One of the most impressive public festivals in baroque Rome was held in honour of Louis XIV in 1687. To celebrate the King's recovery after the successful operation on his anal fistula, and to establish his prestige as the undisputed protector of the Catholic Church, Cardinal d'Estrées, the French ambassador to the Holy See, organised a grandiose open-air celebration in one of Rome's most famous urban theatres: the Pincio Hill, between the Trinità dei Monti and the Spanish Steps.
On these famous stairs, Corelli's prestigious orchestra in large formation played the Sinfonie per il Re Cristianissimo Lodovico il Grande with trumpets and timpani, accompanied by fireworks staged at the top of the hill. The virtuoso violinist Emmanuel Resche, passionate about Italian baroque music, has reconstructed this extraordinary musical feast, replacing the Cantata in Honour of the King of France composed by Alessandro Melani. Here is a revival of Roman baroque splendour that marked the French Court, but also Handel who must have remembered it for his Music of the Royal Fireworks...