Boccherini, en Arenas de San Pedro

Luigi Boccherini was born in 1743 in Lucca, Italy, into a family devoted to music. He became a composer and cellist, and one of the founders of musical classicism. He works with his family at the Imperial Court in Vienna. There he listened to composers like Haydn and Gluck. After some time at the Court, he returns to Italy where he works in the orchestra of Giovanni Battista Sanmartini, one of the founders of the modern symphony. In 1767, Pignateli, the Spanish ambassador in Paris, invited him to settle in Spain. Other artists and composers had achieved great success and economic stability at the Spanish Court, so he agreed to come, and after several failed attempts to enter the Real Capilla, he was finally welcomed and protected by the Infante Don Luis Antonio, whom he accompanied in his exile. In his service, he composed numerous works, some of which are considered masterpieces, such as the first version of the Stabat Mater or the Musica notturna di Madrid, both written in Arenas de San Pedro. After the death of the Infante, he moved to Madrid and asked the King for a pension, which he received as a cellist for life, but without a position. Later, he continued to compose for European Courts, such as the King of Prussia and was the conductor of the orchestra of the Countess of Osuna. Arenas de San Pedro continues to commemorate this important composer through the Luigi Boccherini Festival, held every year on the last weekend of May, where you can enjoy concerts and interpretations of the artist's works performed by some of the best musicians on the national scene.