Corelli's Christmas Concerto - String Quartet

Arcangelo Corelli’s Op 6 No 8 “Christmas Concerto” was scored for 3 solo strings, an accompanying string ensemble in 4 parts and a keyboard continuo.

The three solo parts together with the ensemble viola part make a wonderful concert item for string quartet, and the wonderful use of suspensions makes an almost choral sound that an audience will love.

I have based my arrangement on the Public Domain Augener edition, blending the ensemble viola part into the solo forces, and re-allocating just a few notes here and there to produce a more involving viola part.

The Augener score has very patchy dynamics which ultimately aren’t helpful in producing a concert item. Similarly the articulation markings are not at all systematic.

There are some excellent recordings of this concerto that will give you lots of ideas on dynamics, and also show you that there is no one perfect set of markings - the concerto is yours to shape as you wish!

• I've also arranged the Concerto to suit an intermediate guitar trio - read more here...

Click see/hear/buy (on the right)Tap see/hear/buy below for sample score & audio