Instrumental virtuosity and the new impulses of baroque thought are to be found in the solo sonatas that came into being in Italy from the early decades of the 17th century. Both aspects have been taken into account when selecting pieces for this interesting collected edition of Italian violin music of the baroque era. The first volume concentrates on two groups: on the one hand on Corelli in Rome, Torelli in Bologna and Veracini in Florence; and on the other, on the three famous representatives of the last generation of Italian baroque composers – Geminiani, Tartini and Locatelli – whose sphere of influence extended from Padua via Amsterdam to England. All the works have been edited on the basis of the original sources, and therefore provide, in the tried and tested Urtext manner, a clear view of these baroque treasures. The preface gives explanatory notes on performance practice and basso continuo realization, and a list of variant readings rounds off this well-researched Urtext edition.