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Luigi Boccherini in Spain
by Staff Writer
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EDITOR'S NOTE:
Luigi Boccherini's life is one of few triumphs and countless
hardships, finally ending in tragedy. Boccherini's early years
were very successful. He traveled throughout Spain, France and
Italy. Upon his return to Spain, he was struck by one tragedy
after another. After this turn of fate his only means of support
was the small pieces of music he wrote for the guitarists of
Madrid. The music now played by Sego via and other leading guitarists,
was written by Boccherini from dire necessity. There is a saying,
"a starving writer writes his best." Boccherini died a homeless,
penniless beggar in the streets of Madrid.
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| Luigi
Boccherni (1743-1805) |
The name of this prolific and unjustly neglected composer is
generally coupled with that of Haydn in the early development
of chamber music. He composed more than four hundred and sixty
instrumental works, including one hundred and two string quartets,
sixty string trios, and twenty-one sonatas for piano and violin.
Yet to the modem public he is best known for his famous Minuet,
taken from one of his quintets (second series, written in 1771).
This piece, incidentally, was composed some two years after
his arrival in Spain and bears traces of Hispanic influence,
as evidenced in its syncopations and its pizzicato accompaniment,
the whole giving a guitaresque effect.
Having made a name for himself as composer and cellist in Italy
- he was born at Lucca in 1743 - Boccherini went to Paris in
1768 and there met with immediate success. Soon he was persuaded
by the Spanish ambassador to visit Madrid, which was then a
center of attraction for virtuosi from all over Europe. Owing
to the intrigues of a certain Brunetti, an Italian violinist
established in Madrid, Boccherini did not fare as well as he
hoped at the Spanish Court. Nevertheless, he found a patron
in the king's brother, the Infante Don Luis, and, except for
a brief period as court composer to the king of Prussia, he
settled in Madrid for the rest of his life, dying there in 1805.
The eminent French musicologist Georges de Saint-Foix, who has
pleaded eloquently for wider recognition of Boccherini's genius,
is of the opinion that his works offer an array of Spanish dance
forms "of a beauty and richness without equal." The same writer
speaks of "the imperishable, the warm and precious musical treasure
of Spain" that Boccherini has assimilated and transmitted in
his compositions. Boccherini himself tells us that hearing the
celebrated Padre Basilio play fandangos on the guitar inspired
some of his music.
That Boccherini had a thorough acquaintance with the technique
of the guitar is demonstrated by his three quintets for strings
and guitar, in which he employs the resources of the latter
instrument with exceptional skill. The third of these quintets
has a finale, which is in the rhythm of the fandango.
Boccherini's Spanish Ballet is an interesting example of his
Hispanism. The score and parts of this work, which was probably
written for the composer's brother-in-law, the choregrapher
Onorato Vigano, are preserved in the Hessische Landesbibliothek
at Darmstadt. The ballet was performed at Vienna and at Moscow
in 1775. It consists of four brief movements: Larghetto, Minuet-Andantino,
Allegretto, and Con tredanse. One wonders why Boccherini did
not employ specific Spanish dance forms in his ballet, but it
is evident that he intended to convey an impressionistic rather
than a realistic effect. Instead of imitating actual dances,
he suggests Spanish atmosphere by the use of roulades, syncopations,
and pizzicato passages.
Boccherini further associated himself with Spanish music by
writing a zarzuela to a libretto by Ram6n de Ia Cruz, entitled
Clementina, which was privately performed at Madrid in 1778.
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