idea of a "recapitulation" of that type. Bottesini's innate sense of craft, showmanship, and decorum should not be underestimated.

For these reasons, as well as for others than can't be revealed here for security reasons, the IBSU favors this, the Bassists' version as the mone most likely to be True.

• "These hands -- ah, what these hands might have done."
• "Ah, what these hands have done."
• "Please bring me my Contrabass -- let me touch it one last time."
• "What an artist the world is losing in me."
• "Now I will relieve them of their trembling. That the death of a feeble old man should be a comfort to so many."
• "Thank you. The concert ends: There will be no encore."