Musicpiece Theatre Episode 38: The Animal Poem
Welcome to the 38th episode of Musicpiece Theatre. Tonight: The Animal Poem
Liner Notes: "Awwwwwwwwwwwww! So cute! I love baby animals! I thought it would be fun to make a video about baby animals."
The music is Minuetto by Luigi Boccherini
Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini[1] (/ˌbɒkəˈriːni/, also US: /ˌboʊk-/,Italian: [riˈdɔlfo luˈiːdʒi bokkeˈriːni] ⓘ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and galante style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. He is best known for a minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), and the Cello Concerto in B flat major (G 482). The latter work was long known in the heavily altered version by German cellist and prolific arranger Friedrich Grützmacher, but has recently been restored to its original version.
Boccherini's output also includes several guitar quintets. The final movement of the Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D (G 448) is a fandango, a lively Spanish dance.
Boccherini was born into a musical family in Lucca, Italy in 1743.[6] He was the third child of Leopoldo Boccherini, a cellist and double-bass player, and the brother of Giovanni Gastone Boccherini, a poet and dancer who wrote libretti for Antonio Salieri and Joseph Haydn. Luigi received his first music lessons at age five by his father, who taught him cello, and then continued his studies at age nine with Abbé Vanucci, music director of a local cathedral, at San Martino. When his son reached thirteen, Leopoldo Boccherini sent him to study in Rome with Giovanni Battista Costanzi. In 1757 Luigi Boccherini and his father both went to Vienna, where the court employed them as musicians in the Burgtheater. In 1768 Boccherini went to Madrid, entering in 1770 the employ of Infante Luis Antonio of Spain (1727–1785), younger brother of King Charles III of Spain. There, Boccherini flourished under royal patronage, until one day when the King expressed his disapproval at a passage in a new trio, and ordered Boccherini to change it. The composer, no doubt irritated with this intrusion into his art, doubled the passage instead, which led to his immediate dismissal. Then he accompanied Don Luis (the Infante) to Arenas de San Pedro, a little town in the Gredos Mountains in Ávila; there and in the nearest town of Candeleda Boccherini wrote many of his most famous works.
The String Quintet in E major, Op. 13, No. 5 (G 275), by Luigi Boccherini was written in 1771 and published in 1775. The quintet is famous for its minuet third movement which is frequently played as a standalone piece outside of the context of the full quintet.
This string quintet is a "cello quintet" in that it is scored for a string quartet (two violins, viola, cello) with a second cello as the fifth instrument. At the time of this composition, Boccherini had been writing string quartets for about ten years. In 1771, Boccherini's patron Don Luis, the brother of King Charles III of Spain, began to employ the Font String Quartet, composed of violist Francisco Font and his three sons. The Font String Quartet performed many of Boccherini’s works, and for a while Boccherini wrote almost exclusively for them. He also occasionally joined the quartet as a performer himself, which prompted him to add an additional cello part to his music.
Boccherini’s first set of string quintets, his Op. 10, were also composed in 1771.[4] His second set, Op. 13, consisted of six quintets, most notably No. 5 in E major. This became Boccherini’s most famous work even though, when published, it received no special recognition.
Footage Courtesy Of:
Artbeats
Bubba Mono
Digital Juice
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Rachel Harms
National Geographic
NatureFootage
Osmosis
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