Miguel-ngel Marn

Music-selling in Boccherinis Madrid

printing and publishing were notably
underdeveloped in 18th-century Madrid compared with other similar European citiesat least,
that is the received historiographical view. What
might have brought about this situation is unclear,
but one explanation that has traditionally been
offered for the lack of a flourishing music publishing
business is, quite simply, lack of demand. It must be
said that this view very neatly reflects the historiographical tradition of 18th-century Spanish music,
which, in the case of Madrid, has been dominated by
the study of the court and other royal institutions to
the detriment of the then newly emerging importance for music-making of urban spaces, public and
audiences.1 As I shall show here, one major source of
information for the changing status and practice of
music in Madrid society in the second half of the
18th centurynamely contemporary advertisements published in the local newspapersreveals
that an enormous quantity of music composed in
Spain and elsewhere in Europe was on sale in the
various music shops of the city. In this respect, the
Gaceta de Madrid (GM hereafter) and the Diario de
Madrid (DM) are particularly useful.2 Apart from
offering a considerably richer picture than has tacitly been assumed until now, these newspapers
prove that, had a continuous demand not existed,
the musical market and music-selling as a commercial undertaking would have collapsed. Therefore, it
seems that a barely competitive publishing system,
rather than absence of demand, may account for the
underdevelopment of music printing in Spain
during this period.

USIC

Music-sellers and their European connections

The precise number of music-sellers active in
Madrid in the late 18th and early 19th centuries is

uncertain. A provisional estimate based on data

provided by newspapers suggests that there were at
least 61 bookshops where material of any kind
related to music could be purchased, most of them
established in the 1780s and 1790s in clearly defined
areas. By way of comparison, 44 specific music-sellers were listed in Paris in 1780, and 66 in 1800.3
However, the apparently respectable figure for
Madrid must be treated with considerable caution,
since it is not clear how many were actually general
booksellers or how long the various shops lasted. In
fact, it is obvious that music represented a very small
proportion of the stock in some establishments, as
occurred with bookshops that only offered a handful of music histories or treatises. This was apparently the case, for instance, with those owned by
Matas Escamilla, Gernimo Solano, Alfonso Lpez,
Ramn Garca, Luis Mara Mateo, as well as the
shop called Almudena (nos.19, 21, 33, 44, 51, 45 in
illus.1). On the other hand, for others the selling of
music scores stood at the core of their commercial
enterprise: even where they seem not to have concentrated exclusively on musical material, as in the
case of Antonio del Castillo, Antonio Sancha and
Miguel Copin (nos.14, 22 and 50), they must be
regarded as true music-sellers.4 Finally, other retailers or musicians acting as private sellers, whose
enterprise mainly focused on a very reduced circle of
buyers, certainly prospered without advertising
themselves in the newspapers, and so remain little
documented.
To locate all these shops (regardless of the number of advertisements) on a contemporary map of
Madrid is not straightforward, as some changed
their names as they passed into new hands or moved
from one place to another. Illus.1 attempts to draw a
preliminary map of the music-selling activity in late

Early Music, Vol. , No. The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1093/em/cah064, available online at www.em.oupjournals.org

165

10

11

12

38

45

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13

56

55

6
52

49

51

50
15
18 1716
19

14

2
54

23

20

28
29
21

44
43

53

30

36

24
25
34

35

57

26
27

33

31
22
46 4
7

32

37

40
39

41

42

48

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167

18th-century Madrid; future research will surely add

more establishments to the picture.
As in all commercial business, music-sellers tended
to specialize in certain repertories. For instance, Llera
(no.32) mainly advertised sacred genres such as villancicos, Masses, Salves and versets for organwithout doubt all in manuscript formas part of a
tradition of genres cultivated by indigenous church
composers. However, as recent scholarship has suggested, connections between printers, publishers and
sellers spread over other cities and countries were
firmly established by the last third of the 18th century.
These commercial networks are in turn a clear reflection of the intensification in the course of the 18th
century of an international dimension and the gradual replacement of existing national traditions. The
place occupied by the city of Madrid in this emerging
situation as regards the music trade has remained
shrouded in the mists of time, although there is some
evidence to suggest that it participated to some
extent. It has been proposed that the Viennese musicseller Johann Traeg, active from 1782 through the

early 19th century, directly supplied manuscripts of

symphonies by Mozart, Dittersdorf, Pleyel and
Haydn to the royal court. Furthermore, the first issue
of the Journal de musique published in Paris in 1770
mentions Spain as a potential place for French publishers to open communications with.5 The lack of
music publishing in Madrida lack also applicable
to other areas of the printing tradenaturally tipped
the balance in favour of importation; thus local dealers and retailersrather than publishersbecome
crucial in any reconstruction of the patterns of musicselling in the city.
Indeed, newspapers prove beyond doubt that
works sold by certain music-sellers had been
imported from publishers operating in different
European countries, namely Austria, England,
France, Germany and Italy. The following excerpt
dated 1791 perfectly encapsulates the extent to which
imports from elsewhere reached Madrid:
Some new pieces of instrumental music for violin, violn
[i.e. violoncello], flute, oboe and pianoforte entitled
Prenumeraciones have arrived from Germany, printed in

