Luigi

Ridolfo

Boccherini
The forgotten Composer of Neglected Instrument
A gifted performer of a relatively neglected solo instrument, Luigi Boccherini
became one of the most original composers of its time. His prolific compositions
push the string ensemble, especially the violoncello, into new extravagant ideas.
Boccherini’s reputation was comparable to that of Haydn, if the “nickname ‘the
wife of Haydn’ may be accepted as evidence of contemporary fame” (Naxos).

Young Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini came from a very musical family in Italy. His brother and two of his sisters grew
up to be ballet dancers and his youngest sister became an opera singer. He was introduced into the arts
at a very young age, but his family lived a very modest and humble living in his hometown of Lucca.
Luigi Boccherini probably had his first musical instruction from his father Leopoldo Boccherini, a singer
and second double bass player (contrabassista soprannumerario) in the Cappella Palatina. Having eight
years of age Luigi was a student at the archiepiscopal Seminario di S Martino in Lucca for three years.
During that time, he received formal musical training from the maestro di cappella and cellist Domenico
Francesco Vannucci. He received tuition assistance due to his skills in singing and cello playing. It's
believed that Luigi Boccherini could have sang as a choirboy in Luccan churches and at the Teatro
Pubblico in 1753. When he returned from his studies in Rome, he performed his début as a cellist the
summer of 1756. At this point of this career he had gain important connections with maestros di cappella
and organists in churches, and, judging by the fees he commanded, the young Boccherini must have been
regarded as one of the city's most outstanding musicians already.
Luigi and Leopoldo Boccherini
In 1757 he accompanied his father and his elder siblings at several engagements in Venice and
Trieste, where he made great success in the Musikalische Fasten-Accademien at the Burgtheater. Most
of the music Boccherini played there was ballet music, by Starzer, Gassmann and Gluck. They frequently
returned to Vienna, on each occasion for a full theatrical year beginning after Easter. However, there's
some sources that indicate that he did not appear at the academies of the imperial court as often as other
cellists in the city, and there is documentary evidence of only two solo concerts given by him in Vienna
in 1763. Boccherini encountered strong competition as a soloist in Vienna. The sources provide only
fragmentary information about Boccherini's other events during his life between the end of 1758 and
1764. It's known that he gave several concerts in Lucca, where he was called the ‘celebre suonatore di
Violoncello’ and earned much applause for a concert of music by himself. During this time, However,
Boccherini had a period of intensive creativity. He wrote eighteen significant compositions: the trios
op.1, the quartets op.2 and the duets op.3, all for strings. In April 1764 his application made in 1760 for
a position as cellist in the Cappella Palatina of Lucca was finally granted. He also had a commission to
compose a cantata for the local election festivities in Lucca, which shows that he was recognized as a
great composer by then. In July 1765 he met G.B. Sammartini at a festival concert in Pavia and Cremona,
where he and his father were making a well-paid appearance before Leopold I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
There's also a story about Boccherini's membership for six months in a string quartet, with the violinists
Filippo Manfredi and Pietro Nardini, and Giuseppe Cambini as the viola player. Soon after the death of
his father in August 1766 Boccherini and his friend Manfredi, primo violino of the Cappella Palatina,
went to Genoa, where they enjoyed the patronage of the nobility. Boccherini wrote at least one of his
two oratorios for the congregation in that city.
Independent life
The Boccherini and Manfredi traveled to Paris and stayed there for six months. Then, Boccherini
came under the patronage of the influential Charles-Ernest Ennal, mainly because he was a very famous
personality when he arrived. Paris was the main place of publication for Boccherini's works throughout
his lifetime, although the only work published under his own supervision was a series of six trios op.4.
However, the most important product of his visit to Paris was the set of six sonatas for keyboard with
violin accompaniment op.5, which Boccherini dedicated to the amateur keyboard player Anne Louise
Boyvin d’Hardancourt Brillon de Jouy. This composition was later published and distributed in
numerous copies and editions into the 19th century. His only recorded public appearance in Paris was at
the Concert Spirituel on 20 March 1768, when Manfredi played a violin concerto of his own composition
and Boccherini performed one of his own cello sonatas. After a second appearance by Manfredi, the two
men left the French capital, but in a change to their original plan they went not to London but to Madrid.
By spring 1768 they were playing in the orchestra of an Italian opera company in Aranjuez. Then, the
most productive stage of his life started on 8 November 1770. Boccherini entered the service of Don Luis
in Aranjuez as "compositore e virtuoso di camera at a salary of 14,000 reals (raised to 18,000 in 1772)"
(Oxford). Thanks to this relatively well-paid position Boccherini's activity as a composer increased
significantly, and he immediately extended the range of genres in which he worked with. He produced
his quintets and sextets for strings and flute or oboe, his series of six symphonies op.12, and above all
his first two series of string quintets, each containing six works, opp.10 and 11. He used a string quintet
formation with two cellos, which seems to have resulted from the fact that Don Luis already had a string
quartet, which more than likely would become a quintet adding Boccherini on the cello.
 Spain
Later in his life, Boccherini set up a business relationship with the publishing firm of Artaria in
Vienna, and entered into a short correspondence about the firm with Joseph Haydn, whom he greatly
admired. In 1783, through a Prussian messenger at the Madrid court, he sent compositions written in
his own hand to the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, an enthusiastic cellist. Friedrich
Wilhelm immediately wrote a personal letter back expressing his lively interest in new works, which
Boccherini satisfied by sending some of his earlier compositions to Berlin. However, he did this knowing
that the conditions of service with Don Luis stipulated that he was not to compose for any other patron
at the same time. Perhaps to ensure that he remained in Madrid rather than going to Berlin. Don Luis
improved these conditions: under his renewed contract of 17 August 1784, and he received 12,000
additional reals for the compositions he was to write. In spite of this, his musical outcome decreased.
Apart from the six string quintets op.36 of 1784, he apparently wrote no new chamber music for the four
years from 1782, and for the three years 1783–5 the only other work mentioned in the records is a
Christmas cantata.

