Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto grosso op 6 - 4

In Arcangelo Corelli's time, the life of an independent musician in Rome was no doubt precarious. Musical activity, largely private, was reduced to that which wealthy patrons could finance. But Corelli turned out to be a man of good fortune. From the time he emerged in Bologna at the age of seventeen, the composer always remained under the protection of wealthy and influential patrons. Two cardinals and a queen (Christina of Sweden) watched over him for a lifetime, requesting his music, which they rewarded generously.

The blessed Italian composer is one of those authors whose work, not very extensive, could nevertheless reach great significance and influence in the history of music. During his successful career, he published four collections of trio sonatas and a collection of sonatas for violin and bass. In 1714, a year after his death, an Amsterdam publisher, famous for publishing Handel "under the table", managed to rescue a collection of twelve concertos, some of which he reconstituted on the basis of movements written by Corelli in the recent or distant past. They are his famous Concerti Grossi from Opus 6.

A. Corelli (1653 - 1713)

The baroque concerto grosso
They are supposed to have been composed from 1708 onwards, after the composer, at the age of 55, decided to abandon public performances. They are works written for a small number of "soloist" instruments "accompanied" by a much larger ensemble. It is the baroque concerto grosso. The small group is called concertino and the larger group, ripieno, or tutti. The concertino of the first eleven concertos of the series consists of two violins and a cello. The last of the series features a solo violin as concertmaster, foreshadowing the future "classical" concerto.

Concerto No. 4 in D major, Op 6
Of the twelve concertos of Opus 6, the first eight are recognized as concerti da chiesa (or church concertos). The remaining ones are concerti da camera. The distinction, in the tradition of the sonata da chiesa or da camera, lies in the number of movements they exhibit, generally greater in the concerti da chiesa (four or six). In this case, there are four, in alternating slow-fast sequence.

Movements:
00:00  Adagio - allegro
03:31  Adagio
05:08  Vivace
06:12  Allegro - giga: presto

The performance is by the early music ensemble Voices of Music, featuring period instruments.