Visiting nobility from other parts of Europe were so impressed by the disciplined orchestral sounds of Lully's 'Petite Bands' at the court of Louis XIV that they were inspired to imitate this set-up in their own musical establishments and at the same time they imported quantities of French orchestral material.

The number of string players was increased (for it was still the violin family that dominated the instrumental scene) and demand grew for orchestral music. 

The most popular genre that was to emerge and sweep through Italy and Germany at the turn of the century was the Concerto Grosso.

Although Corelli's Op.6 set of concerti grossi was not published until 1714, they date from a much earlier period. The German composer Georg Muffat wrote of hearing performances in Rome in 1682, and this evidence pinpoints them as being among the earliest examples of the form. 

Although the term Concerto Grosso' had occurred in other contemporary contexts, it was in Corelli’s Op.6 that the form and instrumental forces became fixed - two solo violins, one cello and keyboard continuo, the concertino, the four-part string orchestra (and also keyboard continuo)* and the ripieno.

What Corelli had done, in fact, was to take the instrumental set-up of the Trio Sonata and augment this with a larger body of strings, so furnishing him with unlimited opportunities for dynamic and textural contrast. 

It is the dynamic contrast that he exploits most, with constant ‘f'’and ‘p’ alternations, as concertino echoes ripieno and so on; the opening four bars of extract 17 illustrate this effect where concertino and ripeno alternate in one-bar statements.

Also typical is the use or the ripieno group to reinforce cadences - most striking in this example after the double bar. It will be noted, however, that there is no thematic contrast between solo and tutti material, nor are the solo parts technically more demanding than their tutti counterparts, both features which were later to become such an integral part of concerto form. 

The two solo violins in this extract follow each other around in interweaving, canonic lines, and play a game of musical leap-frog in the many sequential passages, so producing strings of suspensions between the two parts (bars 8-11 and bars13-18). The concentino cello, meanwhile, scurries along in quavers, a typical Corellian 'running bass', and the quaver figurations clearly spelling out the purposeful harmonic progressions.

It is this relentless harmonic drive that is the significant hallmark of Corelli’s style. Both melodic line and contrapuntal textures are now governed by the all-important, fast-moving harmonic progressions that establish a real sense of tonality, in its modern sense. 

Compare the harmonic language of this extract with that of extract 15 - the latter 'wanders' in and around G minor, whereas the former displays a strong sense of purpose as it uses sequence with confidence and modulates decisively to a variety of related keys (marked on score) .

In expanding the Trio Sonata format into Concerto Grosso, Corelli retained the da chiesa and da camera distinctions (Bars 1-8 of 0p.6 are da chiesa and bars 9-10 da camera) and kept generally to the four or five movement pattern and dance based binary forms., as can be seen in this movement. The first half of this Allegro stays close to G minor or its relative major (B flat), ending on an imperfect cadence in the tonic. The second half moves further afield until a reappearance of the long descending sequence that ended the first half rounds off the movement with a satisfactory sense of unity and integration.