ARCANGELO

CORELLI (1653-1713)  , Italian violin-player and composer, was born on the 12th or 13th of February 1653, at Fusignano near Imola, and died in 1713 . Of his life little is known . His master on the violin was Bassani . Matteo Simonelli, the well-known singer of the pope's chapel, taught him composition . His first decided success was gained in Paris at the age of nineteen . To this he owed his European reputation . From Paris Corelli went to Germany . In 1681 he was in the service of the electoral prince of Bavaria; between 168o and 1685 he spent a considerable time in the house of his friend Farinelli . In 1685 he was certainly in Rome, where he led the festival performances of music for Queen Christine of Sweden and was also a favourite of Cardinal Ottoboni . From 1689 to 1690 he was in Modena, the duke of which city made him handsome presents . In 1708 he went once more to Rome, living in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni . His visit to Naples, at the invitation of the king, took place in the same year .

The

style of execution introduced by Corelli and preserved by his pupils, such as Geminiani, Locatelli, and many others, has been of vital importance for the development of violin-playing, but he employed only a limited portion of his instrument's compass, as may be seen by his writings, wherein the parts for the violin never proceed above D on the first string, the highest note in the third position; it is even said that he refused to play, as impossible, a passage which extended to A in altissimo in the overture to Handel's Trionfo del Tempo, and took serious offence when the composer played the note in evidence of its practicability . His compositions for the instrument mark an epoch in the history of chamber music; for his influence was not confined to his own country . ' Even Sebastian Bach submitted to it . Musical society in Rome owed much to Corelli . He was received in the highest circles of the aristocracy, and arranged and for a long time presided at the celebrated Monday concerts in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni . Corelli died possessed of a sum of 120,000 marks and a valuable collection of pictures, the only luxury in which he had indulged . IIe left both to his benefactor and friend, who, however, generously made over the money to Corelli's relations . Corelli's compositions are distinguished by a beautiful flow of melody and by a masterly treatment of the accompanying parts, which he is justly said to have liberated from the strict rules of counterpoint . Six collections of concerti, sonatas and minor pieces for violin, with accompaniment of other instruments, besides several concerted pieces for strings, are authentically ascribed to this composer . The most important of these is the XII . Suonati a violino e viol one o eimbalo (Rome, 1700) .