Luigi Boccherini’s Lost Music and a New Chronology for His Works An unknown inventory from 1785

Abstract

The inventory of the music collection that belonged to Infante don Luis de Borbón, Luigi Boccherini’s employer between 1770 and 1785, offers a new insight into the composer’s oeuvre and the way he developed it; not only the chronology of many of his works must be reviewed, but also the kind of music he wrote during these 15 years and the way he traded with it after the Infante’s death. Overall, this important document confirms different hypothesis that have been put forward in the last years and calls for the re-evaluation of the composer’s musical practice and trading procedures, as well as many important aspects of his biography related to these aspects.