Corelli Sheet Music

Corelli Sheet Music and Biography

Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer during the Baroque period.  He was born in Italy on 17 February 1653 – a full generation before Handel and Bach.

We have a number of arrangements of his Trio Sonata and his Giga from Sonata in D minor, Op. 5

A trio sonata is written for three solo instruments.  Corelli wrote Opus 1 (1681), Opus 2 (1685), Opus 3 (1689)  & Opus 4 (1694).  His works served as models for future composers including Bach and Handel.

Although he didn’t create the concerto grosso principle Corelli was the composer that brought it to the forefront and made it popular.  For those of you like myself who are not familiar with the term concerto grosso it is used when a small group of soloists play alongside a full orchestra.

Works

Interestingly Corelli rarely went above D on the highest string, on the odd occasion stretching to E. … the story goes that he refused to play a passage that extended to A in altissimo in the overture to Handel’s oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth (premiered in 1708), and felt seriously offended when the composer (32 years his junior) played the note!

This is a clip from YouTube of Corelli’s Sonata in D Minor Op.5.

Death

Arcangelo died a very rich man in Rome on 18th January 1713 at the age of fifty-nine. His only indulgences had been valuable art and fine violins. He never married or had any children.

Corelli Sheet Music Downloads and Further Reading

We currently have fifteen arrangements of Arcangelo Corelli sheet music in PDF format for you to download.

For further information take a look at Wikipedia and Britannica.