Symphony op. 12 no. 4 in D minor (“La casa del diavolo”) (G 506) -Luigi Boccherini

Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) was born in Lucca, Italy. He studied music and the cello initially with his father and then in Rome but spent much of his life in Spain. As a cellist, Boccherini wrote extensively for his own instrument: 11 cello concertos, over 100 sonatas, 48 string trios, and more than 200 string quartets and quintets.

The journey to Boccherini’s composition of this D Minor Symphony began in 1757 when along with his father, Luigi traveled to Vienna where they both were employed in the orchestra of the Burgtheater. By chance Luigi was cellist in the orchestra at the premiere of Gluck’s revolutionary ballet, Don Juan (1761) and the experience was burned into his psyche.

In November, 1770, Luigi Boccherini was appointed as court composer to the Spanish infante Don Luis the brother of the Spanish king Carlos III. Among his new work requirements was that of composing symphonies, for him still unfamiliar terrain.

Written in 1771, the symphony “La casa del diavolo” (House of the Devil) is doubtless the best-known of Boccherini’s symphonies. It is more than just a reflection of Boccherini’s early years as an orchestral musician in Vienna or even an homage to Gluck. It is also of music-historical interest as it represents an attempt to transfer the Don Juan myth from the stage to the concert hall. Boccherini’s choice of the Don Juan myth almost guaranteed the favorable reception of his symphony. Familiarity with the myth was a prerequisite to “cultural literacy” in the eighteenth century, and the story was of Spanish origin.

In the printed edition published in Paris around 1776, we find the following heading to the final movement: Chaconne qui représente l’Enfer et qui a été faite à imitation de celle de Mr. Gluck dans le Festin de Pierre (Chaconne representing Hell, which was written in imitation of that by Mr Gluck in his ‘Stone Guest’).