The Quartetto d'Archi di Venezia, the performers on this album, studied for three years with the famous Quartetto Italiano, earning a prestigious Diploma of Honor.
Compositional Technique
Boccherini's Op. 41, No. 56 Quartet in C minor reworks the mournful 'Quando corpus morietur' from his 1781 Stabat Mater.
Composition History
Boccherini's Op. 39 Quartet in A Major was his first work composed for King Frederick William II of Prussia after the composer's return to Madrid in 1787.
Composition History
The Op. 64 quartets are Boccherini's very last compositions, written in 1804 for 'the citizen Luciano Bonaparte,' Napoleon's brother.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in Dynamic's studios in Genoa, Italy, between October 19 and 21, 1994.
Composer Biography
Luigi Boccherini, born in Lucca, Italy, in 1743, composed 91 quartets in his lifetime.
Critical Reception
German musicologists like Christian Speck and Ludwig Finscher have recently argued that Boccherini should be recognized as a founder of his own classical style, not merely compared to Haydn.
