Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and '' galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classi ...

's Cello Concerto No. 9 in B-flat Major, G. 482, was written in either the late 1760s or early 1770s. Boccherini, a talented

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, composed twelve concertos for his instrument. In 1895 German cellist

Friedrich Grützmacher Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Grützmacher (1 March 1832 – 23 February 1903) was a German cellist and composer in the second half of the 19th century. He composed mostly for cello (including several concertos and many technical studies), but also wr ...

chose this concerto to be arranged to fit the style of a Romantic virtuoso concerto, and in this form, widely heard, it bears only a tenuous resemblance to the original manuscript. The Boccherini Ninth Cello Concerto has long been an integral part of standard cello instruction, because of creeping use of the full 4+

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

range of the cello, rather than large jumps between different finger positions. Grützmacher merged Boccherini's Ninth Cello Concerto with other Boccherini Cello Concertos. Besides the extensive cuts in the outer movements, Grützmacher decided to rid the Concerto of its original second movement, replacing it with that of the Seventh Cello Concerto (in G Major, G.480). The Fourth Cello Concerto (In C Major, G.477) makes an appearance in bars 40-46 of the first movement, and in bars 85-96 and 151-163 of the Rondo, borrowing from the respective movements. The arpeggios of the Fifth Cello Concerto's (in D Major, G478) first movement are featured in their minor form in bars 47-53 of the first movement. Grützmacher also took the liberty of writing his own cadenzas. Despite all the changes, this Concerto holds up as one of Boccherini's best-known works.

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Pierre Fournier Pierre Léon Marie Fournier (24 June 19068 January 1986) was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists" on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound. Biography Pierre Fournier was born in Paris, the son of a F ...

Janos Starker Janos or János may refer to: People * János, male Hungarian given name, a variant of John * James Janos (born 1951), legal birth name of Jesse Ventura Places * Janos Municipality, a municipality of Chihuahua ** Janos, Chihuahua, town in Mexic ...

, and

Jacqueline du Pré Jacqueline may refer to: People * Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler Arts and entertainment * ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film) ...

all made recordings of the Grützmacher version of the Concerto.

Maurice Gendron Maurice Gendron (26 December 1920, near Nice20 August 1990, Grez-sur-Loing) was a French cello, cellist, conductor and teacher. He is widely considered one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century. He was an Officer of the Legion of Honor and a ...

and

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American Cello, cellist. Born to Chinese people, Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, ...

have made recordings of the original work. The two works are distinguished by their origin: ''Original'' vs. ''arr. Grützmacher''.

Movements

*I.

Allegro moderato In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...

*II. Andante

grazioso A variety of musical terms is encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings ...

(Original) *II.

Adagio Adagio (Italian for 'slowly', ) may refer to: Music * Adagio, a tempo marking, indicating that music is to be played slowly, or a composition intended to be played in this manner * Adagio (band), a French progressive metal band Albums * ''Adag ...

(non troppo) (Grützmacher) *III.

Rondo The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...

. (Allegro)

Notes

External links

* Boccherini 09 Compositions by Luigi Boccherini Compositions in B-flat major {{concerto-stub