BOCCANERA, Simon, grandson of William, born at Genoa about the commencement of the fourteenth century. The traditionary popularity which belonged to his family, not less than his personal talents, pointed him out for the leader of the democratic party, when the opportunity was presented for wresting the government of the city from that section of the nobility who had again usurped it on the fall of his grandfather. He was first chosen abate del popolo, but that cilice, which corresponded to that of the tribunes of ancient Rome, for reasons connected with his noble birth, he declined. The people then proclaimed him doge for life, and accordingly, entering on the government in 1339, for several years he maintained his popularity with the masses; but this, notwithstanding the renown which accrued to him from his victories over the Turks, the Tartars, and the Moors, beginning to decline, his enemies of the ancient nobility were inspirited to attack him more and more openly, and after a desperate struggle, in which he made free with his powers of confiscation and banishment, he was obliged in 1334 to resign his dignity, and retire to Pisa. William, marquis of Pallavicini, to whom, by the arts of John Visconti, archbishop of Milan, the government of Genoa had been committed in 1353, having been expelled from the city in 1356, Boccanera was anew raised to the ducal dignity. Seven years afterwards, his enemies fearing that he had grown invulnerable to sedition, took the opportunity of a feast which he gave to the king of Cyprus, to remove him by poison.—J. S., G.
BOCCHERINI, Luigi, a musician, was born at Lucca, January 14, 1740, and died at Madrid in 1806; other accounts give 1730 and 1735 as the date of his birth, and 1805 as the date of his death, and he is stated to have reached the age of seventy, but the dates first stated appear to be the more authentic. His father was a double bass player, who, perceiving his natural talent for music, spared no pains in its cultivation. Boccherini received instructions in composition and on the violoncello of the Abbé Vannucci in his native town, and then went to Rome to complete his studies. He used to attribute, in after-life, much importance to the impressions he received from the ecclesiastical music, then already divided into the modern style and the style of Palestrina, in the papal city, and while there he laid the foundation of his reputation as an instrumental composer. Returning to Lucca, he met Manfredi the violinist, a pupil of Nardini, with whom he formed an intimate friendship and a professional alliance, which lasted till Manfredi's death. These two artists visited together the principal towns of Lombardy, Piedmont, and the south of France, with great success; and the music of Boccherini was so much admired, that, being yet unpublished, a high value was set upon manuscript copies of his works. The friends arrived at Paris in 1771, where, in the following year, the first six trios for two violins and violoncello of Boccherini were printed; these were immediately followed by six quartettes, under the name of "Divertissements;" and they obtained so great and so speedy a popularity, that in the course of five years the fertile author published no less than eighty compositions of the same class. Boccherini and Manfredi next went to Spain. The music of the former had preceded them, and the esteem in which it was held insured to the composer and his companion a ready welcome. The two were engaged as chamber musicians to the prince of the Asturias; and Boccherini had a further engagement from Carlos IV. to supply nine new pieces every year for a fixed pension.
Honoured as an artist, and prized as a friend, his happiness was still augmented by his marriage to a Spanish lady, to whom he was passionately attached. The death of Manfredi, however, was a severe affliction to him, and it was, moreover, the beginning of a series of misfortunes from which he never recovered. Commissioned to find a violinist to supply the place of his friend, Boccherini engaged Brunetti for this purpose, to whom also he afforded great advantages in respect of advice and instruction, but who, being of an intriguing character, very quickly undermined our composer's position at court, and ceased not to plot against him till he was obliged to resign both his appointments. Boccherini now wrote some vocal pieces for different religious establishments. The marquis de Beneventi settled on him a small pension, with the condition that he should supply a certain number of compositions annually. Frederick William II. of Prussia is said to have made a like engagement with him; and the same is related of Lucien Buonaparte, when ambassador at Madrid. These several resources were, however, inadequate to support him with his wife and family in decent competency, for in 1803 he was living in Madrid in a single room, with a scanty provision of the positive necessaries of life. In the midst of his privations, the amiable disposition by which he was always distinguished never forsook him, and, with his children playing around him, and amidst all the distractions of his limited household, he continued to compose and to impart a spirit of cheerfulness to his affectionate circle. He had a most scrupulous sense of probity—a striking example of which is, that he refused the offer of 100 louis d'or for his "Stabat Mater," because he had promised the work to another purchaser for sixty piastres. The latter part of his life was so obscure, that, when his death was announced, the lovers of music in Madrid, who had especially admired his works, were surprised to learn that he had been residing amongst them.
