Arcangelo Corelli

"Corelli" redirects here. For other uses, see Corelli (disambiguation).

Portrait of Arcangelo Corelli by the Irish painter Hugh Howard (1697)

Arcangelo Corelli (/kəˈrɛli/,[1][2] also UK: /kɒˈ-/,[3] US: /kɔːˈ-, koʊˈ-/,[3][4] Italian: [arˈkandʒelo koˈrɛlli]; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713)[5] was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of the violin, and as the first coalescing of modern tonality and functional harmony.[6]

He was trained in Bologna and Rome and spent most of his career there with the protection of wealthy patrons.[7] Though his entire production is limited to just six published collections – five of which are trio sonatas or solo and one of concerti grossi — he achieved great fame and success throughout Europe, in the process crystallizing widely influential musical models.[8][9]

His writing was admired for its balance, refinement, sumptuous and original harmonies, for the richness of the textures, for the majestic effect of the theatricality and for its clear, expressive and melodious polyphony, a perfect quality of classical ideals, although belonging to the baroque epoch and often employing resources typical of this school, such as the exploration of dynamic and expressive contrasts, but always tempered by a great sense of moderation.[10][11][12] He was the first to fully apply, with an expressive and structuring purpose, the new tonal system, consolidated after at least two hundred years of experimentation.[6] As a virtuoso violinist he was considered one of the greatest of his generation and contributed, thanks to the development of modern playing techniques and to his many disciples scattered throughout Europe, to place the violin among the most prestigious solo instruments and was also a significant figure in the evolution of the traditional orchestra.[13][14][11][15][16]

A dominant figure in Roman musical life and internationally highly regarded,[17] he was desired by many courts and was included in the most prestigious artistic and intellectual society of his time, the Pontifical Academy of Arcadia. He was known in his time as "the new Orpheus",[7] "the prince of musicians" and other similar adjectives, great folklore was generated around his figure and his fame did not diminish after his death.[9][18] Even today his work is the subject of a voluminous critical bibliography and his sonatas are still widely used in musical academies as didactic material as well as pieces capable of affirming themselves in today's concert repertoire.[12] His position in the history of Western music is considered crucial, being recognized as one of the greatest masters at the turn of the 17th and 18th century, as well as one of the earliest and greatest classicists.[7][19][17][11][13][20]

  1. ^ "Corelli, Arcangelo". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Corelli". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Corelli". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Corelli". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Buscaroli1983 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Taruskin, Richard. Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 2, chapter 5 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  7. ^ a b c Buscaroli, Piero Arcangelo Corelli, Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 29. Treccani, 1983
  8. ^ Barnett, Gregory. "Form and gesture: canzona, sonata and concerto”. In: Carter, Tim & Butt, John (eds.). The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 479–516
  9. ^ a b Bowring, Lynette. "The coming over of the works of the great Corelli: The influence of the Italian violin repertoire in London 1675–1705". In: Wainwright, Jonathan; Knowles, Joseph; Cheetham, Andrew (eds.). Reappraising the Seicento: Composition, Dissemination, Assimilation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, pp. 189–190
  10. ^ Boyd, Malcolm. "Rome: the Power of Patronage". In: Buelow, George J. (ed.). The Late Baroque Era: Vol 4. From The 1680s To 1740. Springer, 2016
  11. ^ a b c Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press, 2009
  12. ^ a b Burdette, Glenn. "Corelli, Arcangelo 1653–1713". In: Steib, Murray (ed.). Reader's Guide to Music: History, Theory and Criticism. Routledge, 2013
  13. ^ a b Buelow, George J. A history of baroque music. Indiana University Press, 2004, pp. 115–133
  14. ^ Spitzer, John & Zaslaw, Neal. The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an Institution, 1650–1815. Oxford University Press, 2004
  15. ^ Burkhart, Charles & Rothstein, William. Anthology for Musical Analysis: The Common-Practice Period. Cengage Learning, 2014, p. 12
  16. ^ Hann, Hanna C. [Ehle, Robert. (or.)]. "The Influence of Historic Violin Treatises on Modern Teaching and Performance Practices" Arquivado em 15 de setembro de 2016, no Wayback Machine.. In: University of Northern Colorado Undergraduate Research Journal, 2015; 4 (3)
  17. ^ a b Boyd, Malcolm. "Rome: the Power of Patronage". In: Buelow, George J. (ed.). The Late Baroque Era: Vol 4. From The 1680s To 1740. Springer, 2016, pp. 52–53
  18. ^ Rose, Stephen. "Music in the market-place". In: Carter, Tim & Butt, John (eds.). The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music. Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 64
  19. ^ Hindley Geofrey (ed.). The Larousse Encyclopedia of Music. Hamlyn Publishing, 1971–1990, pp. 204–205
  20. ^ Zaslaw, Neal. "Ornaments for Corelli's Violin Sonatas, op. 5". In: Early Music, 1996; 24 (1):95–116. Series Music in Purcell's London II