Release Date: 10 January 2004
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313216529
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: CORELLI
Description
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)Violin Sonatas, Op.5, Nos.1 - 6Arcangelo Corelli was born at Fusignano in 1653into a family that had enjoyed considerable prosperitysince the fifteenth century. Legend even suggesteddescent from the Roman general Coriolanus, and furtherimprobable anecdotes surround a childhood duringwhich he seems to have taken music lessons from apriest at Faenza, continued at Lugo, before, about theyear 1670, moving to the famous musical centre ofBologna, where he was able to study the violin underteachers of the greatest distinction, their precise identitysubject to various conjectures. The basilica of SanPetronio in Bologna boasted a musical establishment ofconsiderable prestige under Maurizio Cazzati, withsome 33 musicians. In addition the city had been thehome of a number of learned academies since the middleof the sixteenth century, largely replaced in 1666 by theAccademia Filarmonica, an association that came toexercise wide influence.By 1675 Corelli was in Rome, his presence recordedin various lists of violinists employed in theperformance of oratorios and in the annual feast ofSt Louis of France. Stories of an earlier visit by Corellito France and of the jealousy of Lully are generallyconsidered apocryphal. In Rome, however, Corelli'scareer is well enough documented. He served as achamber musician to Queen Christina of Sweden, atleast intermittently, until her death in 1689, and in 1687directed a large body of musicians, with 150 stringplayers and a hundred singers, in a concert in honour ofthe ambassador of King James II, Lord Castlemaine,entrusted with negotiations for the return of England tothe Catholic faith. At the same time he received evenmore significant patronage from Benedetto Pamphili,great-nephew of Pope Innocent X, created Cardinal in1681, and an exact contemporary of the composer. In1687 Corelli became maestro di musica to the Cardinaland took up residence in his Palazzo on the Corso, wherehis pupil, the violinist Matteo Fornari, was employed,and the Spanish cellist Lulier, his colleagues in manyperformances. While normally responsible for anorchestra of some ten players, there were occasionswhen very large groups of musicians were assembled.In 1690 Cardinal Pamphili was appointed papallegate to Bologna and Corelli moved to the Palazzo dellaCancelleria, the residence of the newly created CardinalPietro Ottoboni, the gifted young great-nephew of PopeAlexander VIII who had succeded to the papacy in 1689.Cardinal Ottoboni remained Corelli's patron until thelatter's death early in 1713, thereafter behaving withgreat generosity to Corelli's heirs. In Rome Corelli washeld in great respect as a violinist and as a composer,although stories of less satisfactory performances duringa visit to Naples, where he was seemingly defeated bythe violin-writing of his colleague Alessandro Scarlatti,and of his declared inability to cope with the allegedlyFrench style of the young Handel, suggest, at least, somelimitations. At his
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Concerto Campestre/Castro
Carreras:Caballe:Alcantara
Buffalo Po/Falletta
