The Young Boccherini: Lucca, Vienna, and the Electoral Courts

Abstract

B occherini has long been the subject of legend. Born in Lucca on 19 February 1743, he was christened Ridolfo Luigi (he early on dropped Ridolfo and used only Luigi). Biographers say he was first taught by his father Leopoldo, a supernumerary contrabass player in the Cappella Palatina of the Luccan Signoria. The conjecture is plausible, as is their claim that he later studied with the local cellist and composer Francesco Vanucci (c. 1718-1775), who was maestro di cappella of the cathedral of St. Martin in Lucca. From these meager and conjectural materials Germaine de Rothschild embroidered a touching first chapter to her biography, a kind of tableau & la Greuze, with tender family scenes, vignettes of lessons with Vanucci, and brave farewells as the thirteen-year-old Luigi set off by himself for further study in Rome.' Underpinnings for something more scholarly exist in the archives at Lucca, which have recently begun to see use. A four-volume manuscript chronicles the vocal and instrumental musicians who took part in the Feast of the Holy Cross, an annual celebration of the city's most venerated relic.2 Performers came from far and wide to participate in the special ceremonies during First Vespers on 13 September, and at Mass and Second Vespers on 14 September. The practice of allowing non-local musicians to take part in these services at the cathedral went

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