Henry Purcell is the first in a distressingly lengthy list of composers whose lives were cut short in their primes. Purcell, arguably the greatest English composer of all-time, was dead by the age of 36, leaving behind a wealth of wonderful compositions. Like Mozart, he died shortly after completing his great funeral mass (Purcell's was … Continue reading Baroque Music IV: Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Category: Baroque Period
Corelli and The Birth of the Orchestra
Corelli’s Opus 6 concerti grossi are his most significant achievement. Although he did not invent the concerto grosso form, Corelli certainly popularized it, paving the way for Vivaldi (The Four Seasons) and Bach (Brandenburg Concertos), two of the high points of Baroque music and among the best-known examples of the concerto grosso form. The Opus … Continue reading Corelli and The Birth of the Orchestra
Corelli and The Circle of Fifths
The Circle of Fifths is one of the great Conversations in music history, endlessly copied and cited by composers over the centuries. As one musicologist observed: “Corelli’s harmonies were the most appreciated quality appreciated by his contemporaries and posterity alike. On the one hand, it is the clarity and regularity of progression, the musical escalator … Continue reading Corelli and The Circle of Fifths
Baroque Music III: Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
History remembers Arcangelo Corelli as the first virtuoso of the violin, a 17th century Paganini: “I never met with any man that suffered his passions to hurry him away so much whilst he was playing on the violin as the famous Arcangelo Corelli, whose eyes will sometimes turn as red as fire; his countenance will … Continue reading Baroque Music III: Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
More Lully: A Brief Coda
Jean-Baptiste Lully composed one of the most performed songs in history. Nearly everyone in the world has heard it. The duties of a court composer were, shall we say, varied—particularly when dealing with that most mercurial of monarchs, Louis XIV. In 1686, the Sun King developed a perianal abscess. Court physicians attempted to treat the … Continue reading More Lully: A Brief Coda
A Gertus History of Music 