where he met again with Lonati. He was paid to compose operas performed at Falcone Theater and music for the local nobility. Murder In 1682 he was stabbed to death at the Piazza Banchi. A nobleman of the Lomellini family hired the killer that put an end to Stradella's life, although the identity of the killer was never discovered. Another report of his murderers states: "Stradella was murdered at Genoa by three brothers of the name of Lomellini, whose sister he had seduced". Stradella was buried in the Santa Maria delle Vigne. Work Stradella was an extremely influential composer at the time, though his fame was eclipsed in the next century by Corelli, Vivaldi and others. Some of his music was exploited by George Frideric Handel, for example in Israel in Egypt. Probably his greatest significance is in originating the concerto grosso: while Corelli in his Op. 6 was the first to publish works under this title, Stradella clearly uses the format earlier in one of his Sonate di viole. Since the two knew each other, a direct influence is likely. Stradella wrote at least six baroque operas including a full-length comic opera Il Trespolo tutore. He also wrote more than 170 cantatas, at least one of which was based on a poem by Sebastiano Baldini, and six oratorios. Stradella composed 27 separate instrumental pieces, most for strings and basso continuo, and typically in the sonata da chiesa format. He wrote two cantatas for the regent of Savoy, Se del pianeta ardente and Sciogliete i dolci nodi. Operas La Laurinda ovvero Il Biante (1672) (incidental music) La Doriclea (1672) Amare e Fingere (1676) La forza dell'amor paterno (1678) Il Trespolo tutore (1679) Le gare dell'amor eroico (1679) Moro per amore (1681) Orazio Cocle Oratorios Santa Editta, vergine e monaca, regina d'Inghilterra (Rome c. 1672–73) Ester liberatrice del popolo ebreo (Rome c 1673) San Giovanni Battista (Rome, 1675) Susanna (Modena, 1681) San Giovanni Chrisostomo Santa Pelagia Serenatas La Circe (1668) La Circe (second version) Il Duello ("Vola, vola, in alti petti") (1674) Lo schiavo liberato (1674) La forza delle stelle or Il Damone ("Or che il mondo ristaura") (1677) Il Barcheggio (1681) Legacy His colorful life and his bloody death ordered by the powerful Lomellini family provided the basis for biographical operas such as Il cantore di Venezia by Virginio Marchi (1835), Stradella by Louis Niedermeyer (Paris, 1837), Stradella by César