Italian composer, violinist, and founder of the classical technique of violin playing that has survived substantially to our own day.
Background
He was born Feb. 17, 1653, at Fusignano, not far from Bologna. He came from an old and powerful family numbering among its members famous jurists, scholars, and poets, but no musicians. Nevertheless, the young Corelli showed a precocious gift for music, and at the age of thirteen was sent to study the violin at Bologna. His teachers were Giovanni Benvenuti of Bologna and the Venetian Leonardo Brugnoli.
Education
In 1670 he was admitted to the celebrated Accademia Filarmonica (Philharmonic Academy). Thereafter, all trace of him is lost until 1675. There is a legend that about this time Corelli made a voyage to France, where he incurred the enmity of Jean Baptiste Lully; but this story does not stand up under examination.
Career
Corelli was in Rome in 1675, and there his entire career unfolded--a career which early in his life became exceptionally brilliant. He was a frequent visitor at the palace of ex-Queen Christina of Sweden, to whom in 1681 he dedicated his published work and in whose home the first performances of his posthumously published concerti grossi took place. In 1687 he became the music master of Cardinal Panfili; two years later he assumed the same functions for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a great lover of music who developed such an admiration for Corelli that he lodged him in his palace and treated him as a friend rather than as an employee. In 1706 Corelli was admitted to the Academy of the Arcadians, the most exclusive scholarly society in all Italy, at the same time as Bernardo Pasquini and Alessandro Scarlatti. Nevertheless he led a very simple life, often remaining secluded in a small apartment which sheltered his collections of books and paintings. His last years were darkened by the decline of his popularity in favor of competitors who he knew were inferior to him.
Unlike most Italian composers of his time, who wrote music of all kinds abundantly, Corelli published little, and only instrumental music: four collections of trio sonatas for two violins and bass, Op. 1 (1681), 2 (1685), 3 (1689), and 4 (1694); a collection of sonatas for violin and bass, Op. 5 (1700); and a posthumous collection of concerti grossi, Op. 6 (1714). These works, especially the famous Op. 5, have enjoyed great favor; Op. 5 was republished about forty times during the course of the 18th century in Italy, France, Holland, and England. The beauty of Corelli's melodic invention, the finish of his style, and the firmness of his construction have all been found admirable. Indeed, Corelli gave the world the most perfect models of the preclassical sonata and concerto. At the same time, in reaction against the abuses of acrobatic virtuosity which he already saw threatening, he established the bases of a classical technique of violin playing founded upon an imitation of vocal style. Although violin playing had existed in Italy for a century and a half, Corelli is considered the founder of the great Italian school of violin. This school was carried on by his pupils, Lorenzo Somis, Francesco Gasparini, and Francesco Geminiani; by their descendants, Gaetano Pugnani and Giovanni Battista Viotti; and thereafter by the Franco-Belgian modern school, to which all the violinists of the 19th century to some extent contributed.