Archangelo Corelli was the one who helped create and popularize the sonata and and concerto, and today's selection is one of his most famous concertos. Born on this day in 1653 in the Papal States, he had a long career in Rome and directly influenced both J.S. Bach and George Frederick Handel. He was so famous that people from later ages made up anecdotes about him: for example, Rousseau told how Corelli went to Paris as a young man but was chased off by Louis XIV's court composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully. Rousseau seems to have thought that this demonstrated the corruption of society, although there seems to be no evidence that Corelli ever went to France.
I have heard of him, but knew nothing about him. I have said it before, but where are the Corellis in today's music?
ReplyDeleteCorelli is one of the composers whose music Patrick O'Brien's characters, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, play in the Master and Commander series novels. Great reading.
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