Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
- Sinfonia (C-Dur) 'SINFONIE | A | Plusieurs Instruments récitants |
COMPOSÉES | Pour S.A.R. L'Infant dom Louis d'Espagne ... Œuvre 16'
(1771)
Performers: New Philharmonia Orchestra; Raymond Lеppаrd (1927-2019,
conductor)
Further info: Boccherini - Complete Symphonies Op. 12
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Italian composer and cellist. He was the third child of the musician
Leopoldo Boccherini (1712-1766) and his wife Maria Santa, née Prosperi
(?-1776). When he reached the age of 13, he was sent to Rome to study
with the renowned cellist Giovanni Battista Costanzi, musical director
at Saint Peter’s Basilica. In Rome Boccherini was influenced by the
polyphonic tradition (i.e., music with two or more interweaving melodic
parts) stemming from the works of Giovanni da Palestrina and from the
instrumental music of Arcangelo Corelli. In 1757 Boccherini and his
father were invited to play in the Imperial Theatre orchestra in Vienna.
On his second journey to Vienna (1760), Boccherini, at 17, made his
debut as a composer with his Six Trios for Two Violins and Cello, G
77–82. During his third stay in that city (1764), a public concert by
Boccherini was enthusiastically received. In August 1764 he obtained a
permanent position in Lucca with the local church and theatre
orchestras. He was in Lombardy in 1765, in the orchestra of Giovanni
Battista Sammartini. Through his association with this Milanese
composer, the 22-year-old Boccherini strengthened the new
“conversational” style of the quartet: the cello’s line was now as
important as the counterpoint (i.e., the intertwining of independent
melodic lines) of the violin and viola. Boccherini put together the
first public string quartet performance, with an extraordinary string
quartet made up of outstanding Tuscan virtuosos, including himself,
Pietro Nardini, Nardini’s pupil Filippo Manfredi, and Giuseppe Cambini.
After the death of his father (1766), Boccherini left Lucca for Paris,
which was at that time particularly hospitable to Italian musicians.
According to tradition, it was the Spanish ambassador to Paris who
persuaded Boccherini to move (probably in 1768 or early 1769) to Madrid,
where he began his long sojourn at the intrigue-ridden court of Charles
III. The king’s brother, the infante Don Luis, conferred on him a
yearly endowment of 30,000 reals as a cellist and composer. Boccherini
first began writing string quintets during this period, and he also
wrote his well-known Six String Quartets (1772). At about the same time,
he married Clementina Pelicho, with whom he had five children. In 1785,
when both Clementina and the infante died, the king granted him a
pension of 12,000 reals, after which he was free to accept the patronage
of (among others) Frederick William II of Prussia, who was an amateur
cellist and well acquainted with Boccherini’s music. Boccherini married
Joaquina Porreti in 1787. From 1787 to 1797 he may have been in Berlin,
at a post provided by Frederick William II, although this position has
not been adequately documented; it seems equally likely that he remained
in Spain. In 1798 the new king of Prussia refused to extend
Boccherini’s pension, the duchess of Osuna (another important source of
income) moved to Paris, and Boccherini’s financial distress was
aggravated by poor health. His life was further saddened by the death of
two of his daughters in 1802 and the death of his second wife and a
third daughter in 1804. Reportedly, he was by then living in near
poverty, although his financial plight may have been exaggerated.
Certainly, however, his own health suffered from his personal losses,
and he died in 1805 of a long-standing respiratory ailment.
