Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (Italian: [beneˈdetto marˈtʃɛllo]; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.
Born in Venice, 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 and Francesco Gasparini, 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 as Provveditore (district governor). Due to his health having been "impaired by the climate" of Istria, Marcello retired after eight years in the capacity of Camerlengo (chamberlain) to Brescia where he died of tuberculosis in 1739.
Benedetto Marcello was the brother of Alessandro Marcello, 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.[1]
Music
Flute Sonata in F major, Op. 2 No. 1
Performed by Albert Tipton (flute) and Mary Norris (piano)
Marcello composed a variety of music including considerable church music, oratorios, hundreds of solo cantatas, duets, sonatas, concertos and sinfonias. Marcello was a younger contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi 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, 1724–27), a musical setting for voices, figured bass (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, 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 tradition, and five from the Sephardic tradition – are among the earliest notated sources of Jewish liturgy, preceded only by Salamone Rossi's Hashirim Asher L’Shlomo.[2][3] Perhaps the best known of these melodies is an Ashkenazic melody for Ma'oz Tzur.[4][5]
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 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" (Grove 1994).
With the poet Antonio Schinella Conti 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, 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.
... he directed his satire not against the opera as such but only against the slovenly routine and the abuse that had crept into opera production. He spared nobody and attacked composers, singers, directors alike, down to the last stage hand. The vivid picture he draws would in many ways apply also to the modern operatic "tradition" which according to Gustav Mahler is identical with "Schlamperei" (sloppiness). Marcello presented his vitriolic suggestions in an ostensibly serious tone and revealed by implication more about the musical and social aspects of opera than other authors did by factual reports. The bitterest attacks were leveled against the castrati who visibly embodied the most abusive side of opera. Their singing was derisively called "capon's laughter". Outside of Italy they were sometimes beaten up in the streets, not because of their singing but because of economic jealousy and the social injustices for which they stood.[6]
Legacy
The composer Joachim Raff wrote an opera entitled Benedetto Marcello, based loosely on the life of Marcello and Scalfi.[7]
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 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 [e secondi] venticinque salmi (translation: G.A. Giustiniani), 8 volumes (Venice 1724–26)
9 Masses for 3–8 voices, including a Requiem in G minor
Spago e Filetta (Intermezzi 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), 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
[12] Canzoni madrigalesche et [6] 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, 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)
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, ISBN0-19-316126-5
[no author]. 1994. [unknown article title]. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press.[full citation needed].
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Benedetto Marcello" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
benedetto, marcello, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, decemb. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Benedetto Marcello news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2013 Learn how and when to remove this template message Benedetto Giacomo Marcello Italian beneˈdetto marˈtʃɛllo 31 July or 1 August 1686 24 July 1739 was an Italian composer writer advocate magistrate and teacher Benedetto Marcello Contents 1 Life 2 Music 3 Writing 4 Legacy 5 Works 5 1 Vocal music 5 1 1 Oratorios 5 1 2 Sacred works 5 1 3 Theater works 5 1 4 Other vocal works 5 2 Instrumental music 5 2 1 Concerti and sinfonie 5 2 2 Sonatas 5 2 3 Harpsichord works 5 3 Selected publications 6 Selected recordings 7 Notes 8 References 9 External linksLife EditBorn in Venice 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 and Francesco Gasparini 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 as Provveditore district governor Due to his health having been impaired by the climate of Istria Marcello retired after eight years in the capacity of Camerlengo chamberlain to Brescia where he died of tuberculosis in 1739 Benedetto Marcello was the brother of Alessandro Marcello 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 1 Music Edit Flute Sonata in F major Op 2 No 1 source source Performed by Albert Tipton flute and Mary Norris piano Problems playing this file See media help Marcello composed a variety of music including considerable church music oratorios hundreds of solo cantatas duets sonatas concertos and sinfonias Marcello was a younger contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi 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 1724 27 a musical setting for voices figured bass 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 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 tradition and five from the Sephardic tradition are among the earliest notated sources of Jewish liturgy preceded only by Salamone Rossi s Hashirim Asher L