Notes for: July 23, 2013
Like Domenico Scarlatti 40 years before him, Luigi Boccherini was an Italian musician who spent most of his life in Spain. Born into a family of itinerant musicians, he mastered the cello at an early age, and, when only 14, joined his father, a double-bass player, in the court orchestra of the Austrian Empress, Maria Theresa. From 1760 to 1768, he lived in Paris, acquiring a reputation as a cello virtuoso and composer, and was then invited to Madrid by the Spanish Ambassador.
In Spain, Don Luis, the brother of King Charles III, became Boccherini’s patron and under this sponsorship he became “Cellist of the Chamber and Composer of Music” at the royal palace and director of its orchestra. He quickly achieved fame throughout Europe as one of the most prolific composers of the day, producing, among other works, 100 string quintets and nearly as many string quartets.
But then his luck changed. In 1785, Don Luis died, depriving Boccherini of royal patronage, and the king reduced him to a pension of half his salary. As a result, the composer spent the rest of his life fighting poverty, living in a single room and suffering from declining health. To eke out a living, he began writing music on commission for King Frederick William II of Prussia, one of Europe’s leading music patrons, and the composer sought other patrons in Spain and Portugal.
Boccherini composed the six trios of Op. 47 in 1793 and sent them to Frederick William as a gift to win his patronage. At that time string trios were the most popular chamber ensemble and virtually all active composers, including Haydn and Mozart, lavished their talents on them. Boccherini wrote over 70 string trios; most of them, however, are for two violins and cello, rather than for what became the standard combination of violin, viola and cello.
Twenty years earlier Boccherini had composed and published as Op.14 six “Great” trios with the latter instrumentation. However, unlike the Op.14 trios, which were intended for the concert hall, the six of Op.47 are more intimate and on a simpler and smaller scale. Whereas the Op.14 trios each had three or four movements, the six trios of Op.47 have only two. One suggested explanation for this simplified format is that the king wanted them mainly for background music at dinner and preferred the variety of other music.
At any rate, the six trios of Op. 47 are now considered among the best from this period for string trio. Out of print for the better part of a century, they are being recorded and added to the chamber-music repertory. Boccherini was a prolific composer writing for virtually every genre which then existed, and as a string player, he generally knew how to make string instruments sound well in any grouping.
The fifth of the series, which we hear this evening, is generally conservative in its substance – no point in distracting the king during his dinner. In the style of the day, the violin is for the most part the predominant voice and has the showiest part. However, in the first movement, andantino moderato assai, both the viola and the cello have passages quietly challenging the violin’s leadership. In contrast, the second movement, tempo di minuetto, is mainly a solo for the violin, singing in the middle section in a moving minor key.