It was the "Weihnachtskonzert" (Christmas concerto) in C major that won special popularity continuing a tradition which was cultivated by Corelli with his pastoral at the end of Op. 6 No. 8 or by Torelli in his Op. 8 No. 6 and reaching to the pastoral in Händel's "Messiahs" and to the sinfonia in the second cantata of Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas oratorium. This, finally, originates from the music-making of shepherds - coming from the Abruzzi and from Calabria to Rome at Christmas to play t...