Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, February 19, 1743 – Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, May 28, 1805) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 classical era composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and cellist

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 whose music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 retained a courtly and galante

Galante music

A new style of classical music, fashionable from the 1720s to the 1770s, was called Galante music. It consciously simplified contrapuntal texture and intense composing techniques that realized a pattern on the page and substituted a clear leading voice with a transparent accompaniment....

 style

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

 while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet

Minuet

A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...

 from his String Quintet in E

String Quintet in E (Boccherini)

The String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 , by Luigi Boccherini was written in 1771 and published in 1775. It is one of his most popular works...

, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), and the Cello Concerto in B flat major (G 482)

Cello Concerto No. 9 (Boccherini)

Luigi Boccherini's Cello Concerto No. 9 in B flat Major, G.482 was written in either the late 1760s or early 1770s. Boccherini, a talented cellist, composed twelve concertos for his instrument...

. This last work

Work of art

A work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...

 was long known in the heavily altered version by German cellist and prolific arranger Friedrich Grützmacher

Friedrich Grützmacher

Friedrich Wilhelm Grützmacher was a noted German cellist in the second half of the 19th century.Grützmacher was born in Dessau, Anhalt, and was first taught by his father...

, but has recently been restored to its original version. Boccherini composed several guitar quintets including the "Fandango" which was influenced by Spanish music.

Biography

Boccherini was born in Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

, Italy, into a musical family. At a young age he was sent by his father, a cellist and double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 player, to study in Rome. In 1757 they both went to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 where they were employed by the court as musicians in the Burgtheater

Burgtheater

The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

. In 1761 Boccherini went to Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, where he was employed by Infante Luis Antonio of Spain

Luis de Borbón y Farnesio, 13th Count of Chinchón

Luis Antonio Jaime of Spain , Infante of Spain, Cardinal Deacon of the titular church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain and 13th Conde de Chinchón, Grandee of Spain First Class, known as the Cardinal-Infante, was a son of Philip V, King of Spain and his...

, younger brother of King Charles III

Charles III of Spain

Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...

. There he flourished under royal patronage, until one day when the King expressed his disapproval at a passage in a new trio, and ordered Boccherini to change it. The composer, no doubt irritated with this intrusion into his art, doubled the passage instead, leading to his immediate dismissal. Then he accompanied Don Luis to Arenas de San Pedro

Arenas de San Pedro

Arenas de San Pedro is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 6,682 inhabitants. Its seal depicts a large castle located in the town. The seal says "Siempre incendiada", meaning "always on fire"...

, a little town at the Gredos mountains

Sierra de Gredos

The Sierra de Gredos is a mountain range in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, located between Ávila, Cáceres, Madrid and Toledo. It has been declared a regional park. Its highest point is Pico Almanzor, at 2,592 metres....

; there and in the closest town of Candeleda

Candeleda

Candeleda is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, in the autonomous region of Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 5,137 inhabitants....

, Boccherini wrote many of his most brilliant works.

Among his late patrons was the French consul Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte

Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano , born Luciano Buonaparte, was the third surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino....

, as well as King Friedrich Wilhelm II

Frederick William II of Prussia

Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...

 of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, himself an amateur cellist, flautist

Flautist

A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...

, and avid supporter of the arts. Boccherini fell on hard times following the deaths of his Spanish patron, two wives, and two daughters, and he died almost in poverty in Madrid in 1805, being survived by two sons. His blood line continues to this day in Spain. He was buried in the Pontifical Basilica of St. Michael until 1927, when Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

 repatriated his remains to the Church of San Francesco

Church of San Francesco

The Convent of San Francesco is a church in Lucca, Italy.The presence of Franciscan monks in Lucca was already attested in 1228, and the new religious order had just took a prominent role in city life. The church, built out of gravel, is a single classroom with a trussed roof. It was completed in...

 of his native Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

.

Works

Much of his chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 follows models established by Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

; however, Boccherini is often credited with improving Haydn's model of the string quartet by bringing the cello to prominence, whereas Haydn had frequently relegated it to an accompaniment role. Rather, some sources for Boccherini's style are in the works of a famous Italian cellist, Giovanni Battista Cirri

Giovanni Battista Cirri

Giovanni Battista Cirri was an Italian cellist and composer in the 18th century.-Biography:Cirri was born in Forlì . He had his first musical training with his brother Ignazio and was for a time organist at Forlì Cathedral...

