For most of this Italian composer's career, time was spent in Rome where he lived independently and was fortunate to compose on commission for Queen Christina of Sweden and the Colonna family. He also wrote prologues and intermezzos for the operas of Cesti and Cavalli until he found his own voice. After a scandal in Rome, 1677, Stradella went to Genoa by way of Venice and Turin. He composed a number of operas and works for the stage as well as masses, oratorios, cantatas, arias, and instrumental works. His only opera that was a comic opera was "Il Trespolo tutore" and featured the first opera with a bass as the comic lead. The opera "Il Corespero" clearly demarcates between the recitative and the aria. In this work Stradella employed the use of a bridge between the two musical types. He was a deft composer who was among the leaders in Italy. His works were admired in England. Composing over thirty stage works, Stradella was also a composer of oratorios such as "S Giovanni Battista" where he employed the use of concerto grosso instrumentation, one of the first composers to do so. It is conjectured that this work, and his instrumental compositions, influenced the writing of Corelli's concertos, opus 6. His twenty seven instrumental works, which are extant, include the "Sonata di viole" which is the earliest work known to use the concerto grosso. Most of these works were "Sonatas da chiesa," that is, one or more melodic instruments, usually of the violin family, with a thoroughbass. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi