Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)
- Concerto (Re maggiore). | co V.|n|o conc: VV.|n|i Viola e Basso. | 5 St.[immen] (c.1716)
Performers: Carrol Glenn (1918-1983, violin); Austrian Tonkuenstler Orchestra; Lee Schaenen (1925-1993, conductor)
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Italian composer and writer. Scion of one of the lesser aristocratic
families of Venice, he was admitted to the Maggior Consiglio (Great
Council) of the Most Serene Republic on 4 December 1706 and, thereafter,
fulfilled the political duties expected of a Venetian noble, serving in
various magistracies, as governor of Pola in Istria (1730-1733), and
ending his life as financial chamberlain (from 1738) in Brescia (then
part of the Republic of Venice). At the same time, he carried out a
remarkable career as a composer, music teacher, and critic. In 1728 he
married the commoner Rosanna Scalfi, his singing pupil. As a composer,
his most influential efforts were, unusual for the time, in sacred
music. His 50 Psalms of David, in eight volumes beginning in 1724, were
an attempt to cleanse sacred music of operatic impurities. They have
been translated into many languages and continued to be sung in
liturgies well into the 19th century. He also composed four oratorios
and nine masses, one of which secured his admission to the Accademia
Filarmonica of Bologna in 1711. His main achievements in secular music
were: 380 solo cantatas, 81 duets, and 7 trios, many composed on his own
texts. His instrumental output include: 12 concerti grossi, 5 other
concertos, 7 sinfonie, 12 harpsichord sonatas, some 3 dozen other
movements for keyboard, and 28 solo sonatas, a number of them for cello
still often performed. His most popular creation during his own lifetime
was his satire of the business of Italian opera 'Il Teatro alla Moda',
published anonymously in 1720.
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