Arcangelo Corelli

Better known in his own lifetime as a violinist and conductor, Arcangelo Corelli's work has finally come of age. Born in Fusignano in the province of Ravenna on February 17, 1653, five weeks after the death of his father, he belonged to a prosperous local family and took his first music lessons in Faenza, where he spent part of his youth, before continuing his violin studies in Bologna with teachers Giovanni Benvenuti and Leonardo Brugnoli, two eminent musicians trained by Ercole Gaibara. Admitted to Bologna's Accademia filarmonica in 1670 at just seventeen years of age, although this claim is debated, he was given the nickname "Il Bolonese" or "Arcangelo Bolognese", as documents indicate during his time in Rome. Mentions of trips to Paris or Spain are highly unlikely, especially the alleged meeting with Lully, who was jealous and took a dislike to him. He may have spent some time in Germany, in the service of Maximilian II Emmanuel, Prince-Elector of Bavaria, although this has not been proven. After arriving in Rome in 1675, he never left the Eternal City again, with the exception of a trip to Naples in 1708. Accepted as a musician by the former Queen Christine of Sweden, he asserted his talent as a violinist, and in 1682 was appointed maître de chapelle at the church of Saint-Louis-des-Français, taking part in concerts and playing at the premiere of the oratorio San Giovanni Battista by Alessandro Stradella, a violinist and composer who originated the form of the concerto grosso, which was to influence him greatly. Other patrons included cardinals Benedetto Pamphili and Pietro Ottoboni, who enabled him to perform at religious ceremonies and publish his compositions. Opus 1, dated 1681, comprises twelve church trio sonatas, and proved to be a European success, with no fewer than thirty-nine editions until 1690, unheard of before Josef Haydn. Opus 2, published in 1685, comprises twelve chamber trio sonatas. Sonate a tre was one of the three formulas in which Corelli excelled, along with the Sonata for solo violin and the Concerto grosso. In 1687, he entered the service of Pamphili as music master, and two years later published Op. 3 (twelve church sonatas in trio), followed in 1694 by Op. 4 (twelve chamber sonatas in trio). Published in 1700, Opus 5, 12 Sonatas for solo violin and continuo (six chamber and six church), is one of his best-known works, with forty-two editions before 1800 and adaptations in concerto form. Its fame is undoubtedly due to the last sonata, featuring the theme of "La Folia", here in one of its most famous instrumentations. Abundantly played during the 19th century, particularly in England, he was honored by other composers such as Veracini, Tartini, Rachmaninov and Michael Tippett. Johann Sebastian Bach studied his work, mentioning one of the themes from Op. 3 in his Fugue for organ "alla breve" in D major, BWV 579. After working with renowned musicians such as Bernardo Pasquini and Alessandro Scarlatti, he received visits from Georg Muffat and George Friedrich Handel, who came in April 1708 to attend performances of his oratorio La Resurrezione, conducted by Corelli. In 1708, Corelli retired from public life after making a good living. He died on January 8, 1713 at the age of 59, and was buried in Rome's Pantheon. In 1714, the now-famous opus 6, 12 Concerti grossi, was published posthumously, including Concerto no. 8, known as the Christmas Night Concerto. Handel's Concerti grossi, Op. 6, published in 1739, are a tribute to what he considered the model of the genre.