Quintet in C major, Op.28 No.4, for Two Violins, Violoncello and Bass
Andante con moto
Menuett
Grave
Rondo
When 18th Century music-lovers spoke about "The Wife of Haydn", it was not out of interest in the domestic life of the Father of the String Quartet. It was the nickname, coined by the violinist Giuseppe Puppo, for Luigi Boccherini, virtuoso ‘cellist and composer of some 20 symphonies, 90 string quartets and over 100 string quintets. Born in Lucca, near Florence, he travelled first to Vienna and later to Paris as a performer and composer, settling in Madrid in 1768. He spent much of the rest of his career under the patronage of various members of the Spanish royal family, and later the ‘cello-playing King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, but returned to Madrid at the end of his life, and performed and composed until the last, receiving commissions from the French ambassador, Lucien Bonaparte.
To modern ears, so many of the lesser 18th Century composers - the Gossecs, the Vanhals, the Stamitzes - seem like watered-down Mozart or Haydn. But Boccherini’s nickname shows how widely his distinctive personal style was appreciated in his time. As an Italian, trained in the instrumental school of Corelli, he had a strong lyrical gift - even to modern listeners there is something operatic, something Mediterranean, about the long singing melodies and florid ornamentation that are such a feature of his music. This type of melody does not lend itself to symphonic development, and hence much of Boccherini’s music is written in rather simpler forms than those used by his Northern contemporaries; it is decorative and expressive rather than pursuing rigorous musical arguments. To the 18th Century mind this made his music "feminine", and hence the nickname – but rather than being condescending, this description implied that Boccherini was recognised as a master comparable with Haydn but with a distinctly different style. Another very personal characteristic has helped ensure the survival of Boccherini’s music. Boccherini the virtuoso ‘cellist is an unmistakable presence in all his chamber music. In his quintets, quartets and even string trios the ‘cello frequently and unexpectedly skyrockets into its highest register for a passage of intricate and demanding virtuoso display. What might at first seem a stylistic limitation was actually one of the main reasons why Boccherini remained in the repertoire throughout the 19th Century, when so many of his contemporaries were forgotten. ‘Cellists have seen to it that a composer who shows their instrument in so grateful a light should not be forgotten, and continued to perform his music – albeit as solos with piano accompaniment, or in such bowdlerised versions as the so-called "Boccherini Concerto in B flat", actually botched together in 1895 by the German ‘cellist Grützmacher from 3 completely separate works. But in today’s era of musical "re-discovery", Boccherini’s innate qualities now make him abundantly able to hold his own.
The two -‘cello quintet was, unsurprisingly, Boccherini’s favourite musical form – chamber music being the 18th Century’s most saleable musical commodity, and the quintet medium, at least in Boccherini’s hands, giving him a showcase for his own personal virtuosity. The two ‘cellos enjoy very different positions within the ensemble, the second being effectively no more than a bass to the group, while the first plays a role at times more akin to a concerto soloist! The form effectively died with Boccherini - Schubert’s sublime C major Quintet of 1828 used the two ‘cellos in a wholly different manner. It would be unthinkable to substitute a double bass for the second ‘cello in that work; in Boccherini’s, however, there is no musical loss and one may be sure that so pragmatic and flexible a composer would have approved. This Quintet, Op.28 No.4, dates from around 1798 or 1799, the start of his final creative period in Madrid. It is an absolutely typical Boccherini quintet, even to the extent of having an individual movement – the jaunty final Rondo – which was adopted as a solo showpiece by 19th Century ‘cellists! With the lyrical opening Andante con moto, the courtly Menuett and the dark, minor-key Grave, it illustrates perfectly the beguiling musical personality and wide emotional range of this "gentle, patient and polite" composer.
R.G. Bratby, 1998
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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