Alessandro Marcello — Adagio

Описание: Cello — Yuri Voroniuk
Piano — Valery Diorditsa (‪@valerydiorditsa‬)

I’ve always loved musical mysteries. And classical music is full of them! Especially when it comes to early music — a time when no one had even heard of copyright, and a composer’s work was valued no more than that of any other servant.

At the same time as Tomaso Albinoni and Antonio Vivaldi, there lived two brothers — Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello. Both were high officials of the Venetian Republic and true music lovers. But Alessandro wrote under the pseudonym Eterio Stinfalico (he didn’t want to publicly admit that he was “wasting time” on composing music). Benedetto, on the other hand, managed to fell in love with his own student and married her against his family’s will. But after his sudden death on his 53rd birthday, she was expelled from the family and left in poverty. Such a story!

And then came Bach — yes, that Bach. Always curious about Italian masters, he found a manuscript of this oboe concerto, thought it was by Vivaldi, and “transcribed” it almost note-by-note as his own keyboard concerto (BWV 974). Ironically, the original was lost, and Bach’s version survived. For nearly a century, people believed it was his original work later arranged for oboe. Then they found out that it was Marcello originally. And since Alessandro wasn’t famous, for another century people thought it was Benedetto Marcello’s oboe concerto. Only in the second half of 20th century musicologists prove it was Alessandro’s work after all.

On this video I’m playing the version by scottish violinist and music collector Alfred Moffat. He turned part of the concerto into an independent piece, slightly changing its structure.

#cellistyuri

#adagio #bach #marcello #alessandromarcello #benedettomarcello #oboeconcerto #cello #cellist