Shlomo 2 3 Perhaps the best known of these melodies is an Ashkenazic melody for Ma oz Tzur 4 5 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 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 Grove 1994 With the poet Antonio Schinella Conti he wrote a series of experimental long cantatas a duet Il Timoteo then five monologues Cantone Lucrezia Andromaca Arianna abandonnata and finally Cassandra Writing EditMarcello vented his opinions on the state of musical drama at the time in the satirical pamphlet Il teatro alla moda 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 he directed his satire not against the opera as such but only against the slovenly routine and the abuse that had crept into opera production He spared nobody and attacked composers singers directors alike down to the last stage hand The vivid picture he draws would in many ways apply also to the modern operatic tradition which according to Gustav Mahler is identical with Schlamperei sloppiness Marcello presented his vitriolic suggestions in an ostensibly serious tone and revealed by implication more about the musical and social aspects of opera than other authors did by factual reports The bitterest attacks were leveled against the castrati who visibly embodied the most abusive side of opera Their singing was derisively called capon s laughter Outside of Italy they were sometimes beaten up in the streets not because of their singing but because of economic jealousy and the social injustices for which they stood 6 Legacy EditThe composer Joachim Raff wrote an opera entitled Benedetto Marcello based loosely on the life of Marcello and Scalfi 7 The Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia was named after him A street in Rome Largo Benedetto Marcello is named after him Works EditVocal music Edit Oratorios Edit 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 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 Edit Estro poetico armonico parafrasi sopra li primi e secondi venticinque salmi translation G A Giustiniani 8 volumes Venice 1724 26 9 Masses for 3 8 voices including a Requiem in G minor 30 religious works 4 Antiphons 3 Graduals 1 Hymn 1 setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet lost 1 Lesson for the Holy Week lost 2 Magnificats for 3 4 voices 5 Misereres 8 motets 3 Offertories 2 vespersTheater works Edit La morte d Adone Serenata premiered in Venice 1710 or 1729 La gara amorosa Serenata premiered in Venice ca 1710 12 Psiche intreccio scenico musicale Libretto Vincenzo Cassani premiered in Venice 1711 12 Spago e Filetta Intermezzi 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 Questo e 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 Edit 12 Canzoni madrigalesche et 6 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 22 with strings including Carissima figlia Didone Gran tiranno e 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 Madrigals for 4 5 voicesInstrumental music Edit Concerti and sinfonie Edit 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 Edit 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 Edit 12 sonatas for harpsichord op 3 Venice ca 1712 17 35 sonatas and sonata movements for harpsichord 4 minuets Suite with 30 MinuetsSelected publications Edit Fantasia ditirambiva eroicomica or Volo Pindarico 1708 Lettera famigliare d un accademico filarmonico et arcade 1716 Sonetti pianger cercai non gia 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 Selected recordings Edit Il mio bel foco song with Frederica von Stade mezzo soprano and Martin Katz piano CBS 1982 Solo cantata Cassandra Kai Wessel countertenor David Blunden harpsichord Aeon Classics 2010 Opera Arianna Chandos 2000 Requiem in the Venetian Manner Academia de li Musici dir Filippo Maria Bressan Chandos 1999 Sonatas for Harpsichord premiere recording 2 CD Roberto Loreggian it harpsichord Reconstruction and critical edition by Alessandro Borin Chandos 2001 8 Notes Edit Sadie Julie Anne Samuel Rhian 1994 The Norton Grove Dictionary of Women Composers W W Norton p 312 ISBN 978 0 393 03487 5 Hebrew Marcello Sacred Jewish art music Estro poetico armonico in Hebrew Marcello Benedetto in the Jewish Encyclopedia Marcello s score for Ma oz Tzur Marcello s Ma oz Tzur performed by the Zamir Chorale Manfred Bukofzer Music in the Baroque Era p 400 New York W W Norton amp Co 1947 ISBN 0 393 09745 5 Benedetto Marcello Retrieved 6 January 2011 Chandos Records Chandos Records Retrieved 7 May 2020 References EditEleanor Selfridge Field The Music of Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello A Thematic Catalogue with Commentary on the Composers Repertory and Sources Clarendon Press Oxford 1990 ISBN 0 19 316126 5 no author 1994 unknown article title The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music Oxford University Press full citation needed Herbermann Charles ed 1913 Benedetto Marcello Catholic Encyclopedia New York Robert Appleton Company Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Marcello Benedetto Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 17 11th ed Cambridge University Press Grove George ed 1900 Marcello Benedetto A Dictionary of Music and Musicians London Macmillan and Company External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benedetto Marcello Free scores by Benedetto Marcello at the International Music Score Library Project IMSLP Free scores by Benedetto Marcello in the Choral Public Domain Library ChoralWiki The Mutopia Project has compositions by Benedetto Marcello Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Benedetto Marcello amp oldid 1100742801, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
