Corelli, Arcangelo - Sonatas for Violin and Basso continuo

Arcangelo Corelli, the violin virtuoso of his time, published his “Sonatas for Violin and Basso continuo opus V” in Rome in 1700. These sonatas are a compendium of violin playing of his time and laid the groundwork for future violin compositions.

Over the years the sonatas have been published in nearly 100 editions, all based on Corelli’s first edition which contains only the solo violin line above an unrealized bass line. Today, the sonatas are well known in numerous modern continuo realizations. However a realization from Corelli’s time by Antonio Tonelli also exists and is presented here for the first time in a modern performing edition. This realization is surprising in that it contains full chords, sometimes played by both hands.

In addition, Bärenreiter’s new scholarly-critical edition includes for the first time many violin embellishments. For the most part they have been found in handwritten documents by Tartini, Geminiani, McGibbon, Dubourg and Roger (from a re-print of the sonatas from c. 1710). These embellishments are presented in a separate booklet which players can place alongside Corelli’s original on the music stand.

Complementing this Urtext edition are a historical introduction, a critical commentary and an appendix containing preludes to the sonatas for keyboard by Tonelli.