PERFORMERS

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Pacific Baroque Festival Ensemble

Marc Destrubé, violin and artistic director

Kathryn Wiebe, violin

Joanna Hood, viola

Diederik van Dijk, cello

Natalie Mackie, cello

Lucas Harris, guitar

Marco Vitale, fortepiano

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PROGRAMME INFORMATION

The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini was attached to the Court of the Spanish Infante , Luis Antonio (1727–85), brother of King Charles III of Spain (1759–88). For having married a common citizen, King Charles exiled the Infante from the Madrid Court to the Arenas de San Pedro palace in Ávila province. As a courtier of Luis Antonio, Boccherini joined the exile, and found himself with much time for  composition, and there completed more than one hundred quintets for various instruments. As a virtuoso cellist, he wrote brilliantly for his instrument, drawing on the unique colour of two violins, viola and two cellos to produce music of magical beauty. At the same time he combined the traditional string quartet with guitar or piano. His music draws on the unique qualities of period instruments like no other composer.

 

Of the ‘Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid’, Boccherini wrote: ”The piece is absolutely useless, even ridiculous, outside Spain, because the audience cannot hope to understand its significance, nor the performers to play it as it should be played.” We will do our best to prove Boccherini wrong! The music appears in the 2003 feature film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.