Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 730099471923
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BOCCHERINI
Description
Luigi Boccherini (1743 -1805) Flute Quintets, Op. 17, G.419-424 Quintet No.1 in D major, G. 419 Quintet No.2 in C major, G. 420 Quintet No.3 in D minor, G. 421 Quintet No.4 in B flat major, G. 422 Quintet No.5 in G major, G. 423Quintet No.6 in E flat major, G. 424The Italian cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini was born in Lucca in1743, the son of a double-bass player. His family was distinguished not only inmusic but also boasted poets and dancers among its members. His elder brotherGiovan Gastone, born in 1742, was both dancer and poet, the author of the textof Haydn's Il ritorno di Tobia andof the libretti of some earlier stage works of the Vienna court composer,Antonio Salieri. His sister Maria Ester was a dancer and married Onorato Vigan??,a distinguished dancer and choreographer. Her son, Salvatore Vigan??, whostudied composition with Boccherini, occupies a position of considerableimportance in the history of ballet.Boccherini was giving concerts as a cellist by the age of thirteen, andin 1757 went with his father to Vienna, where they were both invited to jointhe orchestra of the court theatre. Boccherini returned two years later toLucca, but there were further visits to Vienna, before he found a position in1764 at home. In 1766, however, he set out with his fellow-townsman, theviolinist Manfredi, a pupil of Nardini, for Paris, having performed with bothviolinists and with Cambini in chamber music in Milan the previous year. In France Boccherini and Manfredi won considerable success, and theformer continued his work as a composer, as well as appearing as a cellovirtuoso. In 1768 the pair left for Spain, where Boccherini seems to have liveduntil his death in 1805. In Madrid he was appointed composer and virtuoso di camera to the Infante DonLuis, younger brother of King Carlos III. Part of the following period he spentin Madrid and part at the Palace of Las Arenas in the province of Avila, wherethe Infante retired after an unacceptable marriage. Members of the Font family wereemployed by the Infante as a string quartet and renewed their association withBoccherini towards the end of the century. After the death of Don Luis in 1785,Boccherini entered the service of the Benevente-Osuna family. At the same timehe was appointed court composer to Friedrich Wilhelm, who in 1787 became Kingof Prussia, providing the cello-playing king with new compositions on the samekind of exclusive arrangement that he had earlier enjoyed with Don Luis. Thereis, however, no evidence that Boccherini ever spent any time in Prussia. Afterthe death of Fredrich Wilhelm and the departure of other patrons from Madrid,Boccherini received support from Lucien Bonaparte, French ambassador, andremained busy to the end of his life, although visitors reported that he livedin all the appearance of poverty.Boccherini's style is completely characteristic of the period in whichhe lived, the period, that is, of Haydn, rather than that of Mozart orBeethoven. He enjoyed a reputation f
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
