A meeting with the Classic composer and with the two musical instruments, which are emblematic for his creation - the cello and the guitar.

Born in the Tuscanic town of Lucca, on 19^th February, 1743, Luigi Boccherini was encouraged to walk on the path of music by his father, who was a contra-bassist and cellist himself. Ever since his teenage years, he performed as a cellist in public concerts, and during his youth he toured in Europe alongside violinist Filipp Manfredi and other musicians, accompanied by whom he would interpret his own trios and quartets. He spent most of his years in Spain, and he passed on there, in Madrid, on 28^th May, 1805, and was buried inside the Pontifical Basilica of St. Michael. Benito Mussolini went through the propel channels to repatriate the lifeless body of the composer to his homeland. Luigi Bocccherini is taking his eternal rest inside the church of the town where he was born - Lucca.

Luigi Boccherini's music can be easily associated with the meridional area, where the composer came from: pleasant, melodious and accessible. Boccherini, who was one of Joseph Haydn's contemporaries and with whom he had many points in common, left us a work, significant in terms of size, whose predominant works are the chamber ones, but which also contains symphonies, and concertos. The cello, which he played with the artistry of a virtuoso player, and the guitar, which is the bearer of the distinctiveness of his adoptive country, Spain, are the emblematic instruments for the creation of this Classic composer, who is an ambassador of the gallant style, alongside Johann Christian Bach, Giovanni Paisiello and, Georg Philipp Telemann, among many other composers …

Starting on Monday, 16^th February, at 10:00, you have a daily meeting with Luigi Boccherini - the Composer of this Week within the Arpeggio programme.