Corelli - Concerto grosso in g minor, Op. 6, No. 8

Concerto grosso in g minor, Op. 6, No. 8
Composer: Arcangelo Corelli
Score (opens to a PDF)

HERE is the link to our full playlist.


HERE is the link to our full playlist.

This is a really fantastic demonstration of how Corelli took the compositional techniques from his chamber and church sonatas and applied them to larger-scale works. You have here just the first movement, but all six are on the playlist.

This was published after Corelli's death but was likely composed in 1690. It is commonly known as the "Christmas Concerto," since Corelli composed it to be played on Christmas night. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't listen to the whole thing. You can hear some of what would influence Vivaldi - and therefore eventually Bach - in the writing. The contrast between the concertino (the group of soloists in a concerto grosso) and the ripieno (the larger instrumental group) in particular are very standard of Baroque concerto grosso style.