Benedetto Marcello Program Notes and Sheet Music

Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) was an Italian composer of the Baroque period. He was born into a noble Venetian family and studied music with some of the leading composers of the day, including Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini. Marcello was a prolific composer, writing operas, oratorios, cantatas, and instrumental music. He was also a poet and wrote a number of librettos for his own operas.

Marcello's most famous work is his Estro poetico-armonico, a collection of 100 psalms set to music. The work was published in four volumes between 1724 and 1726 and was a critical and commercial success. Marcello's music is characterized by its beauty, elegance, and contrapuntal skill. He was a master of the Baroque style and his music is still performed today.

In addition to his musical career, Marcello was also a writer and a lawyer. He served as a magistrate in the Venetian Republic and was a vocal critic of the opera seria, the dominant form of opera in the Baroque period. Marcello's writings on music are still studied today and he is considered one of the most important theorists of the Baroque period.

Marcello died in Brescia in 1739 at the age of 52. He is buried in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Brescia.