*Boccherini's wife and his patron Don Luis both died in 1785. At his petition, King Carlos III granted
him an annual pension of 12,000 reals, and he was promised the next place to fall vacant in the Real
Capilla. The entry into the Real Capilla in 1787 of another cellist, Francesco Brunetti, then only just 20
years old, may be the origin of the legend that jealous rivalry existed between Boccherini and Francesco
Brunetti's father Gaetano, a violinist of high standing in the Real Capilla and music master to the Prince
of the Asturias. At the end of 1785 or early in 1786 Boccherini returned to Madrid and was nominally
appointed a member of the Real Capilla.*

Later, Boccherini was appointed ‘compositeur de notre chambre’ to Crown Prince Wilhelm of
Prussia. It's believed that he continued living in Las Arenas near Madrid for the rest of his life.
Nevertheless, the post carried an annual salary of 1000 talers, and Boccherini managed to send 12
instrumental works each year to his new patron in Prussia, almost without any break. From March 1786
onwards he was also hired in Madrid at a salary of 1000 reals a month. In addition to that, there was
still great interest in Boccherini's music in Paris. He received a private patronage around 1790–91 from
someone known as Boulogne who perished in the chaotic aftermath of the French Revolution (possibly
the a manufacturer called Jacques-Laurent Boulogne). “Boccherini's chamber music was performed at
concerts in his house, with Viotti as first violin, as Boccherini wrote to Pleyel on 4 January 1798”
(Oxford). According to Boccherini, Boulogne's music library contained transcripts of 110 of his works.
Last Years.
Unfortunately, last nine years of Boccherini's life were troubled by illness and misfortune. His
wife and four of his six children died. He wasn't able to earn enough money and his own health was poor.
He became ill with tuberculosis and he died in poverty. His decline started when Boccherini accepted an
offer from the Parisian publisher Pleyel, and after brief negotiations sold him 58 works (opp.44 to 54)
for 7200 reals. Immediately afterwards, negotiations began for the sale of 110 other works written
earlier. Shortly after that, Friedrich Wilhelm II died unexpectedly in 1797. Boccherini petitioned the
next king for employment. His petition has refused, and the king declined to grant him a pension. He
finally sold the 110 works mentioned above to Pleyel for 9600 reals.
Also during this last years, he became increasingly interested in vocal music: he wrote the Scena dell'Ines
di Castro for the stage by April 1798, and a second opera, Dorval e Virginia, which was performed during
the carnival season of in Turin but is now lost. In terms of sacred music, he wrote a Mass and a second
version of his Stabat mater in 1800, and the Christmas cantata op.63 in 1802, most of them are now lost.
In 1799 he was flattered by reports of the popularity of his works in Paris. Therefore, he sought for new
patronage, in France. Boccherini composed the six piano quintets op.57 with a dedication to the French
nation. The Paris Conservatoire invited him to become a member of the administrative council. However,
according to Alfredo Boccherini's biography of the composer, Boccherini declined this opportunity. He
finally found a new patron in November 1800 in the person of Lucien Bonaparte, French ambassador in
Madrid. Boccherini organized musical performances for him. Towards the end of his life Boccherini's
financial circumstances were modest, but his health was very poor. He seems to have given up
composition in 1804, with his unfinished String Quartet op.64 no.2. Luigi Boccherini died of peritoneal
tuberculosis in 1805 and was buried in the church of S Justo y Pastor in Madrid. An inventory of his
possessions in his own hand, drawn up in 1787, indicates that he owned two Stradivari cellos.
Musical Outcome.
lfredo Boccherini was a descendant of Luigi who published in 1879 some biographical notes of the
composer. Ifredo has been surpassed only by Yves Gérard in 1965. Had it not been for this, the work of
Boccherini would have practically disappeared. Thanks to this, today we know that Luigi Boccherini
gave an important boost to chamber music repertoire, leaving among other compositions:
 Piano Quintets  11 Cello Concertos
- one of his most
 More than 100  Guitar Quintets
popular cello concertos
Strings Quartets - No.4 has a Fandango
was actually constructed
finale complete with
 More than 100 in the 19th century
castanets
Strings Quintets using movements from 2
- including the one with  Many of other concertos
the famous Minuet, and chamber music,
 Symphonies
one called "Night Trios, etc.
Music on the Streets of  Operas
 12 Cello Sonatas
Madrid"
 Oratorios

