Boring concerts in muffled halls? Of course not.
Many cartoon characters have moved to the notes of his famous minuet.
In 2003 the poignant violins and the Adagio del Quintetto op.30 n° 6 - La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid became the soundtrack of Master & Commander, a film directed by Peter Weir.
In 2009 the Italian singer Angelo Branduardi dedicated an interpretation of the same piece to him in La Tempesta.
He is Luigi Boccherini.
Luigi Boccherini (Lucca 1743- Madrid 1805) was born in a family of musicians and immediately introduced into music. His father, a double bass player, taught him the first lessons on the cello instrument. The exceptional skills of the boy were so evident that in 1751 he took part as white voice in the solemn celebrations of the traditional Feast of Santa Croce.
After a period in Rome, Boccherini returned to Lucca to continue his studies and he made his debut as a solo cello in the Monastery of San Domenico. In 1764 he was first cellist in the Chapel of the Palazzo and founded with other musicians, Manfredi, Nardini and Cambini, the first historically established stable quartet.
With the quartet and the soloist Manfredi, violinist, Boccherini gave numerous concerts in Italy and other European countries. He then began a period of travel abroad and different experiences brought him to France, Vienna and Spain. In 1768 he moved definitively to Madrid with his friend and colleague Manfredi at the invitation of the Spanish ambassador in Paris, leaving his hometown for good.
The symphonies, in particular, are among his most successful and appreciated works, still today. Solidly built and full of the typical Italian melody vein, never sentimental, they are among the first valid examples of this genre that he practiced in those years.
A victim of uncertain times, he spent his last years in misery, struck by a serious circulatory disease.
Afflicted by the loss of three daughters and his second wife Luigi Boccherini died on 28 May 1805 and since 1927 his remains have been preserved in the Church of San Francesco, in Lucca.
Lucca has never forgotten him and his artistic greatness recognizing his merits and considering him among the glories of the city. In fact, the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali, one of the oldest music schools in Italy located in the historical centre of Lucca, is dedicated to Luigi Boccherini.
If you want to listen to his music live, in his hometown, keep an eye on the program of the festival "the eighteenth century music in Lucca" and "Lucca Classica Musica".
If you want to try your hand at the dances of the eighteenth century in costume, contact the Laboratiorio Brunier.
