Michael De Sapio
Arcangelo Corelli was a giant of the Baroque era of Western music and, though it might be easy to forget today, one of the most historically important and popular composers who ever lived. His “Christmas Concerto” has endured as his most popular work and one of the great classical pieces for the Christmas season.

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
When I was 12 years old, my mother took me to a concert at the Kennedy Center featuring I Musici, the celebrated Italian string orchestra. The program was devoted to Italian Baroque music—the ensemble’s specialty—and the opening work, appropriate for a concert in December, was Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto grosso Opus 6 No. 8, known as the Christmas Concerto. I was then a violin student of some four years, and already loved Baroque music above any other, but nothing prepared me for the opening chord that I Musici played. That G-minor chord—stark and direct yet at the same time plush and velvety, unanimous in attack and blend—was the most electrifying sound I had yet heard in music, and it has stayed with me ever since.
Following this austere introduction was a slow, majestic polyphony of overlapping string entries, gradually unfolding as part of the opening movement of Corelli’s concerto. It is our induction into the awe and mystery of the Nativity. The following sequence of movements—a balanced alternation of slow and fast tempos—culminated in the lovely and gentle Pastorale, evoking the shepherds in Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve.
Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713) was a giant of the Baroque era of Western music and, though it might be easy to forget today, one of the most historically important and popular composers who ever lived. He was a master violinist during the era when the violin was coming into its own as a premier instrument of European music.  » Read More
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2024/12/arcangelo-corelli-christmas-concerto-michael-de-sapio.html