The youngest of five children, Corelli is thought to have received his first musical education from a priest in Faenza; but his formative period was to come later, at the age of 13, when he went to Bologna to study the violin. Not only did the city possess one of the largest churches, San Petronio, but it was also a leading centre of the Italian school of chamber music. Young Corelli's appetite for the violin together with Bologna's musical importance would prove an important combination.

At 17 he was admitted to the city's Accademia Filarmonica, and over the next few years he became one of Italy's leading violinists. He performed in churches and theatres all over Rome. This led him to enter the service of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had a home m the city and created her own academy of chamber musicians. Corelli began composing pieces for Christina and dedicated to her his Opus 1 collection of trio sonatas for two violins, cello, and harpsichord. He also worked as the leader of ten violinists in San Luigi in 1682 and went on to make annual visits there for over a quarter of a century.

In 1684 Corelli became a member of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi di Santa Cecilia. His increasing renown led him to play for Cardinal Pamphili, to whom he dedicated his Opus 2 chamber works. Corelli became music master to Cardinal Pamphili in 1687, and took up residence m the Cardinal's palace, where he performed trios with his fellow violinist Matteo Fornari and Spanish-born cellist Giovanni Lorenzo Lulier.

Eventually the Cardinal moved away from Rome, and in 1690 Corelli was adopted by CardinalOttoboni. He now directed regular Monday concerts as well as operatic performances and in 1694 dedicated a set of chamber trios to the Cardinal. After ten years he was appointed leader of the instrumental section of the Congregazione del Virtuosi di Santa Cecilia, and was eventually elected to the Arcadian Academy, an institution for the promotion of music.

His distinguished work brought Corelli into contact with the leading musical figures of the day. He played in Handel's Il trionfo del tempo in 1707 and led performances of that composer's La resurrezione the following spring. A year later he withdrew from public life to concentrate on revisions to his own work. As old age and worsening health intruded, he moved from the Cardinal's palace into his own home in 1712, where he died a year later. He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome close to the artist Raphael.

Corelli declared that the purpose of his music was to display the violin, and this is shown to best effect in his Concerti grossi, Opus 6. These 12 pieces were written over a period of many years and collectedinto a set published the year after Corelli's death. Mainly in three movements, each contrasts a group of solo instruments — two violins and harpsichord - against the rest of the orchestra. Eight of the works are da chiesa, in the church style, and have a serious character. The remaining four are da camera, of a lighter nature. Number 8, the "Christmas concerto", which is intended for performance on Christmas night, has enjoyed particular popularity. The pieces were a milestone in the development of the solo concerto as we know it today.