![Benedetto Marcello by Vincenzo Roscioni](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Benedetto_Marcello_by_Vincenzo_Roscioni.jpg)
Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.
Life
Born in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, Benedetto Marcello was a member of a noble family and in his compositions he is frequently referred to anonymously as ''Patrizio Veneto'' (Venetian patrician, i.e. aristocrat). Although he was a music student of
Antonio Lotti
Antonio Lotti (5 January 1667 – 5 January 1740) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era.
Biography
Lotti was born in Venice, although his father Matteo was ''Kapellmeister'' at Hanover at the time. Oral tradition says that in 1682, Lotti be ...
and
Francesco Gasparini
Francesco Gasparini (19 March 1661 – 22 March 1727) was an Italian Baroque composer and teacher whose works were performed throughout Italy, and also on occasion in Germany and England.
Biography
Born in Camaiore, near Lucca, he studied in ...
, his father wanted Benedetto to devote himself to law. Benedetto managed to combine a life in law and public service with one in music. In 1711 he was appointed a member of the Council of Forty (in Venice's central government), and in 1730 he went to
Pola Pola or POLA may refer to:
People
*House of Pola, an Italian noble family
*Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress
*Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer
*Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter
*Pola Gojawiczyńska (18 ...
as ''
Provveditore The Italian title ''prov ditore'' (plural ''provveditori''; also known in gr, προνοητής, προβλεπτής; sh, providur), "he who sees to things" (overseer), was the style of various (but not all) local district governors in the exten ...
'' (district governor). Due to his health having been "impaired by the climate" of
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
, Marcello retired after eight years in the capacity of ''Camerlengo'' (
chamberlain
Chamberlain may refer to:
Profession
*Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure
People
*Chamberlain (surname)
**Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
) to
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...
where he died of tuberculosis in 1739.
Benedetto Marcello was the brother of
Alessandro Marcello
Alessandro Ignazio Marcello (; 1 February 1673 – 19 June 1747) was an Italian nobleman and composer.
Biography
Born in Venice, Marcello was the son of a senator, and as a nobleman, enjoyed a comfortable life that gave him the freedom to ...
, also a notable composer. On 20 May 1728 Benedetto Marcello married his singing student
Rosanna Scalfi in a secret ceremony. However, as a nobleman, his marriage to a commoner was unlawful; after his death, the marriage was declared null by the state. Rosanna was unable to inherit his estate, and filed suit in 1742 against Benedetto's brother Alessandro, seeking financial support.
Music
Marcello composed a variety of music including considerable church music,
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s, hundreds of solo
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
s,
duet
A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
s,
sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
s,
concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s and
sinfonia
Sinfonia (; plural ''sinfonie'') is the Italian word for symphony, from the Latin ''symphonia'', in turn derived from Ancient Greek συμφωνία ''symphōnia'' (agreement or concord of sound), from the prefix σύν (together) and ϕωνή (sou ...
s. Marcello was a younger contemporary of
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
in Venice and his instrumental music enjoys a Vivaldian flavor.
As a composer, Marcello was best known in his lifetime and is now still best remembered for his ''Estro poetico-armonico'' (
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, 1724–27), a musical setting for voices,
figured bass
Figured bass is musical notation in which numerals and symbols appear above or below (or next to) a bass note. The numerals and symbols (often accidentals) indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsic ...
(a continuo notation), and occasional solo instruments, of the first fifty Psalms, as paraphrased in Italian by his friend G. Giustiniani. They were much admired by
Charles Avison
Charles Avison (; 16 February 1709 (baptised)9 or 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas's Church (later Newcas ...
, who with
John Garth brought out an edition with English words (London, 1757). ''Estro poetico-armonico'' also represents an important contribution to the history of Jewish liturgical music. Eleven of the Psalms are set to melodies that Marcello apparently transcribed while attending services at several Venetian synagogues. The eleven melodies – six from the
Ashkenazic
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
tradition, and five from the
Sephardic
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
tradition – are among the earliest notated sources of Jewish liturgy, preceded only by
Salamone Rossi
Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi ( he, סלומונה רוסי or שלמה מן האדומים) (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Ita ...
's ''Hashirim Asher L’Shlomo''. Perhaps the best known of these melodies is an Ashkenazic melody for
Ma'oz Tzur
"Ma'oz Tzur" ( he, מָעוֹז צוּר, Māʾōz Ṣūr) is a Jewish liturgical poem or ''piyyut''. It is written in Hebrew, and is sung on the holiday of Hanukkah, after lighting the festival lights. The hymn is named for its Hebrew incipit, w ...
