Concerto in C Minor for Oboe, Strings, and Continuo
Performances: Nov 10/11, 2007

Little is known about Alessandro Marcello (1684-1750).  He was born in Venice , and most scholarly efforts place his birth in 1684.  He was a member of the “ Academy of Arcadians ,” composing under the pseudonym Eterico Stinfalico, and held weekly musical gatherings at his home in Venice .  He also dabbled in philosophy and achieved some notoriety in mathematics.  He died in Venice in 1750.

          Sadly for Alessandro Marcello, his most popular surviving work—the Concerto in C Minor for Oboe, Strings, and Continuo—was attributed to his brother, Benedetto (1686-1739), who achieved far greater renown as a composer.  Despite a 1716 publication of the Concerto by publisher Jeanne Roger of Amsterdam , the circumstances of which firmly show Alessandro to be the composer, Benedetto’s name was attached to the Concerto well into the twentieth century.  Johann Sebastian Bach loved the Concerto so much that he transcribed it for harpsichord.  The outer movements are both tuneful and technically challenging, but the haunting beauty of the middle movement firmly established a place for the Concerto in the concert hall