1 Map of music shops, and bookshops with music materials, in Madrid 17571808
Source: Shops, location and year of the first music advertisement according to the GM and mainly the DM; the precise location
within streets is arbitrary since it is not stated in the sources. Original map drawn by Toms Lpez in 1785 (edn facs., Madrid,
2002).
Key: 1 Pablo Elas (Puerta del Sol, 1792); 2 Esparza (Puerta del Sol, 1797); 3 Felipe Quintana (Preciados, 1805); 4 Millana
(Preciados, 1795); 5 Domingo Malacuera (Carmen, 1806); 6 Luna (Montera, 1786); 7 Argueta (Montera, 1800); 8 Orea (Red de
San Luis, 1804); 9 unnamed (Caballero de Gracia, 1793); 10 Villa (Ancha de San Bernardo, 1792); 11 Librera del Diario
(Plazuela de Santo Domingo, 1761); 12 Jos Batanero (Arenal, 1760); 13 unnamed (in front of Puerta de San Gins, 1805); 14
Antonio del Castillo (Gradas de San Felipe / Correo and other later locations, 1758); 15 Valentn Caballero (Gradas de San
Felipe, 1761); 16 Jos Matas Escribano (Gradas de San Felipe / Plazuela Aduana, 1763); 17 Joseph Gmez Bath (Gradas de San
Felipe, 1765); 18 Manuel Fernndez (Gradas de San Felipe, 1786); 19 Matas Escamilla (Gradas de San Felipe, 1787); 20 Correa
(Gradas de San Felipe, 1788); 21 Gernimo Solano (De la Paz, 1796); 22 Antonio de Sancha (Aduana Vieja and others, 1760); 23
Herederos de Corominas (Carretas, 1787), acquired by Jayme Campins in 1792; 24 Gabriel Gmez (Carretas, 1787); 25 Miguel
Escribano (Carretas, 1788); 26 Arribas (Carretas, previously in San Gernimo, 1788); 27 Hurtado (Carretas, 1793); 28 Dvila
(Carretas, 1803); 29 Bengoechea (Carretas, 1805); 30 Francisco Manuel de Mena (Carretas, 1806); 31 Villareal (Carretas, 1807);
32 Llera (Plazuela del ngel, 1803); 33 Alfonso Lpez (De la Cruz, 1786); 34 Flores (De la Cruz, 1791); 35 Segovia (De la Cruz,
1794); 36 Ranz (De la Cruz, 1807); 37 Burguillos (Conde de Tebas house, in front of San Sebastins cemetery, 1805); 38 Jos
del Corral (De los Tintes, 1788); 39 Alonso (Concepcin Gernima / Gradas de San Felipe, 1797); 40 Yuste (Concepcin
Gernima); 41 Manuel Quiroga (Concepcin Gernima next to Barrio Nuevo / Carretas, 1786); 42 Romeral (Barrio Nuevo,
1790); 43 Cebrin (Atocha, next to Santo Tomss entry, 1787); 44 Ramn Garca (Atocha, corner of Aduana Vieja / Gorguera,
1786); 45 Almudena (next to the Consejos, 1796); 46 Razola (Atocha, in front of the Gremios, 1796); 47 Gonzlez (Atocha, in
front of the Gremios, 1790); 48 Almacn de Msica (Urosas, 1789; later in Relatores); 49 Mateo Mintegui, Almacn de papel
rayado (San Gernimo, in front of the Soledad, 1805); 50 Miguel Copin (San Gernimo, 1786); 51 Luis Mara Mateo (San
Gernimo, 1788); 52 Fermn Nicasio (S. Gernimo, next to Barcos, 1788); 53 Barco (San Gernimo, 1792); 54 Rivas (San
Gernimo, 1787); 55 Cerro (Cedaceros, 1791); 56 Julin de Campo (Angosta de los Peligros, 1789; later in Alcal); 57 Blas de
Laserna (Prncipe, 1807); 58 Jos Ferrer (unlocated); 59 Alfonso Higuera (unlocated); 60 Ulloa (unlocated); 61 Manuel Godos
(unlocated).

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Vienna, and composed by the celebrated masters Pleyel,

Hoffmeister, Wranizcky [sic], Grill, Mozart and Forster; likewise, a wonderful edition of six sonatas for harpsichord or
pianoforte, flute, violin or violn, composed by the abovementioned Pleyel [has arrived] from London; furthermore,
other printed and manuscript works from Italy are for sale at
Copins bookshop on the street of San Gernimo.6

Some years earlier the same bookseller, the

French-born Miguel Copin, had advertised several
instrumental and vocal works by the most celebrated Italian and German composers (DM, 24 July
1786 and, virtually unchanged, GM, 4 August 1786),
while at Antonio de Sanchas establishment, an
assortment of vocal and instrumental music that has
just arrived from Germany by the best composers of
the present day could be found (DM, 4 February
1790 and 23 May 1791). The absence so far of certain
kinds of documentary materialssuch as commercial correspondence, music catalogues or minute
booksso revealing in other cases, has inevitably
placed limitations on research into individual
Madrilenian booksellers. The reconstruction of the
European networks with which they were themselves involved is a task that remains to be carried
out. However, by putting together scraps of existing
evidence, it is possible to survey how and when
works by Boccherini penetrated the musical market
in Madrid and to trace the commercial connections
of the only documented music-seller to have made
available a good number of his works. It also paves
the way for a reassessment of the reception in
Madrid of all this imported repertory and the ways it
may have influenced local composers.

