Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
- Kyrie e Gloria à 4 voci
Performers: Svetla Krasteva (soprano); Fernanda Piccini (contralto); Manuel Beltrand Gil (tenor); Duccio Dal Monte (bass);
Capella 'S. Cecilia'; Orchestra da Camera del Teatro del Giglio di Lucca; Gianfranco Cosmi (conductor)
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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). Leopoldo's activities as a singer, and from 1747 as a second
double bass player in the Cappella Palatina, allowed the family only a
modest standard of living in their home town of Lucca. Thanks to
intensive parental encouragement, the Boccherini children developed
their considerable artistic talents early: Luigi's elder brother
Giovanni Gastone (1742-c.1800) began a career as a ballet dancer in 1756
and from 1773 was ‘dramatic poet’ (Theatraldichter) at the Burgtheater
in Vienna, where he worked with Calzabigi and made a name as librettist
for comic operas (including works by Antonio Salieri and Florian
Gassmann) and for Joseph Haydn's oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia of 1775.
Luigi's elder sister Maria Ester (1740-c.1800) became a popular and
successful solo dancer while she was still very young at the
Burgtheater, where she worked with Gluck. Luigi's sister Anna Matilde
(1744-?) was a ballet dancer in Vienna and his sister Riccarda (1747-?)
an opera singer, appearing in Florence in 1777. He probably had his
first musical education from his father, as was usual in musicians'
families. He attended the archiepiscopal Seminario di S Martino in Lucca
as a day pupil from about 1751 to 1753 and received a comprehensive
musical training from the maestro di cappella and cellist Domenico
Francesco Vannucci, including tuition in singing and cello playing. In
1753 he went to study in Rome, where G.B. Costanzi is said to have been
his teacher. It is not known exactly how long he remained there, but he
was back in Lucca by the summer of 1756, making his début on 4 August
1756 with a cello concerto. Through the sympathetic support of Giacomo
Puccini, maestro di cappella of the Cappella Palatina and organist at S
Martino, he made a number of further appearances on local occasions
involving sacred music and at other festivities.
Judging by the fees he commanded, the young Boccherini must already have
been regarded as one of the city's outstanding musicians. By 1761 he
set off on a tour of Europe as a virtuoso. By 1768 he intended to make
his reputation in London but was diverted to Madrid on the invitation of
the Spanish ambassador, where he was employed as musical director for
the Infante Don Luís Antonio de Borbón. In 1770 he was named as
compositor y virtuoso da camera, and for the next 15 years he followed
his patron to various country estates and homes in Boudilla del monte,
Olias- Velada-Cadalso, and Arenas de San Pedro, where he composed the
greater portion of his chamber music. Returning to Madrid in 1785 he
conducted the private orchestra of the Duke of Ossuna, as well as the
Real Capilla until 1799, when Spain was occupied during the Napoleonic
wars. In 1786 he was appointed as chamber composer to Friedrich Wilhelm
II of Prussia, who bestowed upon him an annual pension, even though
there is no evidence that Boccherini ever traveled to Potsdam in person.
By 1802 he obtained the patronage of Lucien Bonaparte, which allowed
him to continue his duties, although economic circumstances appear to
have been difficult. Boccherini, whose music was published in Paris and
elsewhere and widely distributed throughout the world, can be seen as
one of the most popular composers of the last half of the 18th century.
His style was known for its fluid melodic lines, advanced sense of
harmony, innovative forms and structure, and rhythmic drive. He often
used Spanish rhythms and dances in his music, and he was often compared
with Joseph Haydn as one of the most progressive composers of the
period. He left over 500 compositions.
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