Sutivan

About composers

Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (1743–1805)
was a notable Italian composer and cellist who hada significant impact on the development of the string quartet as a musical genre. Luigi Rodolfo was the third child of Leopoldo Boccherini, a double-bass player and the brother of Giovanni Gastoni Boccherini, a renowned poet and dancer who wrote librettos for Antonio Salieri and Joseph Haydn. In 1756, he was sent to Rome to study under the renowned cellist Giovanni Battista Costanzi, the musical director at Saint Peter's Basilica. During his time in Rome, Boccherini was influenced by the polyphonic tradition, inspired by the works of Giovanni da Palestrina and the instrumental music of Arcangelo Corelli. During his visit to Vienna in 1760, at the age of 17, he made his debut as a composer with his Six Trios for Two Violins and Cello, G 77–82. Boccherini spent time in Lombardy in 1765, playing in the orchestra of Giovanni Battista Sammartini. During this period, his association with Sammartini contributed to the development of the new "conversational" style of the quartet, where the cello's line became as significant as the counterpoint of the violin and viola. Boccherini organised the first public string quartet performance, featuring an exceptional ensemble of Tuscan virtuosos, including himself, Pietro Nardini, Filippo Manfredi, and Giuseppe Cambini. The Spanish ambassador convinced Boccherini to move to Madrid in 1769, where he began his extensive stay at the court of Charles III. Boccherini started composing string quintets, and his well-known Six String Quartets, G 177–182 (1772), were also finished there. As well, he accepted patronage from Frederick William II of Prussia, who was an amateur cellist. Boccherini was renowned for his chamber music, which comprised more than 100 quintets, quartets, trios, and other chamber works, but his impressive repertoire of about 500 compositions also includes sacred music, symphonies, and concerti.

Georgy L'vovich Katuar (1861–1926),
also known as Georges Catoire, was a Russian composer of French heritage. A gifted mathematician, Catoire graduated with honours from Moscow University in 1884 but eventually pursued a full-time career in music. His journey as a composer began with piano lessons from V. I. Willborg, a student of Klindworth, resulting in the composition of a piano sonata and various pieces. Seeking further musical education, Catoire travelled to Berlin, where he continued his piano studies with Klindworth and delved into composition and theory under Otto Tirsch and Philip Rufer. He developed a strong appreciation for Richard Wagner's works, becoming one of the few Russian Wagnerite composers and joining the Wagner Society in 1879. During 1886, he took journeys back to Moscow, and during one of these visits, he met Tchaikovsky, who was delighted with Catoire's transcriptions of his piano variations. Tchaikovsky advised the young composer
that it would be a significant loss if he didn't focus on composing. Although met with early
criticism from Russian musical society upon his return to Russia, Catoire found support from Anton Arensky and made a profound impact with works like his Op. 5 cantata, "Rusalka." However, faced with disappointment and a lack of support, he withdrew to the countryside, almost giving up on composing. From this seclusion emerged his Op. 7 Symphony in the form of a sextet. In 1919, Catoire became a professor of composition at the Moscow Conservatory, authoring treatises on theory and composition.