Boccherinis music in the local market

The fact that in the spring of 1768 Boccherini settled
permanently in Spain made his music popular in
Madrid more rapidly than in most European cities,
with the exceptions of Paris and London. For instance,
no advertisement of his music appeared in Brussels
before 1794, and it appeared regularly there only from
1804 onwards, although the local music-seller Franois
Godefroy had imported one imprint by the Parisian
publisher Le Chavardire in the late 1770s.7
Only a few months after Boccherinis arrival in
Madrid many of his works entered the local market,
as testified by the 14 advertisements of 51 works
(mostly gathered in sets of six pieces) which appeared

in the GM between January 1771 and November 1776

(see the fourth column of table 1). This series of
advertisements shows, first, that all the instrumental
genres regularly cultivated by Boccherini were for
sale in Madrid within a short time: solo sonatas,
duets, trios, quartets, quintets and sextets for strings
as well as symphonies. Second, it also reveals that
only one music-seller, Antonio del Castillo (no.14 in
illus.1), advertised Boccherinis works in the 1770s,
although it should not be concluded that his music
might not also have been available in other music
shops in Madrid. Indeed, for a later period, an
unnamed bookseller, located at 38 Caballero de
Gracia, had for sale six trios and six quintets, all
unidentified (DM, 19 February 1793, no.9).
It is a fortunate coincidence that an enormously
rich inventory of Del Castillos music shopwhere
books in other areas were also to be foundhas
come to light: it lists about 332 items by 140 indigenous and foreign composers. This inventory, dated
1787, emerged as part of the contract signed by the
bookseller with the Italian Carlo Bertazzoni, a businessman who in 1772 had unsuccessfully requested a
royal privilege for printing music in Spain under a
20-year monopoly. Instead, he acted as an agent
importing music from elsewhere to be sold by Del
Castillo (and perhaps also by others).8 Since many
items in the inventory are generally referred to as sets
of three or, for the most part, six pieces, the number
of works registered may easily amount to 2,000. This
figure suggests that Del Castillos stock, on sale from
1758 to 1806, was probably one of the largest of the
city, surely along with a few other specialized shops,
such as the Almacn de Msica (no.48), which in
1790 possessed 1,031 pieces, mostly instrumental.9
The inventory also reveals the very wide range of
composers and genres accessible to Madrilenian
musicians. Included on the list are 225 copies of some
75 works composed by Boccherini (again, mostly
gathered in sets of six pieces). This telling source,
along with the advertisements from the GM, provides sufficient material to trace the thriving business
of this music-seller as regards Boccherinis music, as
well as to uncover some of his trade connections with
various European music publishers.
It comes as no surprise that a local engraver,
Jos Fernando Palomino, became the first to try to

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2 Title-page of Jos Fernando Palominos engraving of Boccherinis op.6 (Madrid, 1771) (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional,

M/1455)

make a profit out of the presence in Madrid of the

increasingly high-profile composer. He engraved
Boccherinis trios op.6 (G8994) and duets op.3
(G5661) c.1771 (table 1, nos.2 and 3), a reasonably
early date considering that from 1767 onwards only a
few publishers, mainly in Paris, had printed his
music.10 How the distribution for these editions
workedthey presumably reached other Spanish
citiesremains largely unknown, but local newspapers exclusively mention Del Castillos shop for
their acquisition in Madrid. The careful selection of
the repertory made by Palomino shows that he was
seeking some guarantee of at least recouping his
investment: both works are intended for a small
number of instruments, making them cheaper to
produce and easier to sell. In addition, op.6 was
engraved for the very first time, apparently under
the auspices of Fernando Blumenstein, a littleknown foreign publisher who was probably trying to
open new markets in Madrid. The richly ornamented

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title-page and the dedication to the music-loving

Prince of Asturias (the future King Carlos IV),
perhaps by way of attracting his attention, sought to
reinforce the volumes marketability (see illus.2). It
is worth mentioning that this engraving was advertised in Madrid three months earlier than another
edition produced in Paris by the firm of Jean
Baptiste Vnier (April 1771). On the other hand,
op.3if the suggested publication date of 1771 is
correctappeared in Madrid two years later than
the first edition printed in Paris by Le Chevardire
(1769).
The business, however, must have turned out
quite differently to what Palomino expected, as neither he, nor any other local printer, published further works by Boccherini (nor, for that matter, by
almost any other foreign composer). Apart from the
alleged restrictions of the music market in Madrid, it
is also very likely that as soon as Boccherini gained
some international recognition he opted to sell his

