This is one of the most brilliant and original of eighteenth-century symphonies; with the possible exception of Boccherini's own C minor Symphony, Op. 41, it is no doubt the best symphony of the era by a non-Germanic composer. It is one of a group of 58 works Boccherini sold to the Paris publisher Pleyel in 1796, and it may have been written for his long-distance employer, the King of Prussia, although that has not been established for sure. Pleyel published the symphony in 1798 as "Sinfonia a grande orchestra, op 45." Boccherini's cataloger Yves Gérard has dated it to 1792; if accurate, this date makes it Boccherini's last wholly original work for orchestra.

The symphony is a relatively concise work at around 16 minutes, written for a standard orchestra of two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. With even this modest collection of instruments, Boccherini manages to extract interesting new tone colors in his usual fashion.

The symphony begins with an Adagio introduction in D minor. A neat phrase elision propels the music to the Allegro vivo assai tempo of the main body of the movement and into the D major opening theme; following that, the movement makes many unexpected "slides" back into the minor mode.

The slow movement has the measured, formal quality of a contredanse, and frequent use of strings in solo textures, while winds (with unusual col legno string effects) predominate in the trio. The Minuetto - Allegro continues the feeling of formality, though it is in a plaintive D minor and the trio hovers uncertainly between major and minor modalities; there is a striking passage for horn duo.

The closing Adagio; Allegro vivo assai begins in the remote key of B minor. Its brief slow section consists of new melodic material, but the main body of the movement is a condensed repeat of the fast part of the first movement—perhaps Boccherini's anticipation of the Romantic era's interest in cyclical form.

© Joseph Stevenson, Rovi