This may be the greatest of the symphonies Luigi Boccherini (1743 - 1805) wrote for the King of Prussia in the years following 1786. It has, in particular, an unusual preponderance of dance-like ideas, even though it is written in a key often thought of as one of the more "tragic" keys; it is also notable for its varieties of sonic texture and color.

Of all the major composers of symphonies during the last three decades of the eighteenth century, Boccherini was the most physically isolated. While Joseph Haydn was defining the form in Vienna and Esterháza, and Mozart began writing his greatest symphonies in Vienna, Boccherini lived mostly in Las Arenas, Spain.

A leading cello virtuoso as well as a composer, he had traveled to Spain with his violin partner Manfredi, and applied for a job with the royal court in 1769.Boccherini had to cool his heels for an inordinate time while a fellow Italian composer, Gaetano Bruneti (or Brunetti), who had the ear of King Carlos III, intrigued against him. Eventually, Boccherini accepted a job with the King's younger brother, Don Luis de Borbón. This music-loving Prince paid Boccherini well and permitted him to realize the profits of all publications, but on condition that he not write for any other patron.

By 1776, Boccherini had written around 100 works for Don Luis. In that year the Prince married for love, refusing the royal matches that the King had proposed. The marriage was declared morganatic, and Don Luis had to move away from the Royal Court to, eventually, Las Arenas.

By the time Boccherini wrote this symphony, Don Luis had died, and the composer was free to accept a long-standing offer from Prince Wilhelm of Prussia to compose for him. Even after the Prince became King Friedrich Wilhelm II in 1786, he did not insist that Boccherini actually come to Berlin to work, but simply to supply his court with music.

This is the fifth of the symphonies Boccherini sent to Friedrich Wilhelm. Boccherini titled it "Sinfonia a piu instrumenti obb[liga]ti," a title that reflects Boccherini's tendency, the most advanced of his time, to seek tonal variety by using various solo instruments and combinations thereof. He also listed it as "Sinfonia a grande orchestre." Its scoring calls for two each of oboes, bassoons, and horns, plus the usual strings, which Boccherini often divides in unusual ways and calls on for solo groups. In comparison with the four earlier symphonies, it generally makes a more massive orchestral sound, but uses the more soloistic passages for balance.

While the symphony did not achieve publication during Boccherini's life, by the last part of the nineteenth century it had attracted admiration, particularly after the musicologist Maurice Cristal in 1875 cited it as an unrecognized influence on the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven.

It is in four movements and lasts about 16 minutes. Particularly charming is the slow movement, marked "Pastorale lentarello," but it is also notable for the melodic inventiveness of its first movement.

© Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide