The orchestra and its instruments . s born, in 1653, Nicolo Amati had already made agreat number of fine violins and that Stradivari wasworking all through Corellis life and that he outlivedhim. So that the question of violin-playing was thechief one that engaged the attention of the composers ofCorellis time. They were all working on the questionof how to play the new instrument, just as the makershad been, and were still working on the technique ofthe instrument itself. Amati and Stradivari, likethose who had gone before them, were trying for composers were now trying to show off th
The orchestra and its instruments . s born, in 1653, Nicolo Amati had already made agreat number of fine violins and that Stradivari wasworking all through Corellis life and that he outlivedhim. So that the question of violin-playing was thechief one that engaged the attention of the composers ofCorellis time. They were all working on the questionof how to play the new instrument, just as the makershad been, and were still working on the technique ofthe instrument itself. Amati and Stradivari, likethose who had gone before them, were trying for composers were now trying to show off the voice,or tone, of the new instrument to the best advantage. This question is of the greatest importance for us toremember, because the violin is the very foundation ofour modern Orchestra. At first the violin was the prima-donna of the Orches-tra; but eventually the other members of the ViolinFamily — viola, violoncello and double-bass — alsobecame singers. In short, the Violin Family becamethe very backbone of the ARCANGELO CORELLI THE ORCHESTRA 179 Corelli had much to do with making this the case. Before Corelli was born in Fusignano in 1653, theItalian composers, particularly those who were at-tached to the cathedrals and private Orchestras of thewealthy princes and lords of Lombardy — Brescia,Cremona, Mantua and Padua — who were right inthe midst of the activities of violin-making, had beenwriting sonatas, Flowers and dances of all kindsfor the new violin, to be accompanied by the spinet,the organ, or two or three other compositions gradually grew more elaborate asthey discovered the possibilities of the last new modelsent from the work-shop of Gasparo di Salo, Maggini,Amati, or Stradivari. There was a great deal moreItalian music — and good music, too — composed atthat time than most people have any idea of. Arcangelo Corelli studied the violin under GiovanniBattista Bassani, a musician who is almost forgottento-day, but
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmusicalinstruments
