Luigi Boccherini: patronage and musical life in Madrid between 1768 and 1805

Name: Carlos Leal Cardín Main Subject: Violoncello Research Coach: Bart van Oort Title of Research: Luigi Boccherini. Patronage and musical life in Madrid between 1768 and 1805. Research Question: How was Boccherini’s work determined by its social function and his musical environment? Was the musical scene in Madrid comparable to the one in other European capitals? Research Process: I have tried to reconstruct the musical landscape in which Boccherini lived and worked for almost 40 years in Spain by analyzing several aspects of the musical life: concert life, musical institutions, patronage and music printing and trade. It is therefore a historical research based on available bibliography as well as in sources of the period. Summary of Results: Luigi Boccherini lived in Madrid or near for almost 40 years. Throughout of the 18th century there were many attempts in Spain to modernize the society, the economy and of course the culture, trying to get a closer position to the leading nations of that time. In music this resulted in the development of public concerts and opera performances, very much in the line of the spirit of the Enlightenment. But at the same time there was a lack of dissemination of printed music due to the absence of a strong musical press. That’s why Boccherini published his works outside Spain where the middleclass amateur players were much more abundant. During 10 of his years in Spain Boccherini enjoyed the patronage of the infante don Luis under such favorable terms that can be compared to the situation of Haydn with the Prince Eszterhazy. We could say that even being so far from the big musical centers -Viena, Paris and London- the circumstances in which he developed his career were not so different from other composers of the time.