Arcangelo Corelli

Available for over a year

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of the Italian violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli. He reveals how Corelli's immense reputation rests on a relatively small collection of six publications, with just a handful of accounts about his brilliant playing. He tells the story of Corelli's first years in Rome, where he begins to find his feet among the musical glitterati in Europe's grandest cultural capital and discovers how, although Corelli had established himself as Rome's hottest musical property, the 'affair of the fifths' threatened to ruin his hard-won reputation. Donald Macleod describes how the composer is taken on by one of Rome's most flamboyant cultural celebrities, the young and extremely wealthy Cardinal Ottoboni, who becomes his lifelong employer and personal friend. Finally, he describes how Corelli planned to crown his stellar career with a final collection of Concerti grossi, but his sudden death led to a battle over the proceeds of this guaranteed bestseller.