Violin Advocate: Arcangelo Corelli Stretched the Boundaries of Composition and Technique as String Making Changed

By Sarah Freiberg | From the July-August 2024 issue of Strings Magazine

Nowadays, string players tend to think of Arcangelo Corelli as the composer of several lovely Baroque-era works, particularly those featuring the violin, his own instrument. But in his time, Corelli’s compositions were revolutionary, as was his playing, and the ramifications of his musical innovations are still felt today.

Corelli was born in 1653, a month after his father, also Arcangelo, had passed away. Not much is known of his childhood—he had older siblings and lived with his widowed mother in the small town of Fusignano in the province of Ravenna, Italy. His ancestors had been landowners there for more than a century. As his musical interests developed, Corelli traveled farther and farther afield from his hometown, settling in the rich cultural center of Bologna in 1666. Four years later, at the age of 17, Corelli was admitted to the new Academia di Filarmonica di Bologna, a music academy that is still extant. It must have been an exciting time to be a string player there, as there was a revolution in string making—experimentation with winding the usual pure gut strings with metal resulting in thinner strings with quicker response—which certainly must have influenced the accompanying bass instrument lines in Corelli’s music.

By 1675, Corelli had moved to Rome, where he would remain the rest of his life. There have long been rumors that he traveled elsewhere in Europe, but they remain unsubstantiated. His Opus 1, a set of 12 trio sonatas for two violins and continuo, dates from 1681—four years before the births of Bach and Handel. Published in Rome, these works were dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden, who often resided there.

Corelli quickly moved up in the ranks of performers and soon became first violinist of the San Luigi dei Francesi orchestra, and then music director at the Palazzo Pamphili, where he also took on conducting responsibilities. As such, he insisted that players follow the same bowings—which made for unanimity within sections, which had not previously been the norm. This was undoubtedly useful when he led an orchestra of 150 string players and 100 singers in performances of masses for Queen Christina, who had been ill. Sadly, she died a month later. Corelli was then employed by Cardinal Pamphili—working as performer as well as musical contractor. Popular Sunday performances at the cardinal’s palace may well have inspired Corelli’s Opus 2 chamber trios. Corelli’s final post, from 1689 until his death, in the employ of Cardinal Pietro Ottobonim, was by all accounts a very happy situation. During this time, he composed two more sets of trio sonatas, his seminal Opus 5 violin sonatas, and polished the popular Concerti Grossi.

Corelli was elected a member of the Arcadian Academy of Rome in 1706, a high honor. Two years later, he retreated from performance, spending the rest of his time composing and revising earlier works. Having wealthy patrons allowed him a freedom most musicians only dreamed of. He was received in high circles and amassed a fortune, collecting art and violins. After a period of ill health, Corelli died in January of 1713. For several years thereafter, the anniversary of his death was marked by performances of his works at the Pantheon, where he is buried.

Corelli’s fame as a violinist was widespread, and his lyrical, expressive sound was said to be second to none. Within a limited two-and-a-half octave range—not reaching beyond third position—Corelli explored a stunning variety of techniques, including double-stops, arpeggios, and bariolage bowings. Students flocked from all over Europe to work with him—many of them also became great performers, including Pietro Castrucci and Geminiani, who both found fortune in London. These students brought their teacher’s technique with them, helping to spread his music and ideas far from his Roman home.

Corelli’s influence as composer was also astoundingly far reaching. His works benefited immensely from the expansion of musical publishing at the turn of the 18th century but have been reprinted frequently since then. He made great use of rich dissonances, moving from one right to another; explored dynamic contrasts; and is credited with solidifying the major/minor tonal system. Many subsequent composers copied, arranged, rewrote, and expanded on Corelli’s pieces, including Geminiani, who arranged his teacher’s Opus 5 violin sonatas as orchestral works.

Though Corelli undoubtedly wrote many more works, his published output consists only of four sets of trio sonatas, one of violin sonatas, and one group of concertos, in which a small group of soloists is contrasted with a larger orchestral group, called concerti grossi. 

All of Corelli’s trio sonatas are written for two solo violin parts with an accompanying bass line played by a bowed string part—Corelli called for “violone” (some sort of bass violin). Instrument sizes varied greatly in the 17th century, and with the advent of wound strings, sizes of large stringed ones varied even more, so no one is exactly sure what instrument Corelli intended. Later, and in other countries, the cello took over the role. Normally there would also be a chordal instrument, which in Rome would likely have been a lute, but later, organ or harpsichord became common. 

Corelli worried that his first published works wouldn’t be well received, but he needn’t have, as they were soon reissued as far away as Antwerp, London, and Amsterdam. These twelve Sonate a trè, as he called them, are often referred to as church sonatas, or sonata da chiesa, because they would have been properly suitable for a church service. They followed a four-movement format in a slow/fast/slow/fast sequence, with fugal writing in the fast movements. His Opus 3 sonatas are also da chiesa. The four-movement slow/fast/slow/fast sequence came to be expected later in the Baroque era, thanks in large part to Corelli’s influence. The Opus 2 and Opus 4 sonatas are chamber sonatas, or sonate da camera, which are in the form of Suites, with more boisterous movements based on dances, to be performed in secular settings.

Corelli’s Opus 5, published on January 1, 1700, are works for solo violin with accompaniment—there are six da chiesa sonatas and six da camera ones in the set. These works are remarkable for their both beautiful and challenging writing—and have never been out of print! There are interesting early editions with richly embellished slow movements; some of the ornaments were purportedly written-down versions of what Corelli himself played. The final sonata ends with a famous set of variations on the “Folia” theme, which means folly or madness, and which possibly hails from 15th century Spain. Certainly, the frenzied conclusion deserves that moniker.

Although he likely composed the 12 concerti grossi decades earlier, Corelli continued to revise his Opus 6 up until his death. Some of the earliest works contrasting a solo group (the concertino) with a full orchestra (the ripieno), they are also some of the best and the best known. Particularly famous is No. 8 in G minor, the Christmas Concerto, which concludes with a pastorale. They inspired Handel’s own Opus 6 collection and led to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bach’s Brandenburg concerti. In Germany, Bach studied Corelli’s works and based an organ fugue on a movement of Corelli’s Opus 3. In France, François Couperin composed his own trio sonata, The Apotheosis of Corelli,as a tribute to the great Italian composer—imagining Corelli’s ascent to Parnassus to take his seat with the gods.

Corelli’s influence and importance are still felt today. As Aisslinn Nosky, concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society, puts it: “Corelli writes all the things that sound good on the violin. The virtuosic bits and the melodic bits are flattering to the performer. I always feel like we are on the same team. He wants me to do well and wrote music to help that happen. I have never programmed a concert of Italian Baroque music without including a piece by Corelli.”