Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739): Concerti a Cinque, Op. 1
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- Опубліковано 4 чер 2024
- 00:00 Concerto No. 1 in D major: Grave e staccato - Allegro - Largo - Presto
07:40 Concerto No. 2 in E minor: Adagio e staccato - Allegro assai - Adagio e staccato - Prestissimo
18:40 Concerto No. 4 in F major: Largo - Allegro - Adagio - Prestissimo
26:54 Concerto No. 5 in B minor: Adagio - Allegro - Adagio e staccato - Allegro *+
35:52 Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major: Allegro assai-Largo e staccato-Allegro-Largo e staccato-Allegro vivace *+
44:34 Concerto No 12 in G major: Allegro assai - Largo - Allegro vivace - Adagio staccato - Presto *
I Solisti di Milano - Angelo Ephrikian, conductor
Franco Fantini, Tino Bacchetta*, solo violinists
Genunzio Ghetti, Ennio Miori+, violoncello concertante
Mariella Sorelli, harpsichord
Benedetto Marcello was born of an old noble family of Venetian Doges on July 24, 1686. The fine arts were cultivated in the Marcello household: his father, Agostino, excelled as a violinist; his mother, Paolina Cappeilo, was talented in drawing and showed a literary aptitude; the older son, Alessandro, a pupil of Tartini, was a magnificent violinist and a composer of the first rank; the second-born, Gerolamo, lacked neither musical nor literary talent. Only Benedetto seemed indifferent to the artistic atmosphere of the family, so much so that (as Berlioz relates) a grand lady said of him that he was not capable of carrying his brothers’ violin cases. The boy suddenly reacted against his inertia: from 1703 to 1705 he never left the house, applying himself furiously to the study of music: and he worked with such intensity as to cause serious worry for his health, which had always been precarious, so that his father decided to send him for a rest to one of his country villas, forbidding anyone from furnishing the invalid with music paper. But the youth, under the pretext of writing letters, procured paper, pen and ink and, ruling the paper himself, succeeded in composing an entire Mass.
His stringent study of music nevertheless did not prevent him from acceding to public office, which the tradition of the Venetian Republic imposed upon young nobles. In 1711 he assumed the robes of a lawyer and for five years served the Serenissima in various public offices, until, in 1716, he began to participate in the Council of Forty: there he remained until 1730, when he assumed the post of "Provveditore” of the Republic at Pola.
In 1738 he was named "Camerlengo” at Brescia, where the climate did not help him recover from a serious case of malaria which he had contracted at Pola. After nine days of agony, he died July 24, 1739.
His activity as a composer began with the publication in 1708 of the Concerti a Cinque, con violino solo e violoncello obbligato, Op. 1. Opus 2, Sonate di cembalo, followed in 1710; and subsequently opus 3, Sonate per flauto, all published by Sala in Venice. Opus 4, Canzoni Madrigalesche ed Arie da camera a due, a tre, a quattro voci was published by Silvani in Bologna in 1717. From this point on the chronology of his works becomes confused, beginning probably with the composition of the Psalms, translated by his friend, G. Ascanio Giustiniani, published in Venice between 1724 and 1727. In the religious category belong two oratorios: Juditha and Gioas and two Masses. In the operatic category belong Arianna, a musical-scenic play, and a Serenata ad uso di scena composed in 1725 for the Imperial Court in Vienna. His vocal chamber music consists of about two hundred cantatas, arias, duets, trios, etc. In a miscellaneous collection in the library of St. Mark’s in Venice may be found the Treni di Geremia (Lamentations of Jeremiah), a Benedictus, a Te Deum, three Miserere and three additional Masses.
Benedetto Marcello’s literary activity is also significant: the Rime varie, numerous sonnets on various subjects; a tragedy, Lucio Commodo; a Fantasia ditirambica eroicomica, and finally a poem to the composition of which he dedicated himself until the very last days of his life: L´Universale Redenzione. It seems that his poem marked the resolution of a mystical crisis, the origin of which was connected with an unusual episode: in 1728, while walking one day along the center aisle of the church of the SS. Apostoli, a subterranean tomb caved in beneath his feet and he fell into it. The episode was interpreted by Marcello as a divine warning and had profound repercussions within his soul. It seems that he went so far as to repudiate openly everything of a secular nature in his musical output.