, who was born before Boccherini and before Haydn, and in the Spanish popular music.

A virtuoso cellist of high caliber, Boccherini often played violin repertoire on the cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, at pitch

Pitch (music)

Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...

, a skill he developed by substituting for ailing violinists while touring. This supreme command of the instrument brought him much praise from his contemporaries (notably Pierre Baillot

Pierre Baillot

Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot was a French violinist and composer.Baillot was born in Passy and studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti...

, Pierre Rode

Pierre Rode

Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode was a French violinist and composer.-Biography:Born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Pierre Rode traveled to Parisat the age of 13 and soon became a favourite pupil of the great Giovanni Battista Viotti who found the boy so talented that he charged him no fee for the...

, and Bernhard Romberg

Bernhard Romberg

Bernhard Heinrich Romberg , was a German cellist and composer.-Life:Romberg was born at Dinklage. His father, Anton Romberg, played the bassoon and cello and gave Bernhard his first cello lessons. He first performed in public at the age of seven...

), and is evident in the cello parts of his compositions (particularly in the quintets for two cellos, treated often as cello concertos with string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

 accompaniment

Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...

).

He wrote a large amount of chamber music, including over one hundred string quintets for two violins, viola and two cellos (a type which he pioneered, in contrast with the then common scoring for two violins, two violas and one cello), a dozen guitar quintets, not all of which have survived, nearly a hundred string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

s, and a number of string trio

String trio

A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. The term is generally used with reference to works of chamber music from the Classical period to the present.-History:...

s and sonatas (including at least 19 for the cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

). His orchestral music includes around 30 symphonies and 12 virtuoso cello concertos.

Boccherini's works have been catalogued by the French musicologist Yves Gérard

Yves Gérard

Yves Gérard is a French musicologist.-Life and career:Born on January 6, 1932, Yves Gérard studied philosophy at the Nancy-Université from 1949 to 1955. Following his graduation, he studied piano for three years at the Nancy Conservatory. From 1955 to 1956 he studied at the Sorbonne under...

 (born 1932) in the Gérard catalog, published in London (1969), hence the "G" numbers applied to his output.

With a ministerial decree dated 27 April 2006, the Opera Omnia of the composer Luigi Boccherini was promoted to the status of Italian National Edition.

Boccherini's style is characterized by the typical Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 charm, lightness, and optimism, and exhibits much melodic and rhythmic invention, coupled with frequent influences from the guitar tradition of his adopted country, Spain.

Contemporary revival

Neglected after his death—the dismissive sobriquet

Sobriquet

A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...

 "Haydn's wife" dates from the nineteenth century— his works have been gaining more recognition since the late 20th century, in print, record, and concert hall. His "celebrated minuet" (String Quintet in E

String Quintet in E (Boccherini)

The String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 , by Luigi Boccherini was written in 1771 and published in 1775. It is one of his most popular works...

, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275)) was popularized through its use in the film The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...

.
His famous "Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid

Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid

Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid , Opus 30 No. 6 , is a quintettino for stringed instruments Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid (Night Music of the Streets of Madrid,), Opus 30 No. 6 (G. 324), is a quintettino (quintet) for stringed instruments Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid...

" (String Quintet in C Major, Op. 30 No. 6, G324), became popular through its use in films such as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin and released by 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films and Universal Studios...

.

His distinctive compositions for string quintet (two violins, one viola, two celli), long neglected after his death, have been brought back to life by the Boccherini Quintet

Boccherini Quintet

The Boccherini Quintet was a string quintet founded in Rome in 1949 when two of its original members, Arturo Bonucci and Pina Carmirelli, discovered and bought, in Paris, a complete collection of the first edition of Luigi Boccherini's 141 string quintets, and set about to promote this long...

 in the second half of the 20th century, when two of its founding members discovered a complete collection of the first edition of the 141 string quintets in Paris and began playing and recording them around the world.

Recording

• Flute Quintets, Op. 19, Auser Musici
  Auser Musici
  Auser Musici is a period instrument ensemble centered in Pisa that specializes in early music repertory from the Tuscan region of Italy.-History, Mission, and Activities:...
  
  , Carlo Ipata, director, Hyperion CDA67646 (2008)

Media