Volume 1-Score with realisation of the basso continuo by Tonelli as well as Corelli’s unrealized figured bass line With a separate Urtext violin partWith a separate unrealized figured continuo partIncludes a supplement with violin embellishmentsAppendices in both volumes with source descriptions and critical commentariesPreludes for keyboard instrument by Tonelli in the appendix of volume 2Arcangelo 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 innearly 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.

It was a chance visit to a second hand bookshop in Nottingham that set me on the trail of Rossini's now well-known Duetto for cello and double bass. But the story begins earlier than that. In the 1960s I was studying the double bass at the Royal College of Music with Adrian Beers who was at that time principal of the English Chamber Orchestra on the front desk of the Philharmonia Orchestra and a member of the Melos Ensemble of London (then one of the leading ensembles of the world). I was working on the 'Dragonetti Concerto' as most young players do and I wanted to find out a bit about it. My teacher said he thought the autograph manuscript might be in the British Library which was all the encouragement I needed to secure a pass to the Reading Room so I could go and see for myself. There sure enough I found a large collection of Dragonetti's autograph manuscripts together with other bound volumes relating to his life. The papers had been lovingly collated and annotated by Vincent Novello one of Dragonetti's closest friends then deposited in the library before his departure to Italy in 1848 two years after Dragonetti's death. One of the volumes included a lot of letters about various engagements and music festivals copies of orders for strings Dragonetti wanted from Italy details about paintings he wanted to buy and numerous invitations to private functions. The manuscript of the 'Dragonetti Concerto' of course wasn't among the papers we now know it to have been written by Edouard Nanny a century or so later. One name that came up regularly in the documents was that of Sir George Smart. Smart had been a violinist in Salomon's orchestra and had played for Haydn at his London concerts in the 1790s. As a child he had learnt much about music from his father who had in turn been present at many of Handel's rehearsals when he was preparing some of his major works for the first time. Smart was also a fine keyboard player becoming organist of the Chapel Royal in 1822. As a conductor