.
The library of the Brussels Conservatoire possesses some interesting volumes of chamber cantatas composed by Marcello for his mistress. Although Benedetto Marcello wrote an opera called ''La Fede riconosciuta'' and produced it in
Vicenza
Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan.
Vicenza is a th ...
in 1702, he had little sympathy with this form of composition, as evidenced in his writings (see below).
Benedetto Marcello's music is "characterized by imagination and a fine technique and includes both counterpoint and progressive, galant features" .
With the poet
Antonio Schinella Conti
Antonio Schinella Conti (1677–1749), also known by his religious title as Abate Conti, was an Italian writer, translator, mathematician, philosopher and physicist. He was born in Padua on 22 January 1677 and died there on 6 April 1749.
Life
In ...
he wrote a series of experimental long cantatas – a duet, ''Il Timoteo'', then five monologues, ''Cantone,'' ''Lucrezia,'' ''Andromaca,'' ''Arianna abandonnata,'' and finally ''Cassandra''.
Writing
Marcello vented his opinions on the state of musical drama at the time in the satirical pamphlet ''
Il teatro alla moda
''Il teatro alla moda'' (The Fashionable Theater) is a satirical pamphlet in which its author, the Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello (1686–1739), vents his critical opinions on the ''milieu'' of the Italian ''opera seria'' in the first deca ...
'', published anonymously in Venice in 1720. This little work, which was frequently reprinted, is not only extremely amusing, but is most valuable as a contribution to the history of opera.
Legacy
The composer
Joachim Raff
Joseph Joachim Raff (27 May 182224 or 25 June 1882) was a German-Swiss composer, pedagogue and pianist.
Biography
Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitme ...
wrote an opera entitled ''Benedetto Marcello'', based loosely on the life of Marcello and Scalfi.
The
Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia
The Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia is a conservatory in Venice, Italy named after composer Benedetto Marcello and established in 1876.
History
The conservatory was established in 1876 as ''Liceo e Società Musicale Benedet ...
was named after him.
A street in Rome, ''Largo Benedetto Marcello'', is named after him.
Works
Vocal music
Oratorios
* ''La Giuditta'' (premiered in Venice 1709?)
* ''Joaz'' (premiered in Venice 1727?, Florence 1729)
* ''Il pianto e il riso delle quattro stagioni dell’anno per la morte, esultazione e coronazione di
Maria Assunta in Cielo'' (premiered in
Macerata
Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564.
History
The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...
1731)
* ''Il trionfo della poesia e della musica nel celebrarsi la morte, e la esultazione, e la incoronazione di Maria sempre Vergine Assunta in Cielo'' (1733, production unknown)
Sacred works
* ''Estro poetico-armonico: parafrasi sopra li primi
secondiventicinque salmi'' (translation: G.A. Giustiniani), 8 volumes (Venice 1724–26)
* 9 Masses for 3–8 voices, including a
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
in G minor
* 30 religious works: 4
Antiphon
An antiphon (Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominently ...
s, 3
Gradual
The gradual ( la, graduale or ) is a chant or hymn in the Mass, the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, and among some other Christians. It gets its name from the Latin (meaning "step") because it was once chanted ...
s, 1 Hymn, 1 setting of the
Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet
''The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet'' have been set by various composers.
Renaissance
England
Thomas Tallis set the first lesson, and second lesson, of Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday between 1560, and 1569: "when the practice of making music ...
(lost), 1 Lesson for the
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
(lost), 2
Magnificat
The Magnificat (Latin for "y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
s for 3–4 voices, 5
Misereres, 8
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s, 3
Offertories, 2
vespers
Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern), Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglican ...
Theater works
* ''La morte d’Adone'' (Serenata, premiered in Venice 1710 or 1729)
* ''La gara amorosa'' (Serenata, premiered in Venice ca. 1710–12?)
* ''Psiché'' (intreccio scenico musicale, Libretto:
Vincenzo Cassani, premiered in Venice 1711/12?)
* ''Spago e Filetta'' (
Intermezzi
In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...
for the tragedy ''Lucio Commodo'', premiered in Venice 1719?)
* ''Le nozze di Giove e Giunone'' (Serenata), 2 versions: ''Nasce per viver'' (premiered in Vienna 1725 for
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
, house = Habsburg
, spouse =
, issue =
, issue-link = #Children
, issue-pipe =
, father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
, mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg
, birth_date ...
), ''Questo é ’l giorno'' (shortened version, premiered in Vienna 1716?)
* ''Calisto in orsa'' (Pastorale, Libretto: Carminati?, premiered in 1725?)
* ''Arianna'' (intreccio scenico musicale, Libretto: Cassani, premiered in Venice ca. 1727)
Other vocal works
*
2''Canzoni madrigalesche et''
''arie per camera'' for 2–4 voices op. 4 (Bologna 1717)
* 380 Cantatas (with Texte often by Marcello himself) for 1 voice and
basso continuo
Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...
, 22 with strings (including ''Carissima figlia'', ''Didone'', ''Gran tiranno è l’amore'', ''Percorelle che pascete'', ''Senza gran pena'')
* 81 duets for 2 voices and basso continuo, 2 with strings (including ''Timoteo'', ''Clori e Daliso'', ''Clori e Tirsi'')
* 7 Trios for 3 voices and basso continuo
* 5
Madrigal
A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number o ...
s for 4–5 voices
Instrumental music
Concerti and sinfonie
* 12 ''Concerti a cinque'' op. 1 (Venice 1708)
* 5 Concerti for violins, strings and basso continuo (D major, D major, D major, E-flat major, F major)
* Concerto in F major for 2 violins, strings and harpsichord (1716/17)
* Concerto in D major for flute, strings and harpsichord
* 7 sinfonias (D major, F major, G major, G major, A major, A major, B-flat major)
Sonatas
* 12 Sonatas for flute and basso continuo op. 2 (Venice 1712); incomplete reprint as op. 1 (London 1732)
* 6 sonatas for cello and basso continuo „op. 1“ (Amsterdam ca. 1732); also as op. 2 (London 1732)
* 6 sonatas for 2 cellos or viole da gamba and basso continuo „op. 2“ (Amsterdam ca. 1734)
* Sonata in G minor for violin and basso continuo
* Sonata in B-flat major for cello and basso continuo
* 4 sonatas for
flautino (soprano recorder) and basso continuo (C major, G major, G major, G minor; authenticity questioned)
Harpsichord works
* 12 sonatas for harpsichord op. 3? (Venice ca. 1712–17)
* 35 sonatas and sonata movements for harpsichord
* 4
minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form that accompa ...
s; Suite with 30 Minuets
Selected publications
* ''Fantasia ditirambiva eroicomica'' (or ''Volo Pindarico'', 1708)
* ''Lettera famigliare d’un accademico filarmonico et arcade'' (1716)
* ''Sonetti: pianger cercai non già dal pianto onore'' (Venice 1718)
* ''Il teatro alla moda'' (Venice 1720)
* ''A. Dio: Sonetti ... con altre rime, d’argomento sacro e morale'' (Venice 1731)
* ''Il divino Verbo fatto Uomo, o sia L’universale redenzione'' (at least 21
Canti
Canti may refer to:
* Canti (poetry collection), an 1835 collection of poems by Giacomo Leopardi
* Canti (surname)
* Canti Lau (born 1964), Hong Kong actor
* Canti, List of FLCL characters#Canti, fictional robot from the Japanese animated series ' ...
)
Selected recordings
*
"Il mio bel foco" (song), with Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano) and Martin Katz (piano), CBS, 1982
* Solo
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
''Cassandra''
Kai Wessel (countertenor)
Kai Wessel (born 1964 in Hamburg) is a German countertenor and teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.
Professional career
Kai Wessel started singing in school choirs and as a boy soprano at the Christus-Kirche of Hamburg-Wandsbek and rec ...
, David Blunden (harpsichord), Aeon Classics 2010.
* Opera ''
Arianna'' Chandos 2000
* Requiem in the Venetian Manner. Academia de li Musici, dir.
Filippo Maria Bressan
Filippo Maria Bressan (born 27 November 1957, in Este) is an Italian conductor.
Training pianist, he studied conducting with several teachers, among whom stand out Jurgen Jürgens, for the choir conducting (of which he later became assistant), ...
,
Chandos 1999
* Sonatas for Harpsichord (premiere recording; 2×CD), (harpsichord), "Reconstruction and critical edition" by
Alessandro Borin, Chandos 2001
Notes
References
* Eleanor Selfridge-Field: ''The Music of Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello. A Thematic Catalogue, with Commentary on the Composers, Repertory and Sources''. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990,
* .
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcello, Benedetto
Musicians from Venice
Italian Baroque composers
Italian opera composers
Male opera composers
18th-century Italian composers
18th-century Italian male musicians
Italian male classical composers
18th-century deaths from tuberculosis
1686 births
1739 deaths
Tuberculosis deaths in Italy
Infectious disease deaths in Lombardy
18th-century Venetian writers
Members of the Academy of Arcadians