Violonist and composer Prospero Castrucci was born in 1690 in Rome. Details of his early life are scarce, but his father was a violinist in the employment of Francesco, Marchese Ruspoli, during Handel’s periodic visits to Rome. Together with his elder brother Pietro, he was a pupil of Archangelo Corelli.
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, another Corelli pupil and an English patron of Handel, took the brothers to London. From their arrival in May 1715 until 1721 or later, they resided at his home in Piccadilly. Prospero was employed as a violinist in Handel’s Opera Orchestra. Less famous than his elder brother, he published a collection of six sonatas in 1739. Prospero died in London in 1760.