The Other Italian in Spain

Boccherini arrived in Spain at age 26 in 1769 and evidently got the proverbial cold shoulder from King

Charles III (who cared little for Italian music). However, much-needed employment was found with the monarch's younger brother, Infante Don Luis, for whom Boccherini worked some 13 years. During that prosperous time, the composer married, begat children, and began composing the elegant quintets which made him famous. When both his wife and his patron died in 1785, Boccherini received from the king a pension at half pay.

A year later, the composer entered the service of the king of Prussia (possibly without having to leave Spain, if that can be believed). In the same year as well, he also worked for a wealthy family in Madrid, and married again. His popular quintets then exceeded three dozen in number.

Alas for the researcher, Boccherini disappears from written records between 1787 and 1796. Did he pass the decade traveling back and forth between Germany and Spain as reported much later? We do not know.

In 1798, the Prussian king died and his successor declined to continue Boccherini's position. Two years later, the composer found work again (no doubt after being in straitened circumstances), this time for Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother (who was French ambassador to Spain). Boccherini wrote new scores and directed concerts with renewed zeal, but the work lasted only one year. More personal trials awaited: in 1802, two of Boccherini's daughters died; in 1803, he was found in distress, living in a single room; in 1804, his second wife and third daughter perished. Down and out, Boccherini despaired. Then, in 1805, death "at length released him from his troubles.''

The 62 years of Boccherini's life were marked by alternate successes and misfortunes. After his death, there was no heralding of him in a triumvirate. No one imagined Bach-Boccherini-Beethoven. Yet in his day, Boccherini commanded respect in such great capitals as Paris, Vienna, Madrid, and Berlin. His chamber music, so exquisite in its sensibility, was discussed on a par with Haydn's. It was light entertainment in the best sense of the term-founded on technical virtuosity, suave effects of timbre and harmony, and a superfine sense of style.

The guitar quintets of 1798-99, in particular, have unique charm. Not only do they feature the seductive plucked-string sound of a guitar balanced against the velvety bowedstring sound of a string quartet, but they integrate melodic and rhythmic inspirations of Italian and Spanish origin with rare grace and, sometimes, humor. Boccherini must have known the guitar really well to have managed such a delicate feat so perfectly. To think that these works come from the very period when Boccherini's star began to fall makes the unmitigated musical pleasure they give seem all the more remarkable.

Review of Volume I of the Guitar Quintets by Boccherini

Boccherini arrived in Spain at age 26 in 1769 and evidently got the proverbial cold shoulder from King

Charles III (who cared little for Italian music). However, much-needed employment was found with the monarch's younger brother, Infante Don Luis, for whom Boccherini worked some 13 years. During that prosperous time, the composer married, begat children, and began composing the elegant quintets which made him famous. When both his wife and his patron died in 1785, Boccherini received from the king a pension at half pay.

A year later, the composer entered the service of the king of Prussia (possibly without having to leave Spain, if that can be believed). In the same year as well, he also worked for a wealthy family in Madrid, and married again. His popular quintets then exceeded three dozen in number.

Alas for the researcher, Boccherini disappears from written records between 1787 and 1796. Did he pass the decade traveling back and forth between Germany and Spain as reported much later? We do not know.

In 1798, the Prussian king died and his successor declined to continue Boccherini's position. Two years later, the composer found work again (no doubt after being in straitened circumstances), this time for Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother (who was French ambassador to Spain). Boccherini wrote new scores and directed concerts with renewed zeal, but the work lasted only one year. More personal trials awaited: in 1802, two of Boccherini's daughters died; in 1803, he was found in distress, living in a single room; in 1804, his second wife and third daughter perished. Down and out, Boccherini despaired. Then, in 1805, death "at length released him from his troubles.''

The 62 years of Boccherini's life were marked by alternate successes and misfortunes. After his death, there was no heralding of him in a triumvirate. No one imagined Bach-Boccherini-Beethoven. Yet in his day, Boccherini commanded respect in such great capitals as Paris, Vienna, Madrid, and Berlin. His chamber music, so exquisite in its sensibility, was discussed on a par with Haydn's. It was light entertainment in the best sense of the term-founded on technical virtuosity, suave effects of timbre and harmony, and a superfine sense of style.

The guitar quintets of 1798-99, in particular, have unique charm. Not only do they feature the seductive plucked-string sound of a guitar balanced against the velvety bowedstring sound of a string quartet, but they integrate melodic and rhythmic inspirations of Italian and Spanish origin with rare grace and, sometimes, humor. Boccherini must have known the guitar really well to have managed such a delicate feat so perfectly. To think that these works come from the very period when Boccherini's star began to fall makes the unmitigated musical pleasure they give seem all the more remarkable.

Review of Volume I of the Guitar Quintets by Boccherini