If today’s programme had its own title, it could’ve been called: ‘Italians Abroad’. We’ll be listening to chamber music by three Italian composers from the second half of the 18th century, who sought their fortune outside their homeland.
Luigi Boccherini lived in Paris for a short while before moving to Spain where he remained the rest of his life. He is primarily known for his string quintets, in which he typically wrote two cello parts, with the first being the most virtuosic and undoubtedly intended for himself. However, he also composed a great deal of other music, including a collection of six sonatas for harpsichord and violin, which he wrote during his stay in Paris, as well as several quintets for traverso and string quartet.
Giuseppe Maria Cambini was a violinist. He moved to Paris where he remained for the rest of his life. He left behind a vast body of work: operas, oratorios, church music and a lot of instrumental music, among which 149 string quartets. Remarkable are the six quartets, Op. 21, due to their instrumentation: not two violin parts, as usual, but rather two parts for violas.
Felice Giardini was also a violinist, who, after Berlin and Paris, arrived in London in the early 1750s. There, he played a significant role in the music scene until his return to Italy in 1784. He performed, among other places, at the renowned Bach-Abel concerts.
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
1. Sonata for harpsichord and violin in B-flat, op. 5,1 (G 25)
Jacques Ogg, harpsichord. Emilio Moreno, violin
(cd: “Sei sonate di cembalo e violino obbligato, op. 5” – Glossa GCD C80306, 2000/2010)
2. Quintet for traverso, 2 violins, viola and cello in C, op. 19,3 (G 427)
Rafael Ruibérriz de Torres, traverso. Francisco de Goya String Quartet
(cd: “Complete Flute Quintets” – Brilliant Classics 96074, 2021)
Giuseppe Maria Cambini (1746-1825)
3. Quatuor concertant for violin, 2 violas and cello op. 21,4
Ensemble Alraune
(cd: “Tuscania” – NovAntiqua NA 17, 2017)
Felice Giardini (1716-1796)
4. Quartet for oboe, violin, viola and cello in F, op. 23,6
L’Astrée
(cd: “The Courts of Turin and London – Felice Giardini & Johann Christian Bach: Quartets & Quintets” – CPO 555 497-2, 2022)
additionally:
Luigi Boccherini
5. From Quintet for traverso, 2 violins, viola and cello in D, op. 19,6 ‘Las parejas’ (G 430): Galope
Rafael Ruibérriz de Torres, traverso. Francisco de Goya String Quartet
(cd: see 2)
Pictured above: Felice Giardini (source: Hymnary.org)
