Quintettes Avec Contrabasse

Abstract

"So bene che la musica e fatta per parlare all cuore dell'uomo ed a questo m"ingegno di arrivare si posso; la Musicasenza affelti, e Passioni. e insignificante..." (I know well chat music is made to speak to the heart of man. and this is what I try to do if I can; Music without feelin«s and Passions is meaningless). This is how BiKcherini, perhaps already dejected and disillusioned, expressed himself to the poet, Mane-Joseph Chenier in 1799 in the last summing-up of his musical philo¬sophy, a philosophy that had accompanied him throughout his life and. in some ways, foreshadowed the imminent advent of romanticism. Boccherini was one of the most dis¬cerning and original composers of his day. singular and unconventional at the same time as deeply attached lo a solid training, impregnated with the irresistible gracefu|ness cf Spanish music, so unusual that it immediately captivated him. as it had so many other foreigners in Spain. When everything seemed to be collapsing about the Italian in 1785. with the deaths of his first wife ind of his patron, the Infante Don Luis. Boccherini could hardly imagine that the next years were to be among his most industrious and creative, bringing the full maturity of th: man and the artist. As chamber composer to Frederic William II of prus_ sia, to the court of Charles II in Madrid, where he enjoyed a comfortable income, and director of trie orchestra the Duchess of Osuna maintained for the sumptuous musical entertainments in her elegant palace in Madrid, and after his distant exile at La_s Arenas (Avila), Boccherini was to devote these next years almost exclusively to composition. The "Madrilerio" experienced a long period of inner contentment, thanks not only to his ephemeral financial security, but also to his newfound domestic happiness with his second marriage. The works recorded here belong lo this period, probably the most fertile and original cf his life. Boccherini wrote his three quintets with double bass, the only ones in his total output of 125 quintets, during the first three months of 1787. Since 1771 he had already written 72, ill with two cellos, for the entertainment of his patron at Las Arenas. Why suddenly a double bass ? Obviously the magnificent quanet composed of the Font family in which lie joined as first cello, was no longer available to him. Was it due to an extraordinary double bass player who happened to belong to the new circle in the palace of the Puerta je la Vega (Ramon Monroy, also a composer of symphonies which have been lost) ? Or even perhaps in memory of his father, who died in 1766. a double bass player with a cer¬tain local reputation ? Whatever the reasons, we here find a new configuration of the Boccherini quintet : the cello shares a rather equal role with the rest of the quartet, while the double bass, absolute¬ly indispensable and independent from the cello, plays no part in the thematic develop¬ment but provides a magisterial harmonic support. It is music written with meticulous care and is a perfect illustration of the extreme precis¬ion and demand for respect by the performer for the composer, qualities that were dear to Boccherini's heart and in which he seems to have been something of a precursor. This is how he put it to Chenier : "...e necessario che 'the players! siano ben afferti all'autore, poi devono sentire tutto cio che questo a notato,... studiar finalmente la mente dell'autore..." (It is necessary that the players be very close to the composer, and they must feel every¬thing that he has indicated.... finally study th; mind of the composer). To this end the list of indications of dynamics, phrasing, and expressive effects is almost interminable in a Boccherini score : strascinando, at pome, a contr'arco, con smorfia, con espressione, soave, dolce, etc.