Arcangelo Corelli Sikna, Chris, Jesus & Noah Block-1

Title: Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 Date finished or premiered: 1714 Period in which it was composed: Baroque

Arcangelo Corelli Born-Died 1. Dates: February 17, 1653 & January Cities Fusignano, Italy & Rome, Italy Nationality: Italian Cities of residence: Fusignano, Italy, Rome, Italy

Summary of personal history and events (parents, family, health, spouse) 1. lived a simple life and his only value was a collection of pictures 2. after his death he left all his savings and pics to his benefactor. Who then gave that to corelli’s relatives. 3. his mother was santa raffini 4. father died 5 weeks before corelli was born. corelli was named after his father. 5. corelli did not marry or have any kids.

Overview of entire musical career—most important benchmarks (education, composition, teaching, etc.) 1. Corelli was taught to play violin by Bassani. 2. Matteo Simonelli, the well-known singer of the pope's chapel, taught him composition 3. Corelli’s style of execution, 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, aa 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 4. Antonio Vivaldi was Corelli’s successor at the palace of cardinal ottoboni. 5. corelli move to germany and served the prince of bavaria(1681)

Composer’s significance Historical significance 1. Corelli made the Concerto Grosso principal popular 2. Corelli was the 1st to organize the basic elements of violin technique 3. In 1685, Corelli led the festival performances to the Swedish queen 4. The Italian king invited him in Naples in He was remembered for his tone quality because it was the best in Europe

Composer’s output 48 trio sonatas 12 violin sonatas 12 continuo sonatas 12 Concerti grossi

Compositional techniques used in THIS PIECE A. Form: Concerto grosso B. Meter(s): ¾, 12/8, 4/4 Tempo (i) Vivace, Grave, Allergro, LArgo C. Key(s): G minor, C minor, G major D. Orchestration/instrumentation: 1-2 solo interments accompanied by an orchestra E. Style/texture: Concerto grosso, solo interments and orchestra, alternate playing

Meaning/ significance of title Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, by Arcangelo Corelli, known commonly as the Christmas Concerto, was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni and published posthumously in 1714 as part of his Twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6. The concerto bears the inscription Fatto per la notte di Natale (“Made for the night of Christmas”). It was composed around 1690, since there is a record of Corelli having that year performed a Christmas concerto for the enjoyment of his then- new patron The concerto is scored for an ensemble consisting of two concertino violins and cello, ripieno strings and continuo. The work is structured as a concerto da chiesa, in this case expanded from a typical four movement structure to six.

Performance difficulties: A. Individual 1. Chris- * the 16th notes in the end of the third section, counting the ties over the measures 2. Jesus-16 th notes 3. Noah-the 6 th movement 4. Sikna- The 6th movement, the 16th notes, and the tempo changes B. Section and/ or Ensemble 1. 2nd violins- mostly the 6 th movement

Illustrate relationships and connect this work or the composer’s output with other artistic or historical events occurring at the same time. 1. The trio sonatas established a style of fluent counterpoint which was taken as a universal model; the violin sonatas educated violinists everywhere in the essential technique of their instrument; the concertos, laid out in a typically Roman style with separate concertino (two violins, cello and continuo) and ripieno (the same, doubled orchestrally, plus violas) 2. The Concerto Grosso form is built on the principle of contrasting two differently sized instrumental groups. In Corelli's, the smaller group consists of two violins and a cello, and the larger of a string orchestra. 3. Although Corelli was not the inventor of the Concerto Grosso principle, it was he who proved the potentialities of the form, popularized it, and wrote the first great music for it. 4. Dynamic markings in all the music of this period were based on the terrace principle; crescendo and diminuendi are unknown, contrasts between forte and piano and between the large and small string groups constituting the dynamic variety of the scores.

5. He made the concerto grosso a “big deal” 6. Corelli served Queen Christina of Sweden in 1679; he also worked for Cardinal Pamphili in Rome and Cardinal Ottobani. In 1682, he was first violinist at the San Luigi dei Francesi orchestra. He was also the music director at the Palazzo Pamphili from 1687 to When he died in 1713, he was buried in the Pantheon at Rome.

1. Corelli's popularity as a violinist was equaled by his acclaim as a composer. His music was performed and honored throughout all Europe; in fact, his was the most popular instrumental music. It is important to note in this regard that a visit of respect to the great Corelli was an important part of the Italian tour of the young Handel. Yet Corelli's compositional output was rather small. All of his creations are included in six opus numbers, most of them being devoted to serious and popular sonatas and trio sonatas. In the Sonatas Opus 5 is found the famous "La Folia" Variations for violin and accompaniment. One of Corelli's famous students, Geminiani, thought so much of the Opus 5 Sonatas that he arranged all the works in that group as Concerti Grossi. However, it is in his own Concerti Grossi Opus 6 that Corelli reached his creative peak and climaxed all his musical contributions.

2. Without Corelli's successful models, it would have been impossible for Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach to have given us their Concerto Grosso masterpieces 3. Corelli's achievements as a teacher were again outstanding. Among his many students were included not only Geminiani but the famed Antonio Vivaldi. It was Vivaldi who became Corelli's successor as a composer of the great Concerti Grossi and who greatly influenced the music of Bach. 4. J.S. Bach studied Corelli's music (making his own arrangements of it), and also had Corelli's music in the Leipzig library from which he conducted performances. J.S. Bach wrote a fugue for organ on a subject of Corelli taken from the second movement of Op. 3 No. 4 of That apart, a general, diffused influence of Corelli is perceptible in his music. A 'walking bass', as used in the B minor Prelude in Part 1 of The Well-tempered Clavier, is a Corellian cliche; another is the half-close in the relative minor introducing, for example, the final movement of the Third Brandenburg Concerto.

5. Corelli died on 8th January 1713, in Rome, about a month before his sixtieth birthday. He left his savings and painting collection to his benefactor who gave the money to Corelli’s relatives. Though a successful composer, Corelli didn’t churn out compositions at a very high rate. His compositional output was quite low and all his compositions are confined in six opus numbers. 6. Owing to the modern objective style of playing, Corelli's music sounds very calm today; however, he was noted for his passionate playing, and one observer said that Corelli was so moved that his "eyeballs rolled." Because of the modern smoothly connected bow strokes, his music sounds organlike; however, North reports that Corelli tried to make his violin "speak" and that he said, "Do you not hear it speak?" To obtain this effect today, it would be necessary to follow the instructions of North, Leopold Mozart, and others, who said that every bow stroke must begin with a small softness. 7. He was also an enormously innovative composer. His emphasis on melody and accompaniment helped to soften stricter aspects of counterpoint. Corelli thereby expanded possibilities within baroque music, and also contributed toward future developments in the classical era. Corelli is particularly associated with the concerto grosso (the “large” concerto), a genre in which musical material is passed between a group of soloists and the orchestra. His fame was such that he was buried in Rome’s Pantheon, an honor shared with the painters Raphael and Carracci, and later with the kings of unified Italy.

Sources: cantatas.com/Lib/Corelli-Arcangelo.htm