The appointment in 1689 of Pietro Ottoboni as Cardinal of San Lorenzo in Damaso marked the beginning of one of the most splendid epochs of patronage of the arts in Rome. A passionate lover of music, Ottoboni gave his protection to numerous musicians: Handel, Pasquini, Scarlatti and Caldara all at some point worked at the cardinal’s court.

A few months after his election, Ottoboni took into his service the famous violinist Arcangelo Corelli, who was employed not only as first violin and leader of the instrumental music, but also given complete control over the sumptuous musical events.

It was his Op.4, the final collection of trio sonatas, that Corelli presented in 1694 as the expression of gratitude for the protection he had received from Cardinal Ottoboni. This set of twelve sonatas constituted the culmination of a symmetrical production that alternated collections of church (Op.1 and 3) and chamber sonatas (Op.2 and 4) and helped to establish Corelli’s music as models in the definition of these two genres.

In a recording made in June 2012 in Solomeo, Umbria, Enrico Gatti infuses these works with particular elegance and lightness, his Ensemble Aurora creating a reading of the highest order, which any admirer of the best of Baroque Italian music will wish to return to, again and again.