Luigi Boccherini'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 cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

, composed twelve concertos for his instrument. In 1895 German cellist Friedrich Grützmacher chose this concerto to be arranged to fit the style of a

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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+

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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), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

, Pierre Fournier,

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, and Jacqueline du Pré all made recordings of the Grützmacher version of the Concerto. Maurice Gendron and Yo-Yo Ma have made recordings of the original work. The two works are distinguished by their origin: ''Original'' vs. ''arr. Grützmacher''.

Movements

*I. Allegro moderato *II. Andante

grazioso A variety of musical terms are likely to be 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 mus ...

(Original) *II. Adagio (non troppo) (Grützmacher) *III. Rondo. (Allegro)

Notes

External links

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