CORELLI, ARCA'NGELO, musical composer, on whom his coun trymen bestowed the cognomen of Il Divine,' was born at Fusignauo, in the Bolognese territory, in 1653. Adami says that his instructor in counterpoint was Simonelli ; and it appears pretty certain that his master for the violin, the instrument of his early adoption, and which be never abandoned, was Giambattista Bassani of Bologna. It is state 1 that Corelli went in 1672 to Paris, but that through the jealousy of Lully he was soon obliged to quit that city. In 1630 Corelli Germany, where he received extraordinary honours, not only from the public, but from sovereign princes, among whom the elector of Bavaria distinguished himself by the hospitable manner in which he treated the great musical genius. Corelli returned to Rome at the expiration of about two years, and published his first. set of 'Twelve Sonatas for two Violins and a Ba.so,' in 1683. A second series appeared in 1685, eutitled 'Balletti da Camera.' These were succeeded in 1690 by a third set; and the fourth was published in 1691. His admirable sonatas for violin and base, or harpsichord, in which all violinists are early initiated, were printed, with a dedication to the electress of Brandenburg, in 1700. When James 11. sent, in 1636, the Earl of Castlemaine as ambassador to the pope, Christina of Sweden, then at Rome, celebrated the event by having an opera written, composed, and performed, in the holy city. The band employed on this occasion consisted of 150 stringed instruments, a prodigious and unprecedented force for those days, and Corelli was chosen as leader, which duty he performed in so satisfactory a manner, that the Italian opera in Rome was placed under his direction chiefly, and in 1700 had arrived at a degree of excellence which it had never before attained in the capital of Italy. He now gained the friendship of the well-known patron of art, the Cardinal Ottoboni, at one of whose ' Accademie' he met Handel, then travelling in Italy. A6 a mark of attention to the great German composer, the cardinal had the serenata, Triode del Tempo e della Verith' (afterwards altered into ' The Triumph of Time and Truth') performed, the overture to which being in a style quite new to Corelli, he led it in a manner that displeased the irascible composer, who rudely snatched the violin from the hands of the gentle Italian.
Corelli no farther resented this indignity than by calmly observing, "My dear Saxon, this music is in the French style, which I do not understand." Some satire was half concealed in this remark, for Handel at that time certainly imitated Lully's :overtures, and the inuendo, which was a lenient punishment for conduct so violent, could not have been misunderstood by him. Corolli however, though an exquisite performer in regard to expression and taste, had devoted more of his attention to those high qualities which ought to be consi dered paramount to all others, than to what is commonly understood by the term execution ; he consequently was sometimes embarrassed by having music, placed before him which at first sight he could not easily master, and was abashed on finding that musicians infinitely inferior to himself could play it without preparation or he.itation. It was at Naples that he met with some mortifieatione of the kind alluded to, which prompted him to quit abruptly, and somewhat chagrined, that city, to which be had been very warmly invited, and where it was intended that he should be received with every mark of distinction.
Corelli's greatest work, his ' Concerti Grose,' or Twelve Concertos, was written many years before it appeared in print. The Concerti were engraved in score at Amsterdam, and published in December 1712, six weeks only before their author breathed his last, an event which took place on the 18th of January 1713. He was buried in the church of Sinta Maria della Rotunda (the ancient Pantheon), where a monument, with a marble bust, is erected to his memory, near that of the greatest of painters, Raffaelle. On the pedestal is a Latin Inscription by the Cardinal Ottoboni, which records in simple and elegant terms the merits of the composer and the friendship of the writer.
Corelli's beat works are imperishable. Rousseau has said that he who without tears can listen to Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater,' may feel assured that he has nu genius for music. We will also risk an assertion —that those who can without admiration hear the eighth concerto of Corelli, as it used to be performed at the Ancient Concert, though they may be able to boast great powers of execution as instru mentalists or vocalists, can have no conception of the higher beauties of composition—can possess no soul for pure harmony.