The Italian composer, whose name is the Venice Conservatory, music and literary writer, poet, lawyer, lawyer and statesman, philosopher, magistrate, teacher, a person with a fine mental organization and mind, is all about Marcello Benedetto Giacomo.
Biography Facts
A typical representative of a noble aristocratic family, Benedetto Marcello was born on 07/31/1686 in Venice. He received a classical liberal arts education and legal knowledge. From a young age he showed a craving for musical knowledge, therefore, under the leadership of Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini, he received a proper musical education and was recognized as one of the best Venetian composers in his youth.
Since he was one of Italy’s highly educated people, he held senior government posts for many years. For 20 years, he was a member of the Council of the Forty - the highest judicial authority in Venice, served as a military quartermaster, and a follower of the Christian faith was a chamberlain with the pope. Despite his political career, Benedetto Marcello was actively involved in musical creativity and writing. In 1711, in the city of Bologna, became a member of the Philharmonic Academy, taught musical disciplines and vocals.
His brother Alessandro, like Benedetto, had musical abilities, was a composer, philosopher and famous mathematician. He published his works under the pseudonym Eterio Stinfaliko.
His father wanted Benedetto to devote his life to public service and law, but he skillfully combined creative and official activities. He put on the judge’s costume for the first time and began to practice serving the law in 1707. In 1730 he was sent to the Istrian peninsula of Pula, where he holds the governorship of the district. But after 8 years of service, he resigns due to poor health. Marcelo always complained about the routine of state and political affairs; only artwork brought true pleasure.
Personal life of the composer
In May 1728, Benedetto Marcello secretly married the commoner Rosanna Scalfi - his student, singer. His family did not approve of this decision. Despite the fact that a will was written in favor of Scalfi, after the death of the composer, brother Alesandro sued Rosanna in 1942 because of violations of the rules of hereditary practice due to the illegality of their marriage. Indeed, the marriage union was declared illegal at the state level, the wife was unable to inherit her husband's condition and filed a lawsuit with a request for financial support. Marcello had no children.
In 1738, he went to the sanctuary of Caravaggio with the hope of healing from a protracted illness, but again caught up with a respiratory illness, as a result of which the doctors diagnosed him with incurable tuberculosis. At 53 years of life on July 24, 1939, the composer died in Brescia.
Musical creativity
Marcello was modest and considered himself an amateur, but contemporaries highly appreciated his composer abilities and called him the “prince of music”. His work is diverse, in almost all genres he created unique vivid compositions. Peru author belongs to:
- more than 80 duets;
- 170 cantatas;
- 7 operas;
- about 9 church masses;
- instrumental sonatas;
- canzone;
- 6 oratorio
- sonatas;
- 17 concerts for stringed instruments;
- 7 symphonies;
- music for 50 psalms is a work that gave him maximum fame, written in the form of cantatas for 4 voices with an accompanying organ, cello and 2 violins. For composition, the author used Jewish, Spanish and German ritual melodies.
Marcello's instrumental compositions became known far beyond Italy. He composed a variety of musical works and church music. His musical works are characterized by imagination and subtle technique.
The European fame was brought to him by the music and verses of serenade, written in honor of Emperor Charles the Sixth in 1725, “Born to Live Forever,” first performed in Vienna by the famous Faustina Bordoni. Then followed a series of dramatic monumental works in which music is strictly subordinate to poetry.
Musical language is characterized by rhythmic modules, works demonstrate personal features of Benedetto Marcello. Adagios are distinguished by energetic atmospheric rhythms, and instrumental compositions show long progressions and a rejection of bipartite movements with asymmetries. In vocal music, traditions and innovations have unusual combinations. Marcello is characterized by a tendency to be bizarre, which is confirmed in some cantatas. Together with the poet Antonio Chinella Kontion, an experimental series of long cantatas was written:
- duo Il Tumoteo
- 6 monologues: Arianna, Cantone, Lucrezia, Cassandra, Andromaca, Abononnata.
The music was distinguished by both progressive and gallant subtle features.
Writing
Benedetto Marcello is also known as the author of poetic, dramatic works. Of his works, the pamphlet "Friendly Letters" (1705), in which the author caustically and very wittily ridiculed the work of his teacher A. Lotti, is most famous. Also famous was the famous treatise The Fashion Theater, published in 1720, aimed at satirical ridicule of numerous conventions and shortcomings in the Italian opera of that time. Both of these works were published anonymously.
Marcello is the author of poems, interludes, sonnets, which later formed the basis of musical works of other equally famous composers.
The composer's legacy has long been almost completely forgotten. It was only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the interest in the works of the composer's writer was expressed, as a result of which some of his sonatas for cello, cantata, oratorio, stage pastoral were published. However, most of the work is in archive folders.