music to certain European publishing houses with

the potential for far greater distribution. The fact
remains that, with the exception of Palominos
engravings, all the printed music by Boccherini for
sale in Madrid during his lifetime was imported
from elsewhere in Europe.
In this respect the Paris firm of the Italian-born
Vnier played a crucial role, being a publisher who
was particularly active during the 1770s. As early as
April 1767 the publisher announced in the Mercure
de France what was probably the first imprint of
music by Boccherini. This was immediately followed by others by Bailleux (in July), and Gangr
(month unknown). So Boccherini was known in
Paris even before he set foot there (by late October
of that year at the earliest).11 It is also very likely that
once in Paris he would have had the opportunity to
meet Vnieras well as the other relevant editor
active in Paris, Le Chavardirein the context of
the concerts patronized by the Baron Charles-Ernest
de Bagge (171891), thereby establishing a fruitful
professional relationship that lasted for the next
ten years.12 This contact resulted in the publication
by the Paris firm of 12 new sets composed by
Boccherini from his youth onwards (the earliest
dating from 1761) and regularly sent from Spain. The
amount of money the composer earned through
these operations remains impossible to calculate,
but the permissive, perhaps even encouraging, attitude of his patron, the Infante Luis de Borbn, who
allowed the musician to complement his salary by
selling to publishers works initially composed for
him, enabled the composers name to become familiar to hundreds of amateurs throughout Europe as
early as the 1770s.
Works sent by Boccherini from Spain to Paris
made the return journey surprisingly quickly, since
at least six of Vniers imprints soon became available at Del Castillos shop in Madrid. Among them
were the first three sets of string quintets Boccherini
composed in 17712: op.10 (G26570), op.11 (G2716)
and op.13 (G27782). They were all first published by
Vnier in 17746, at the rate of one a year. The different opus numbers given in Vniers editions as
compared to Boccherinis autograph catalogues, are
consistent with those given in the advertisements in
the GM. This in turn suggests that the French

publisher supplied them to Del Campo while

discarding the possibility of there being autograph
manuscripts on loan by the composer himself. The
second known editions of these quintets appeared in
London after they had been announced in the
Madrid newspapers. What is more, some sets were
advertised in Madrid even one or two months earlier than in Paris (see table 1, nos.79 for exact
dates). All this evidence gives grounds for believing
that printed music by the French original publisher
was provided to the Spanish music-seller, either
directly or via a Madrid-based agent.
Also available at Del Castillos were the six sonatas
for harpsichord and violin, op.5 (G2530), composed by Boccherini during his short stay in Paris in
1768, and first published by Vnier by the end of that
year. The Madrid dealer advertised these sonatas
three times between 1773 and 1775 in the pages of the
GM (see table 1, no.1). Although there is no proof
that Vniers edition was the one that was advertisedespecially taking into account the fact that by
1775 two other editions had appeared in Europe
this seems more than likely given the close connections between Del Castilloperhaps through
Bertazzoniand the French firm. Finally, it seems
that the quartets op.15 (G17782) sold by Del Castillo
were also imported from Vnier, if the disparate
dates of the advertisement in Madrid (March 1772)
and the first edition so far known in Paris
(announced in April 1773) make it plausible to imagine that the works might have been manuscripts
borrowed from the composer himself, of which
copies could be obtained (see table 1, no.5).
Vniers interest in publishing Boccherinis music
ceased in 1777, when the firm itself started to decline.
Some time earlier, Del Castillo had turned to other
publishing houses in France and Italy for purchasing
new editions. In particular, by the end of 1774 he
possessed two new editions with works by the Italian
composer: one included a symphonyG490, composed in 1765and the other two minuetsG502, in
fact arrangements of movements from the quartet
G164 and the trio G83 composed in 1761 and 1766
respectivelyas part of a collection of 20 by several
composers, including Joseph Haydn (see table 1,
nos.12 and 13).13 The content of the advertisement
announcing both imprints has allowed their

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Table Boccherinis works available at Antonio del Castillos music shop in the 1770s and 80s
No.

Identified work

Inventory of 1787

Date of advertisement
in the GM

Suggested edition for sale

(RISM)

Six sonatas for

harpsichord and violin,
op.5 (G2530), 1768

Sonatas a solo pera 30,

1 at 30 rl

18 May 1773 (opera V); 1st edn by Vnier (Paris,

7 Feb 1775
29 Dec 1768) as opera V
(sonatas a solo); 28
(B3032)
Feb 1775 (sonatas de

Six duets, op.3

(G5661), 1763

Dos, 2 at 28 rl

16 Jun 1772

Engraving by J. Palomino
(Madrid, 1771?); the titlepage states the price:
28 rl; (B3054)14

Six trios, op.6

(G8994), 1769

Tros (para el Prncipe

[de Asturias]), 10 at
50 rl

22 Jan 1771; 19 Mar

1771. They are said to

Engraving by J. Palomino
(Madrid, 1771; B3094)

clave)

be reprinted
(reimpresos)

Six trios op.14

(G95100), 1772

Tros pera 14, 4 at

11 Jul 1775 (opera

40 Rl

XIV)