As a virtuoso cellist himself, it is not surprising that he wrote a lot of music for strings, including
several cello concertos and sonatas. One of Boccherini's achievements was to demonstrate the
expressive potential of the cello, and this instrument is often the most prominent in his string quartets
and quintets (where he utilised 2 violins, 2 cellos and a viola). If it wasn't for one particular piece,
Boccherini's music would be largely unknown today. That piece of music is the Minuet in A from his
String Quintet in E, Op.11 No.5. This was used on the soundtrack of the Ealing comedy film "The
Ladykillers" (otherwise scored by Tristram Cary) and since then has seeped into the public
consciousness as the quintessential 18th century minuet - genteel and graceful.

Boccherini: Minuet from String Quintet Op.11 No.5

This minuet and trio is Boccherini's most famous piece of music. As well as many String Quartets
he also wrote a huge number of String Quintets which are like the traditional String Quartet but with
an extra cello. This Minuet and Trio is in the key of A but comes from a String Quintet in E Op.11
No.5. This particular movement has become significantly famous, even more than entire piece from
where this movement comes from. It has a basic ternary form:
Minuetto (A major, 40 measures.) || Trio (D, 48 measures.) || Minuetto s. r. (A, 20m.)
The Minuetto has a typical struccture with reexposition: a || b | a’. The b section goes into the
parallel minor section (A minor). Then section A’ comes back in major and finishes in a perfect
cadence.
The Trio is written in the subdominant of the home key, (D major). It has a contrasting character,
which is much more lively than the first. This section depicts a binary form, which uses an antecedent
and consequent relationship.
Boccherini’s Legacy and Conclusion.
It is important to say that Boccherini is in many ways constantly compared with Mozart and Haydn.
However, there have always been certain counterarguments precisely because of this distancing of the
Viennese "norm". Boccherini is a very personal composer, with its own language, which is indifferent to
the "official" pattern of almost all his contemporaries. Boccherini, therefore, did not fit that model, and
for that reason many interpreters today seem disoriented with his music. Most of them are hoping to
find in his music what's non-existent. His life was completely different and he develop as a composer in
a totally different setting, Spain. Then, it makes no sense to find the same spirit and language of
Boccherini's music in Haydn or Mozart styles. Boccherini shine by itself if played or sung with its own
language, as languishes if done with other inappropriate; hence the frequent frustration of many
interpreters Boccherini. It is important to bring this composer back into our studies of the early
developments of the classical era, and particularly in chamber music.
 RESOURCES

Romero, A. "Luigi Boccherini." BOADILLA DEL MONTE -. Boadilla, Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

Christian Speck and Stanley Sadie. "Boccherini, Luigi." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

Jaime Tortella, Boccherini: un músico italiano en la España ilustrada, 2002

"Luigi Boccherini." Luigi Boccherini- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.