Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 by

Arcangelo Corelli Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of ...

, known commonly as the ''Christmas Concerto'', was commissioned by Cardinal

Pietro Ottoboni Pope Alexander VIII ( it, Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the las ...

and published posthumously in 1714 as part of Corelli's '' Twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6''. The concerto bears the inscription ' (made for the night of Christmas). Its composition date is uncertain, but there is a record of Corelli having performed a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

concerto in 1690 for the enjoyment of his new patron. The concerto is scored for an ensemble consisting of two concertino

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

ripieno The ripieno (, Italian for "stuffing" or "padding") is the bulk of instrumental parts of a musical ensemble who do not play as soloists, especially in Baroque music. These are the players who would play in sections marked ''tutti'', as opposed to s ...

strings and continuo. The work is structured as a ''concerto

da chiesa Sonata da chiesa (Italian: "church sonata") is a 17th-century genre of musical composition for one or more melody instruments and is regarded an antecedent of later forms of 18th century instrumental music. It generally comprises four movements, t ...

'', in this case expanded from a typical four movement structure to six: Each relatively short movement provides multiple tempi and a range of major and minor

suspensions In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid that contains solid particles sufficiently large for sedimentation. The particles may be visible to the naked eye, usually must be larger than one micrometer, and will eventually ...

. The concerto is generally no longer than fifteen minutes, ending with Corelli's famous ''Pastorale ad libitum'', a peaceful finale in the

pastorale Pastorale refers to something of a pastoral nature in music, whether in form or in mood. In Baroque music, a pastorale is a movement of a melody in thirds over a drone bass, recalling the Christmas music of ''pifferari'', players of the traditi ...

form.

References

* ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' by Michael Kennedy, 1994,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. * ''Outlines of Music History'' by Clarence Grant Hamilton, 1924,

Oliver Ditson Oliver Ditson (October 20, 1811 – December 21, 1888) was an American businessman and founder of Oliver Ditson and Company, one of the major music publishing houses of the late 19th century. Early life and career Oliver Ditson was born in Bos ...

Company.

External links

* * * Free typese
sheet music
from ''Cantorion.org'' (this is an arrangement for string quartet, not the original) *, Liverpool String Quartet * {{Authority control Compositions by Arcangelo Corelli Christmas music 1690 compositions Compositions in G minor