Six quartets, op.15

(G17782), 1772

Cuartetos pera 11,

21 at 50 rl

2 Mar 1772; 15 Sep

1772

Cuartetos pera 25,

Unknown

Unidentified

1st edn by La Chevardire

(Paris, 1773) as opera
XIV (B3083)
1st edn by Vnier (Paris,
Apr 1773) as opera XI
(B3128)

1 at 40 rl
7

Six quintets, op.10

(G26570), 1771

Cuartetos [recte
quintetos] pera 12
88 at 70 rl

23 Nov 1773
(quintetos . . . obra
XII)

1st edn by Vnier (Paris,

Jan 1774) as opera XII
(B3159)

Six quintets, op.11

(G2716), 1771

Cuartetos [recte
quintetos] pera 13,
12 at 70 rl

7 Mar 1775

1st edn by Vnier (Paris,

Jan 1775) as opera XIII
(B3165)

Six quintets, op.13

(G27782), 1772

Cuartetos [recte
quintetos] pera 20,
17 at 70 rl

26 Nov 1776

10

?Six quintets, op.20

(G28994), 1775?

Cuartetos [recte
quintetos ?] pera 23,
27 at 70 rl

Unknown

? 1st edn by Vnier (Paris,

29 Mar 1777) as opera
XXIII? (B3177)

11

Six sextets, op.23

(G4549), 1776

Sexteto pera 24, 16 at

60 rl

30 Jan 1776

1st edn by Sieber (Paris,

c.1780) as opera XXIV?
(B3204)

12

Two minuets,
(G502)

[no mention of minuets

in the inventory]

13 Dec 1774

1st edn by L. Marescalchi

(Venice, [1773]), Raccolta

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(quintetos . . . obra
XIII)
(quintetos . . . obra
20)

(coleccin de 24
minuetes con todos
instrumentos para
baile de diferentes
autores, que son
Haiden, Boccherini,
Pugnani y otros)

1st edn by Vnier (Paris,

14 Nov 1776) as opera
XX (B3174)

di ventiquattro minuetti
composti da varii autor
[Angiolini, Boccherini,
Canobbio, Haydn,
Marescalchi, Pugnani, and
Santo-Trento] (B3223)

Table Continued
No.

Identified work

Inventory of 1787

Date of advertisement
in the GM

13

Symphony, (G490), 1765

Sinfonia 1 at 12 rl

13 Dec 1774 (se

14

Six symphonies, op.12

(G5038), 1771

Sinfonias peridicas
Obra 16 8 at 24 rl

26 Nov 1776? (varias

sinfonias)

First edition by La
Chevardire (Paris, 1776?)
as oeuvre 16 (B3218)

15

Either op.12 (G5038),

1771, or op.21 (G4938),

Sinfonias concertantes
Opera 20, 17 at 60 rl

26 Nov 1776? (varias

sinfonias)

First edition by La
Chevardire (Paris, 1776?;
B3218) as uvre 16 and
Sieber (Paris, 1776?;
B3220) as opera XXII
respectively. No edition of
symphonies as opera 20
is known in his catalogue

1775

Suggested edition for sale

(RISM)

1st edn by L. Marescalchi

venden tres sinfonas a (Venice, [1773]; B3227)
todos instrumentos, la
una de D. Luis
Bocherini y las otras
de D. Luis
Marescalchi)

Note: The third column indicates the diplomatic title of the works, the number of copies available and the price for sale of
each copy (rl
reales) as given in the inventory. Items 7 to 10, given as quartets in the inventory, have been corrected to quintets
in the light of correspondence to opus numbers provided by both local advertisements and early editions. The year given in the
last column corresponds to the edition and the precise date to its first advertisement, according to Grard, Thematic catalogue
and to C. Johansson, French music publishers catalogues (Stockholm, 1955), updating the publication year when necessary.

identification, as it reproduces quite literally the

title-pages of two editions produced in Venice by
the composer and publisher Luigi Marescalchi.15 It
has been suggested that the earliest catalogue by
Marescalchi to include these works by Boccherini
appeared in 1773, providing a terminus ante quem for
their publication.16 This date matches closely the
announcement of the collection of minuets in the
Florentine Gazzetta Toscana dated 28 August 1773.17
That Marescalchi published at least 21 works by
Boccherinigathered in five setsduring his short
Venetian period as publisher between 1773 and 1775
can be explained by the professional relationship
established between the two Italians in Spanish lands
in 1768 and 1769. By then Marescalchi was acting as
impresario of the Italian opera company at court,
hiring Boccherini to compose and perform on several occasions.18 Furthermore, Boccherinis brotherin-law, Onorato Vigan, provided the choreography
of several of Marescalchis ballets between 1776 and

