Release Date: 07 January 2005
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313279524
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BOCCHERINI
Description
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)Cello SonatasThe Italian cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini wasborn in Lucca in 1743, the son of a double-bass player.His family was distinguished not only in music but alsoboasted poets and dancers among its members. Hiselder brother Giovanni Gastone, born in 1742, wasboth dancer and poet, the author of the text of Haydn'sIl ritorno di Tobia and of the libretti of some earlierstage works of the Vienna court composer, AntonioSalieri. He later became official poet of the Coliseo delos Canos del Peral in Madrid, a theatre to the concertsin which Boccherini had contributed music. His sisterMaria Ester was a dancer and married Onorato Vigan??,a distinguished dancer and choreographer. Her son,Salvatore Vigan??, who studied composition withBoccherini, occupies a position of considerableimportance in the history of ballet.By the age of thirteen Boccherini was appearing inconcerts as a cellist. In 1757 he went with his fatherand older brother and sister to Venice and Trieste andthe following year he appeared with his father inVienna, where they were both invited to join the courtorchestra, returning to Vienna for two further seasonsin 1760-1761 and 1763-1764. In the interveningperiods he appeared in Lucca and in Florence. In 1764Boccherini succeeded in achieving appointment as acellist in the Cappella Palatina in Lucca and undertookengagements in Padua and Cremona, among otherplaces. In 1766 he joined with his fellow-townsman,the violinist Manfredi, leader of the Cappella Palatina,the latter's teacher Nardini and the composer andviola-player Cambini in serious study and performanceof the quartets of Haydn and of Boccherini's own earlyquartets, and after the death of his father in August ofthat year he went with Manfredi to Genoa, where heseems to have composed at least one of his twooratorios for the Oratorians. In the autumn of 1767 heset out from Genoa with Manfredi, with the intentionof travelling to London, staying first in Nice and thenfor some six months in Paris, where they wonconsiderable success. Here Boccherini's first set of sixstring quartets was published, and sets of string trios.In France Boccherini and Manfredi won considerablesuccess and Boccherini himself also continued hiswork as a composer, in addition to his performances asa virtuoso. In 1768 the pair left for Spain, appearingfirst at court with an Italian opera company.Establishing himself in Madrid, Boccherini wasappointed composer and virtuoso di camera to theInfante Don Luis, younger brother of King Carlos III,after a cooler reception from the King and the Prince ofthe Asturias, his heir. Part of the following period hespent in Madrid and part at the Palace of Arenas de SanPedro in the province of Avila, where the Infanteretired after a morganatic marriage. Members of theFont family were employed by the Prince as a stringquartet, for which Boccherini wrote quartets and withwhom he performed his own string quintets. Herenewed his association with Fra
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
