Composer
Luigi Boccherini
The cellist who wrote the world's most famous minuet - and found his voice in Spain.
Luigi Boccherini was one of the great cellists of the 18th century and a prolific composer of elegant, graceful chamber music. His famous Minuet is known to millions who have never heard his name, and his music, much of it written in Spain, has a charm and warmth all its own.
Life in brief
Boccherini was born in Lucca, in Tuscany, in 1743, the son of a musician who taught him the cello. He was a prodigy, and as a young man he toured as a virtuoso, played in the theatre orchestra in Vienna, and won success in Paris, where his music was published.
Around 1768 he moved to Spain, which would be his home for the rest of his life. From 1770 he served the king's younger brother, the Infante Don Luis, and when Don Luis was banished from court after marrying a commoner, Boccherini followed him to his country palace at Arenas de San Pedro, writing music for the prince's household quartet. After Don Luis's death in 1785, he became composer to the cello-loving King Frederick William II of Prussia, while continuing to live in Spain.
His last years were difficult. His patrons died or moved away, he lost his wife and several of his children, and he died in poverty in Madrid in 1805.
Music and style
Boccherini's music is gentle, refined, and melodious, with delicate ornaments and a fondness for soft dynamics and sweet, singing high cello parts. He developed the string quintet with two cellos, writing more than a hundred of them so that he could join in himself, and he wrote around a hundred string quartets. His years in Spain brought Spanish color into his music: guitar strumming, folk dances, and the sounds of the street. A contemporary nicknamed him "Haydn's wife," a compliment to how close his style was to that of Haydn.
Key works
- Minuet from String Quintet in E major (1771) - one of the most famous minuets ever written, heard in countless films and adverts.
- Cello Concerto in B-flat major - his best-known concerto, long played in a 19th-century arrangement. See cello.
- Night Music of the Streets of Madrid (1780) - a string quintet that paints a picture of the city at night, with church bells, beggars, soldiers' drums, and a slowly fading retreat.
- Guitar Quintet No. 4, "Fandango" - ending with an exuberant Spanish fandango, complete with castanets. See classical guitar.
- Stabat Mater (1781) - a tender setting of the medieval poem.
Legacy
Boccherini's quintets and quartets helped establish chamber music as a genre, and he was among the first to give the cello a starring role. His music is now enjoying a revival on period instruments. See also the Classical era.
Where to start listening: the famous Minuet, then the Night Music of the Streets of Madrid and the "Fandango" quintet.