1794. It makes sense, therefore, that Marescalchi

opted to print Boccherinis music when he started up
in the publishing business, seeking new niches by
making available unpublished pieces composed by
him during his early period at Lucca and Vienna.
Had the publisher not forged personal contacts with
the composer, the original manuscripts would not
have been so readily accessible to him. Even though
Marescalchis Venetian workshop (which later took
the violinist and composer Carlo Canobbio into
partnership) was active for a very short period of
time, the publishers apparently managed to set up a
network of selling agents throughout Europe.19 Thus,
by 1775 their editions had become accessible not only
in Madrid, but also in Florence, Livorno, Lucca and
Siena. In addition, two Viennese bookshops had at
their disposal the separate imprints containing
Boccherinis works as early as 1773.20 It is highly
revealing that in two of the several surviving copies in
Italian holdings of the symphony G490 the title-page

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173

indicates that it was for sale En Madrid 5 R[eales] de

velln.21 Although the price mentioned does not
match that provided by Del Castillos inventory 15
years later (i.e. 12 reales), this evidence offers a plausible explanation for the availability of Marescalchis
imprints at his music shop in Madrid. It is tempting
to speculate that works by other authors for sale at
Del Castillos had also been supplied by Marescalchi
from Venice.
Finally, the Madrid music-seller sold other works
by Boccherini, although in these cases the contacts
between the publisher and/or agent with the bookseller remain to be fully uncovered. The pieces in
question are the trios op.14 (G95100), the sextets
op.23 (G4549), and two sets of unidentified symphonies that most probably correspond to the more
concerted set of op.12 (G5038) than to op.21
(G4938), the only two collections printed before the
dates of the advertisements. All these works were
advertised in the GM between July 1775 and
November 1776 (see table 1, nos.4, 11, 14 and 15),
being the latest pieces by Boccherini to be
announced in the local newspapers (except for that
of 1793 mentioned above). A comparison between
the dates of the first editions and those of the
advertisements suggest that both the trios and the
symphoniesif it really was the op.12 collection
would probably be copies produced by La
Chevardire. As for the sextets, doubts remain as to
what printed version was for sale, as the first edition
by Jean-Georges Sieber apparently came to light in
Paris four years after it was advertised in Madrid.
How successful Del Castillo was with these operations is a difficult question to answer. The absence of
advertisements for new Boccherini pieces from 1777
onwards might indicate the pointless investment in
advertising works by a composer with a well-established reputation, or more plausibly the lack of
interest on the part of potential buyers. Indeed, since
virtually all the works registered in the 1787 inventory had been announced before the end of 1776, it
can be concluded that Del Castillos acquisition of
new works by Boccherini after that year was minimal. The fact that the inventory lists unsold copies of
most of the items is in itself of little significance, as
no documentation has emerged about the number
of copies initially purchased by the retailer. But

174

e a r ly mu s i c

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at least it gives a clue as to the sellers expectations of

demand. For six items, the copies available in 1787
were fewer than ten, while for another seven items
the number of unsold copies oscillates between 10
and 27 (see the third column of table 1), which represents the rate most often found for the remaining
works given in the inventory. An outstanding exception is represented by the 88 copies of the string
quintets op.12 published in late 1773, a set that apparently did not enjoy great popularity. Taking into
account the lengthy period Boccherini spent in or
around Madrid, the impression gained is that he did
not perhaps become a best-seller in his adoptive city.
The apparent lack of further documentationif it
ever existedmeans that it may never be possible to
identify who bought Boccherinis music in Madrid;
only the aristocracy and members of the royal family
have left documentary traces of their musical activities. Nevertheless, it is clear that two of the editions
available at Del Castillos premises have been preserved in the archive of the royal court: the trios
op.14 (G95100) in La Chevardires edition, and
Vniers edition of the quartets op.15 (G17782),
although it is not possible to reconstruct how and
when they found their way to that archive.
Interestingly, only one of the 39 sets by Boccherini
currently preserved at the Biblioteca Nacionala
holding originating from the public Royal Library
was for sale at Del Castillos, revealing that there were
alternative channels for the reception of his music.
Many of these imprints reached Madrid after March
1782, directly provided from London by Robert
Bremner, who compiled several miscellaneous volumes mainly formed by French and English editions
dating from the late 1760s onwards.22 For his part, the
Infante Gabriel (son of King Carlos III) received
from Boccherini himself a copy of the sonatas op.5
(G2530) in 1775, at exactly the time when this set was
advertised by Del Castillo, suggesting that it was the
edition by Vnier. In return, the composer was presented with a payment of 1,200 reales, that is 40 times
the price for sale to the public.23 It may well be that
other influential musical patrons of the period, such
as the Duchess of Osuna-Benavente (illus.3) and the
Duke of Alba (see cover illustration and caption),
also possessed imprints purchased from Del Castillo
or elsewhere among the various works by Boccherini

3 The Duke of Osuna and his family, 1788 (oil on

canvas), by Goya y Lucientes (Prado, Madrid; Giraudon/

www.bridgeman.co.uk)

included in their libraries (around 120 and 24 pieces

respectively), although the superficial descriptions
given in their inventories do not always allow
confirmation of this detail.24

