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Arcangelo Corelli
February 17, 1653 - January 8, 1713
born in Fusignano, Italy, composed during the Baroque period
Biography
One of the seminal figures of Baroque music, Arcangelo Corelli was the first master of the modern violin, and the predominance of that instrument in the music of the following three centuries is his technical and pedagogical legacy. He managed to extract from it a beauty of tone and singing lyricism that were previously unknown; these qualities brought him international fame, both for his own performances and for those of his many students who began to disseminate his techniques. It would not be an overstatement to say that the fundamentals of modern string playing -- including issues of both bowing and fingering -- descend directly from Corelli.

Though he did not create the concerto grosso form, Corelli wrote the first significant compositions in the genre, laying the foundations for the achievements of Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach a generation later. The same can be said of his trio sonatas and solo violin sonatas, all of which show a greater stability of form and developed sense of harmonic progression than those of his predecessors. These compositions were influential not only because of their innovative use of form, terraced dynamics, and major/minor tonality, but also because they coincided with the flourishing music publishing industry in Italy; Corelli's fame and wealth led to the printing of nearly all of his works during his lifetime, and their wide circulation internationally.