However, the literary work which is of greatest interest to the historian and which is by far the most famous is the satire, Teatro alla moda: a position of independence and aristocratic taste, breadth of culture and esthetic sensitivity, a natural tendency (typically Venetian) toward pungent witticism and a polemic temperament combine to create a ruthless analysis of the corrupt and conventional world of opera. It must be admitted that when he himself composed an opera (Arianna), he demonstrated a singular consistency with his own polemic theories, which increases enormously the interest of this work, of which, however, nothing remains but a reduction for voice and piano (edited by Chilesotti).
Utilizing the conventional musical language of the time, Marcello’s style nevertheless has its own unmistakable accent. He is neither innovative nor daring, but has a purity of design, a precision of writing, a strength of feeling, a loftiness of thought which makes him a composer of imposing stature. It must not be forgotten that Marcello was perhaps one of the most cultured musicians of his time, and his culture is reflected in the care with which he chose his subjects and texts (frequently written by himself) for his vocal compositions. A great part of his major cantatas imitate the Homeric world, while Ovid furnishes themes for mythological texts. In composing the Psalms, he even investigated ancient Hebrew music and drew from it excellent musical themes with wisdom and sensitivity.
His instrumental production, although less extensive than his vocal music, is no less important: indeed, J. S. Bach, in transcribing several of Marcello’s concerti for harpsichord, showed that he considered them examples of formal perfection and rich invention.
Published in 1705 by Giuseppe Sala, these Concerti constitute Benedetto Marcello’s debut as a composer ("dilettante di contrappunto,” as he describes himself on the title page). Evidently written immediately after the period of intense musical study which began in 1703, they seem to have been born in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and joy, in a spiritual state of one who has just made some marvelous discoveries. Full of rhythmic force, rich in instrumental color, fertile in melodic invention, sometimes engrossed in rarefied harmonic transparency, these have the fresh and bold savour of youth, but, at the same time, are already mature works in their technical mastery and formal perfection.
The form is quadripartite (his contemporary, Vivaldi, almost always preferred the tripartite), sometimes with the addition, in the manner of a bridge between one movement and another, of a brief "fifth movement,’ an adagio passage of cadential harmonies. It is modeled on the typical pre-Vivaldi form of the concerto grosso (a reference to Corelli may be made, but not necessarily): that is, by the use of the "violino di concertino” and the obbligato cello. We note that Sala did not publish the score, but only the separate orchestral parts of these Concerti, and that the part of the "violino di concertino” is not to be found among them.
Two explanations may be given concerning its absence: either such a part happened to become lost, or Marcello deliberately left its realization to improvisation by a soloist. We incline to the first hypothesis for more reasons than we can explain. In any case, it was necessary to reconstruct this part, and that is what we have done, but without encountering any great difficulty, because the remaining text suggested its reconstruction in an almost unequivocal manner. During the course of this work, we have been able to ascertain that the second of these concerti was transcribed for the harpsichord by J. S. Bach (No. 10 in C minor, BWV 981, still listed as "by an unknown master”): obviously, in this case, the part of the "violino di concertino” was taken directly (save for several minor variants due to the different nature of the two instruments) from Bach’s transcription which, in our opinion, reproduces Marcello’s original exactly.
ANGELO EPHRIKIAN
(Translated from the Italian by Helen Baker)
Stupefacente Benedetto Marcello, uno dei migliori rappresentanti della grande scuola veneta, fucina di alcuni genii massimi della musica.
Rare Depth, Beauty, Harmony and Timbre !!! Tepper Michael.
Atómico Benedetto Marcello , una maravilla veneciana . Se hacía llamar Patrizio Veneto . Fascinante ............2:32 ❤❤❤❤
Excelente música, una compañía invaluable!!!❣️
Thank you! 🌸
Hoomeyow!!
eccelente interpretazione! ma per favore, dovo sono gli altri 6 concerti mancanti???
Hola. Solamente tengo esta edición con una selección de 6 de los 12 conciertos.
@@calefonxcalectric Grazie per l'informazione, molto gentile, che peccato !
sono passati almeno cinquant'anni da questa interpretazione, coerente con le visioni dell'epoca, ma oggi difficilmente accettabile. tempi dilatatissimi e pesanti, uso soverchiante del vibrato, nessuna dinamica, zero abbellimenti, nessuna libertà individuale.... insomma rende davvero irriconoscibile questa (splendida) musica
Ad at 1:31