Conclusions
The thriving commercial activity of music-sellers in
late 18th-century Madrid opens up new perspectives

that will help to illuminate the functions, spaces and

agentspatrons, composers, performers and dilettantirelated to the consumption of chamber
music. Even though Madrid was by no means a
major music-publishing centre in this period, it
seems safe to confirm that it participated intensively
in the widespread international music trade, as
reflected in the case of Marescalchis distribution of
editions. From the perspective of music-selling, it is
now clear that Boccherinis music occupied a significant place at least in the 1770sapparently declining laterwhen he began to forge his worldwide
reputation, encouraged at its early stage by his
personal contacts with publishers from his native
Italy. His presence in Spanish lands, in isolated
villages during certain periodswhich closely parallels Haydns experiencedid not impede his
promotion. Yet other specific questions regarding
the publication of his music during his lifetime, and
the influence of those works on Spanish composers
remain to be considered. For instance, very little concrete evidence has emerged as to how Boccherinis
works came to be published and distributed, either
through direct contact between the composer and the
publisher, via an agent, or through transmission
between publishers (such as the commercial ties
between Le Chevardire in Paris, Franois Godefroy
in Brussels and Robert Bremner in London).25 All
three ways definitely came into play in this case,
but the specific channels, chronology and frequency
of these processes remain to be determined. What
is clear is that, once Boccherinis music began to be
published regularly by the most powerful publishing
houses of the moment, it reached remote places
all over Europe through the established international
arrangements among printers, publishers and sellers.

Miguel ngel Marn is Lecturer in Music History at the Universidad de La Rioja, Spain, and Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has researched widely on musical culture in 18th-century Spain. Among other books, he is author of Music on the margin: urban
musical life in eighteenth-century Jaca (Spain) (Kassel, 2002). miguel-angel.marin@dea.unirioja.es
This article is part of a wider research
project supported by the Spanish
Ministry of Education (BHA ).

slightly earlier period is the

introduction to El manuscrito
Mackworth de cantatas espaolas, ed.
J. J. Carreras (Madrid, 2004).

1 A good example of a recent study

with a more integrated approach for a

2 I. Sustaeta, La msica en las fuentes

hemerogrficas del XVIII espaol

referencias musicales en la Gaceta de

Madrid, y artculos de msicos en los
papeles peridicos madrileos, 4 vols.
(PhD diss., U. Complutense, 1993).
Sustaeta has counted 591
advertisements (confusingly classified

e a r ly mu s i c

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175

the Royal Palace in Madrid, Music in

Spain during the eighteenth century, ed.
M. Boyd and J. J. Carreras (Cambridge,
1998), pp.12543, at pp.1346. The
reference to the Journal de musique is
taken from S. Adams, International
dissemination of printed music during
the second half of the eigtheenth
century, The dissemination of music,
ed. H. Lenneberg (Lausanne, 1994),
pp.2143, at p.25.
6 DM, 26 May 1791 (another similar
advertisement in GM, 10 June 1791):
Han llegado de Alemania unas obras
nuevas de msica instrumental para
violn, violn, flauta, oboe, clave y
pianoforte, titulados: prenumeraciones,
impresa en Viena, y compuestas por
los clebres maestros Pleyel,
Hoffmenster, Wranizcky, Grill, Mozart
y Forster; as mismo han llegado de
Inglaterra 6 sonatas para clave o
pianoforte, flauta, violn o violn,
compuestas por el referido Pleyel,
hermosa impresin de Londres; se
venden adems otra msica impresa y
manuscrita de Italia, en la librera de
Copin, carrera de San Gernimo.
in his work) of musical pieces
published between 1757 and 1799
(i, p.181). See also Y. Acker, Msica y
danza en el Diario de Madrid
() (Kassel, forthcoming),
whom I wish to thank very much for
sharing with me unpublished material
that will appear in her book.
3 According to A. Devris, Paris et la
dissmination des ditions musicales
entre 1700 et 1830, Revue de
musicologie, lxxxiv/2 (1998), pp.2938,
at p.293. A preliminary list of
27 Madrid music-sellers is offered
in J. Moll, Una bibliografa musical
peridica de fines del siglo XVIII,
Anuario musical, xxiv (196970),
pp.24758, at p.258; ten of these,
however, do not appear to have taken
out newspaper advertisements.
4 A very introductory overview of
booksellers in Madrid appears in
F. Arquero Soria, Libreros y libreras
(Madrid, 1980) [
Ciclo de
conferencias sobre Madrid en el
siglo XVIII].
5 For the Traeg connections, see
D. W. Jones, Austrian symphonies in

176

e a r ly mu s i c

7 See H. Vanhulst, La diffusion des

uvres de Boccherini daprs les
catalogues du marchand de musique
bruxellois Weissenbruch (18041813),
Echos de France et dItalie: liber
amicorum Yves Grard, ed.
M. C. Mussat et al. (Paris, 1997),
pp.35969. The imprint sold by
Godefroy was the string quartets op.22
(G1838), according to M. Cornaz,
Ldition et la diffusion de la musique
Bruxelles au XVIIIe sicle (Brussels,
2001), pp.26062.
8 The inventory was unearthed by
J. Subir, Un insospechado inventario
musical del siglo XVIII, Anuario
musical, xxiv (196970), pp.22736,
who reconstructs the active political
life of Bertazzoni in Madrid; see also
C. J. Goslvez, La edicin musical
espaola hasta (Madrid, 1995),
p.38.
9 The dates for Del Castillos activity
according to the first and last
advertisements in DM. His
involvement in the international music
trade becomes clear from the very
beginning. On 16 January 1760 he
announced in DM to have for sale 200
copies of Jos de Herrandos Arte del

m ay 2 0 0 5

violn printed in Paris two years before.

