Before arriving in Spain, Francisco Corselli had developed an important career as opera composer and sacred music when he arrived in Spain in 1733 from Parma thanks to his previous relations with Isabella de Farnese, the future queen of Spain, and with the ducal house of Parma. At the Madrid court, he began his career as ‘maestro de música’ for members of the Spanish royal household, a role that catapulted him to perform an extensive chapel ministry over a period of forty long years that enabled him to become one of the most influential composers in 18th-century musical Spain. It is worth highlighting his decisive role in the modernisation of the institution, incorporating new instruments and sonorities that represent the transition from the late Baroque style to early Classicism in the Royal Chapel. At the same time, his concern for the reorganisation of the palace musical archives was essential for the preservation of musical sources. No less important was the creation of a vast liturgical legacy that consolidated a typically eighteenth-century orchestra at the Royal Chapel, based on four-part strings, oboes-flutes, bassoon and horns.) Equally important was his participation in Madrid’s stage life, starring in operatic titles of great importance or collaborating in some of the main palace festivities. Despite the historical weight of his artistic personality and the prestige he enjoyed during his lifetime, and despite the influence he exerted after his death, his musical output has been somewhat forgotten since the 19th century, and it is necessary to study and recover his magnificent musical work.
