Luigi Bocherini (1743-1805)
Trio in D major Op. 14/4

The string trios in Op. 14 were first published in Paris in 1773, and then again in five different editions in Paris, London and Amsterdam. They enjoyed some success, as can be seen from their many adaptations: around 1780, for instance, Trio in D major appeared as a Harpsichord Sonata with an accompaniment of violin ad libitum. After another Paris edition of 1824, the trios disappeared for a very long time – until the middle of the 20th century.
The string trio is derived from the Baroque trio sonata for identical instruments and ciphered bass, and this is why it often appeared in early Classicism as the trio for two violins and cello. Boccherini himself, before he became addicted to the particularly admired string quintet, composed trios and quite many of them at that: fifty-four. Of these, however, only twelve were written for the “modern” instrumentation, i.e. for violin, viola and cello. As was the custom then, they were published in two volumes of six.
Trio in A major Op. 14/4 – just like the other ones – is tripartite. The main theme of the first movement exhibits a feature fairly typical for the composer: the oft-emphasised “softness” in shaping the melodic line. Then, in the middle Andantino in D minor, the composer almost perversely exposes a theme of an entirely different construction. It begins with three rest-separated repetitions of a single note in the violin. The finale opens in a somewhat operatic way with a run on a broken three-note chord in D major, ascending by two octaves and held at a long note; Boccherini liked such Italian display.
In fact, Boccherini was a peculiar case. Eminent historian F.-J. Fètis once wrote that it would be quite plausible to argue that he knew no music but his own. His originality and his own and individual style are well visible already in his early works; later on, that style of his, strongly connected to the fashion of his time yet passing at the end of the composer's life, did not develop or evolve over entire decades. And when that era was gone and Classicism came in full bloom, the popularity of Boccherini’s music was gone as well.

Adam Walaciński