Boccherini, (Ridolfo) Luigi

An Analysis of the Repertoire Chosen for the Cello Volumes of the Suzuki Method

“…64 Very soon after this, Boccherini travelled to Rome to continue his music training and is said to have studied with virtuoso cellist Giovanni Battista Costanzi. 65 By the age of thirteen, he had made his debut with a cello concerto (it is not known which concerto he played) and judging by the fees he requested at the many festival appearances he must have already been regarded as one of the city's finest musicians. 66 "Virtuoso performers at this time often had to write music for themselves in order to exhibit fully their musical and technical abilities", 67 and according to Yves Gerard, the some twenty sonatas composed before Boccherini's twenty-fifth year, and the six (authentic) concerti composed prior to 1771, all testify to the cellistic skill which their author must have possessed.…”