The extraordinary number of Boccherini's productions would entitle him to distinction independently of their merit, but, although they have now passed out of favour, this is not inconsiderable. He is best known by his very numerous quintets, in which the prominence of the part for the principal violoncello denotes his excellence as a player on this instrument. Great melodious fluency, perfect appropriateness for the several instruments, and extreme simplicity of construction, characterize his writing; and, when his phraseology was fresh, and his forms were new, these qualities may well be supposed to have had an irresistible charm. He has been not inaptly called "the wife of Haydn," which name defines the relationship of his music to that of the great instrumental master.—G. A. M.
BOCCHI, Achille, born at Bologna in 1488, of a very noble family; from his early youth he devoted his time to the culture of literature, and contributed many valuable compositions at the age of twenty. His high position in life, and his renown as a classic scholar, soon made him acquainted with the literati of his time, and many princes charged him with important missions. We see him at the court of the prince of Carpi as his first consul, then imperial orator to the Roman court, where he was created count palatine, which title gave him the right of conferring the order of knighthood and university degrees. He was particularly honoured by the friendship of Henry, king of France; and his name was recorded on the rolls of various academies, while he filled in his native city the professorships of Greek, poetry, and belles-lettres. He founded also an academy called after his name, "Bocchiale." Well versed in the Hebrew language, he made many researches in ancient manuscripts, which led to the discovery of many archæological treasures, alluded to in his history of Bologna. Such was the estimation in which he was held by his cotemporary writers, that two medals were struck in his honour, which are still preserved in the museum of Bologna, with these inscriptions: on the one, "Achilles Bocchius Bonon. An. Æ. LXVII.;" and on the other, "Ach. Bocchius Bononiensis Historiæ Conditor." His works, all written in Latin, treat of poetry, philosophy, history, and classic literature. It is worth remarking that of so many eminent writers who have spoken of this distinguished scholar, Ciacconio alone records his death, which happened at Bologna in his 74th year, on the 6th of November, 1562.—A. C. M.
BOCCHUS I., a king of Mauritania, the father-in-law of Jugurtha, who lived in the latter half of the second century before the christian era. He at first united with Jugurtha in making war upon the Romans, on the promise of his obtaining the third part of Numidia. But after the defeat of Jugurtha by Marius, Bocchus was induced by the persuasions and promises of Sylla to betray his son-in-law into the hands of the Romans. He obtained as the reward of his treachery a grant of the kingdom subsequently called Mauritania Cæsariensis, of which Fez now forms a part.—(Sallust's Bellum Jugurthinum.)—J. T.
BOCCHUS, a Mauritanian chief, supposed to be the son of the above. He and his brother Bogud reigned jointly over Mauritania, and were confirmed in their sovereignty by Cæsar. Bocchus rendered good service to Cæsar in the capture of Cirta, the capital of Juba, king of Numidia, and was rewarded with the grant of a portion of the kingdom of Masinissa, the ally of Juba. According to Suetonius, Cæsar lavished no little money upon Eunoe, the wife of the Mauritanian king. After the death of the great Roman dictator, Bocchus and his brother quarrelled, and took opposite sides in the great civil war. The former joined Octavius, while Bogud espoused the cause of Antony. Bocchus was ultimately confirmed in the government of Mauritania by Octavius. He died about 33 b.c.—J. T.
