Alessandro Marcello

The composer, who was born in Venice in 1673 and died in his hometown in 1747, usually used the pseudonym "Eterio Stinfalico" and came from a noble family. His brother Benedetto, who was almost 13 years younger, was also a well-known composer. Marcello was admitted to the Maggior Consiglio of the Republic of Venice in 1690 and played an active role in the Venetian judicial system for a long time, but also travelled on diplomatic missions to the Levant and the Peloponnese. Versatile and talented, Marcello devoted himself not only to music but also to painting, drawing and writing poetry. Marcello probably cultivated contacts with the most important singers of his time, such as Farinelli and Faustina Bordoni, whom he allegedly courted. Although several of Marcello's vocal works have survived, his reputation is primarily based on instrumental music, including the Concerto for Seven Recorders and the Oboe Concerto in D minor, which appeared in an anthology in Amsterdam in 1717 and was arranged by Johann Sebastian Bach, presumably based on a manuscript source from before 1717, for playing on a keyboard instrument (Concerto BWV 974).