Boccherini? Of course, the composer of “The Celebrated Minuet”. As happens with many other composers, fame and immortality may be owed to a single masterpiece, which, moreover, may not be the best or most important work he or she composed. “The Celebrated Minuet” features prominently, among others, in a delightful noir film of the Fifties, starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers, and in which a bank robbery is plotted and its timing established following the structure of the Minuet – and the instrument cases are used for hiding the money. For this purpose, a string quintet with double-bass is certainly better suited than one with two cellos – a double-bass case is much larger and capacious than a cello case!
Indeed, although Boccherini composed more than 160 Quintets, most of them are scored for a string quintet with two violins, two cellos and a viola. This ensemble, for which Boccherini wrote so much, has not enjoyed comparable popularity within the output of other major composers, and, for this reason, many of Boccherini’s works have never been recorded and are seldom heard on the concert stage.
For him, the choice of this ensemble was not, at first, due to an artistic inspiration or to a particular calling, but rather to very practical reasons: the myth of the composer working within an ebony tower and disregarding all practical issues appeared after Boccherini’s lifetime, and, as all oversimplifications, should better be dispelled. In fact, Boccherini happened to be an excellent cello virtuoso, employed by a prince who had, in his service, a family of musicians (the Fonts, father and three sons) who made up a traditional string quartet; it was necessary, therefore, to integrate himself and his skills within this established musical texture.
This situation had arisen in the 1770s, when Boccherini had entered the employ of Don Luis de Borbón, the Prince of Spain. Born in Lucca, Tuscany, Boccherini had been educated as a cello virtuoso by his father Leopoldo, who was in turn an excellent musician. Together they travelled to Vienna on various occasions, and one of Luigi’s sisters settled there as a famous ballerina; the talent for dancing was shared by several of his siblings, and may account for the charming character of many of Luigi’s Minuets.
Although he was profoundly admired and held in great esteem in his native city, following his father’s death Boccherini left Lucca and embarked on a long concert tour together with a colleague and friend, the violinist Filippo Manfredi. In Paris, they were enthusiastically greeted at the famous concert series known as Concerts spirituels, and they had the opportunity of meeting many of the greatest musicians of the time, including the brothers Duport, both cellists, who would later be employed at the Prussian Court. Here Boccherini had some of his compositions published, and doubtlessly attracted the attention of the musical elite of the era.
Due to his studies, which included teaching from the renowned musician Sammartini, Boccherini had therefore become fully versed in the Italian musical idiom; while in Vienna, he had acquired familiarity with the Austrian tradition; in Paris, not only had he known the French style, but also – by proxy – that of the famous Mannheim orchestra, thanks to the presence in Paris of some of its most distinguished members.
With this rich baggage of knowledge and expertise, both Boccherini and his friend Manfredi accepted the invitation to join the Spanish court in Madrid. However, King Charles III was not enthused by the arrival of the two Italians, possibly due also to the intrigues of one of their fellow countrymen, who was already at Court and probably feared their talent and personality. Moreover, allegedly, Boccherini had replied in a piqued fashion to a misdirected musical criticism voiced by the Prince of the Asturias. Understandably, therefore, his position at the Madrid Court was neither the happiest nor the most solid. Boccherini then welcomed the invitation of the already-mentioned Don Luis, the King’s brother, who wholeheartedly supported him and who asked him to join his own court in Las Arenas. Unfortunately, Las Arenas was very far from being a European capital, and its court hardly provided the cultural stimuli Boccherini was used to.
Here, however, he was requested to compose regularly and exclusively for the Prince (though he was also encouraged to have his works printed), and to this situation, as well as to the presence of the Font Quartet, we owe the immense heritage of his numerous String Quintets. In this period of relative isolation, Boccherini entertained a stimulating correspondence with another great composer who lived in a similar context, i.e. the Austrian maestro Franz Joseph Haydn.
Boccherini’s life, however, was deemed to be shaken by a series of deaths, both within his family (his beloved wife) and in his professional circle (his patron Don Luis). Fortunately, Boccherini obtained a pension allowing him to provide for his five children, and later was given a compositional appointment by Frederick William of Prussia, the music-loving (and cello-playing) monarch. Impressed by Boccherini’s works, upon which he enthusiastically commented in a personal and magnificent letter, the sovereign established a kind of a standing commission with the composer, who therefore started to write expressly for the Prussian monarch. It is likely that the contact with the King had been provided by the Duport brothers, who also, probably, played Boccherini’s works for their patron. Many of these pieces were published by Pleyel, who frequently tried to defraud the composer of his rights, but whose house also disseminated his works throughout the European Continent.
Boccherini’s fortune, however, was not to last forever. Following Frederick William’s death, his successor cut the musician’s salary; furthermore, the composer had contracted tuberculosis and was therefore left dramatically impoverished. His misfortunes also included the death of several of his children, and his last years were marked by deep physical and spiritual suffering.
His immense output is still awaiting thorough and systematic rediscovery, and this Da Vinci Classics album provides an exciting opportunity to appreciate some of the Quintets which Boccherini himself prized most.
Writing in 1789 to his publisher Pleyel, Boccherini did not conceal his pride in the F-minor and G-minor quintets recorded here: “My dear Pleyel, I recommend my Music to you, see that it is well performed before you pass judgement upon it. I particularly recommend to you two quintets which may be found in Op. 42, which are my favourites. I do not know whether they will deserve to be your favourites too, but as you are a real connoisseur of careful work, I hope so”.
Among the reasons for this predilection are certainly some very special aural effects, such as the strascinando sound (i.e. “dragging the bow”) found in the Minuet’s Trio. Another exquisite moment of this Quintet is found in the slow movement, a suave Andante cantabile, where an impressive sequence of tragical chords of diminished seventh is found, striking the hearer as a point of very intense pathos.
As concerns the C-major Quintet, the hypothesis has been advanced that its musical structure might represent a musical icon of the Frederick William’s Palace of Sanssouci, with its stately rooms (evoked by the majestic, processional passages), the lighter and ironic Minuet, and the spirited rondeau, where Boccherini’s imaginative compositional fantasy transforms the most trivial of all musical elements (a C-major scale) into a surprising revelation.
The B-minor Quintet is also known as Quintettino, due to its small scale and to the structure in just two movements. Here too Boccherini’s taste for the refined effects is revealed, in the presence of flautato sounds performed by the lower strings (viola and cellos).
Among the many beautiful passages of the G-minor Quintet, one should certainly number the Larghetto amoroso, in which three of the main components of musical composition are given splendid relief: the touching melodies, the knowledgeable use of harmony, and the elegant counterpoint among the instruments.
The Finale is not, as in most other cases, a rondo-form, but is written in a tense Sonata form, described as “passionate and agitated” by the French musician Baillot who admired Boccherini’s music deeply. The refinement and mastery of the composer are shown by the subdued conclusion of the piece, eschewing grandeur and pomp, and favouring a more delicate style.
Together, these four Quintets represent an excellent sample of Boccherini’s ability, and work as appetizers encouraging the listener to wish for more tasters of this master’s talent; they bring us back in time, revealing to us the beauty, elegance, nobility and passions of the eighteenth century, in a fashion which still speaks deeply to our hearts.
Album Notes by Chiara Bertoglio