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

Arcangelo Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...

, known commonly as his Christmas Concerto, was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni and published posthumously in 1714 as part of his Twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6. The concerto bears the inscription Fatto per la notte di Natale ("Made for the night of Christmas"). It was composed around 1690

1690 in music

-Events:*Invention of the clarinet.*Georg Muffat becomes kapellmeister to the Bishop of Passau.-Opera:*Giuseppe Boniventi – *Marc-Antoine Charpentier – *Alessandro Scarlatti – -Theoretical writings:...

, since there is a record of Corelli having that year performed a Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

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

Concertino (group)

A concertino is the smaller group of instruments in a concerto grosso. This is opposed to the ripieno which is the larger group contrasting with the concertino....

 violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

s and cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, ripieno

Ripieno

Ripieno or tutti can refer to:*the larger of the two ensembles in the concerto grosso. This is opposed to the concertino which are the soloists.*the notes added when realizing the figured bass of a basso continuo....

 strings and continuo. The work is structured as a concerto da chiesa

Sonata da chiesa

Sonata da chiesa is an instrumental composition dating from the Baroque period, generally consisting of four movements. More than one melody was often used, and the movements were ordered slow–fast–slow–fast with respect to tempo...

, in this case expanded from a typical four movement

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

 structure to six.
Movements:

1. Vivace, 3/4
   Time signature
   The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
   
    – Grave. Arcate, sostenuto e come stà, 4/2
2. Allegro, common time
3. Adagio – Allegro – Adagio, common time, E-flat major
4. Vivace, 3/4
5. Allegro, cut time
6. Largo. Pastorale ad libitum, 12/8, G major
   G major
   G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
   
   

Each relatively short movement provides multiple tempi

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 and a range of major and minor suspensions. The concerto is generally no longer than fifteen minutes, ending with Corelli's famous Pastorale ad libitum, a peaceful 12/8 finale in the pastorale

Pastorale

For Beethoven's Pastoral symphony, see Symphony No. 6 Pastorale refers to something of a pastoral nature in music, whether in form or in mood....

form.

External links

• Free typeset sheet music from Cantorion.org (this is an arrangement for string quartet, not the original)