Italian violinist and composer who became the godfather of the Italian baroque instrumental music and influenced his contemporaries and future generations of composers. His music combined elements of both the music one heard in church and the traditional instrumental music one heard in royal courts. Although we do not know many of his works and we are missing much more about his life, Corelli was widely known during his life and his fame and influence had spread across Europe.
Born in Fusignano, he studied in Bologna, then a great centre of violin playing. In his 20s he settled in Rome where he worked for former Queen Christina of Sweden and gained the support of a number of patrons, thanks to his wide international reputation.
Corelli contributed in music as an exceptional violinist, composer and teacher.
As a violinist, he played an important role in bringing into prominence the violin through his extraordinary skills in this instrument and his very popular concert tours throughout Europe. We could say that Corelli's popularity as a violinist during the 18th century was probably as important as Paganini's popularity during the 19th century. According to various reports, Corelli's quality of tone when he was playing the violin was the "most remarkable in Europe".
As a composer, Corelli was acclaimed throughout Europe and his music was the most popular instrumental music, despite the fact that his music works were limited in number. His total output was contained in just 6 opus works, the most famous and influential of which was the "Concerto Grosso Op 6".
As a teacher, Corelli was an inspiring educator whose style influenced and was preserved by his pupils. It was Antonio Vivaldi, one of Corelli's students that continued his work and later influenced Bach. In a way, the path of all famous Baroque composers lead back to Corelli who was their "iconic point of reference".
