Torelli: Concerti musicali, Op. 6

The Concerti musicali of Giuseppe Torelli was published in Augsburg in 1698, while he was concertmaster of the court orchestra of Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, in Ansbach, Germany, the only first edition of Torelli printed outside of Italy. Estienne Roger in Amsterdam printed a pirated edition in the same year. This collection of twelve concerti was one of the earliest collections of solo and ripieno concerti to be published. These concerti exhibit many experimental features of the early baroque concerto, showing the transition from the seventeenth-century contrapuntal trio sonata tradition to the ritornello structure of the mature solo and ripieno concerto. The Concerti musicali demonstrate a truly orchestral conception of composition, and this collection is also one of the earliest publications where the composer clearly specifies and indicates the solo and orchestral sections in his solo concerti.

Clifford Bartlett, Early Music Review, May 2002; Peter Holman, Early Music, 2003; Michael Talbot, Notes, December 2003