The figure on the Almacn de Msica
comes from the Biblioteca peridica
anual para utilidad de los libreros y
literatos of that year, also listed in GM,
16 Nov 1790; see Moll, Una bibliografa
musical peridica, p.256.
10 Copies preserved at E-Mn (M1455
and Mp/2392 1), though the latter is
incomplete.
11 As suggested by R. Coli, Luigi
Boccherini (Padua, 1992), pp.4950,
based on a letter dated 5 Oct written in
Nice. See also Y. Grard, Thematic,
bibliographical and critical catalogue of
the works of Luigi Boccherini (London,
1969), p.564.
12 G. Cucuel, Les lves du Baron de
Bagge, Anne musicale, i (1911),
pp.14586, at pp.16773.
13 It is worth mentioning that, as far as
is currently known, this advertisement
was the very first in the Madrid
newspapers to name Haydn.
Significantly, the advertised edition
was also the first related to Haydn
produced in Italy, according to
M. L. Girardi, Musica strumentale a
fortuna degli autori classici nelleditoria
veneziana fra Settecento e Ottocento,
La musica strumentale nel Veneto fra
e , ed. S. Durante [
Rassegna
veneta di studi musicali, xiiixiv]
(Venice, 1998), pp.479526, at p.492.
14 Title-page reproduced in Goslvez,
La edicin musical, p.43.
15 On Marescalchis activity as a
publisher in Venice, see B. M. Antolini,
Editori, copisti, commercio della
musica in Italia, 17701800, Studi
musicali, xviii (1989), pp.273375, at
pp.2748, as well as Girardi, Musica
strumentale, and the bibliography

given there. Also crucial are the 11

known catalogues (all undated) from
the Venetian period reproduced and
commented on in O. Mischiati, Indici,
catalogui e avvisi degli editori i librai
musicale italiani dal al
(Florence, 1984), pp.70, 374411, 5523,
which tentatively proposes publication
dates for each catalogue.
16 Mischiati, Indici, p.552, suggests on
the basis of typographical and factual
information that the earliest catalogue
listing Boccherinis pieces might have
appeared in 1772, one year before the
agreed date given in more recent
literature (see n.15 above).
17 Antolini, Editori, copisti,
commercio, p.277.
18 Coli, Luigi Boccherini, p.66. On
Marescalchis period as an opera
impresario in Spain, largely neglected
in the secondary literature, see the
seminal work E. Cotarelo y
Mori, Orgenes y establecimiento
de la pera en Espaa hasta
(Madrid, 1917; facs. edn, Madrid,
2004), pp.1979.
19 Some years later, in 1807, when
Marescalchi had settled down in Paris,
he claimed he had established a branch
in Barcelona for music distribution
pour toute lEspange, according to a
letter cited in L. Aversano, Il
commercio di edizioni e manoscritti
musicali tra Italia e Germania nel primo
Ottocento (18001830), Fonti musicali
italiane, iv (1999), pp.11360, at p.149.
20 Antolini, Editori, copisti,
commercio, pp.2757 and nn.56, and
Girardi, Musica strumentale, p.492.
21 Mischiati, Indici, p.47. Copies
currently held at I-Mc and the Liceo
Musicale in Modena.

22 For the royal court imprints, see

Madrid, Biblioteca del Palacio Real,
Mus. Carp. 48, (3) and (4). The
Bremner connection was first
detected by J. Subir, La msica
de cmara en la corte madrilea
durante el siglo XVIII y principios
del XIX, Anuario musical, i
(1946), pp.18194. See also Catlogo
de impresos musicales del siglo XVIII
en la Biblioteca Nacional
(Madrid, 1989).
23 J. Martnez and B. Kenyon,
El Infante don Gabriel (17521788),
gran aficionado a la msica, Revista de
musicologa, xi/3 (1988), pp.767806, at
p.792.
24 For their respective catalogues,
see N. lvarez and Y. Grard, La
bibliothque musicale dun
amateur clair de Madrid: La
Duchesse-Comtesse de Benavenete,
Duchesse dOssuna (17521834),
Recherches sur la musique franaise
classique, iii (1963), pp.17988
(translated into French), and G. Truett
Hollis, Inventario y tasacin de los
instrumentos y papeles de msica de la
testamentaria del Exmo. Sr. Don
Fernando de Silva lvarez de Toledo,
Duque que fue de Alba (1777),
Anuario Musical, lix (2004), pp.15177,
at 15658.
25 Adams, International
dissemination of printed music,
pp.2931. For the imports of
Boccherini imprints from Paris
to Brussels and London, see
nn.5 and 23 above, and D. W. Jones,
Haydns music in London in
the period 17601790, Haydn
yearbook, xv (1983), pp.14472,
at p.153.

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