Luigi Boccherini's six string quartets, opus 32: a formal and stylistic analysis
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1992
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Abstract
During the course of his lifetime Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) composed ninety complete string quartets, approximately the same number as Haydn and Mozart combined. The majority of these works were promptly published, a sure indication that Boccherini's music was both known to and appreciated by the music-buying public at large. From an analysis of Boccherini's Opus 32 string quartets it can be seen that his works stand apart from both the Viennese mainstream and its Parisian tributary, the Quatuor concertant. Boccherini's quartets form, rather, a distinctive body of works— works that show an awareness of contemporary styles of quartet composition but which adopt an independent stylistic stance. With their emphasis upon distinctive melody, imaginative textural writing for the instruments, and in their sheer caprice, Boccherini's quartets were a harbinger of what eventually became the early romantic approach to the writing of string quartets.
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Bibliography: p. 83-88.
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Rode, G. M. (1992). Luigi Boccherini's six string quartets, opus 32: a formal and stylistic analysis (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/18428