Alessandro Marcello:
Oboe Concerto in D minor

For oboe solo with strings and continuo



Program Notes by Martin Pearlman


Alessandro Marcello (1673-1747) was born of a noble Venetian family.  Unlike his more famous older brother Benedetto, he did not earn his living as a professional musician but was rather a "noble dilettante" who was a member of the Arcadian Academy of Venice.  He was described by his contemporary Apostolo Zeno: 

He is a distinguished student of mathematics.  He composes verses in Latin and Italian . . . has a knowledge of many languages . . . is most ingenious in working with mathematical instruments and globes, and even in drawing and painting.  He plays many instruments and knows a good deal about music, which has enabled him to send to press twelve cantatas . . . He dresses impeccably and is incomparably kind.  
[Quoted in Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music

His output of compositions was relatively small, but he shows himself to have been an accomplished composer.  This oboe concerto is without doubt his best known and most frequently performed work.  It was long thought to be by Vivaldi and then was attributed to Marcello's brother Benedetto, but it was eventually shown to be by Alessandro after it was found to have his name on it in an eighteenth-century collection of concertos.   

It first became well known because of its connection to J. S. Bach, who transcribed the work for harpsichord and added extensive ornamentation to the slow movement.  Those keyboard ornaments of Bach are often played by oboists today when they perform Marcello's original concerto, since ornamentation of some kind would certainly have been improvised by performers of the time. 


Boston Baroque Performances


Oboe Concerto in D minor

December 31, 2012 & January 1, 2013 
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist: 
Marc Schachman, oboe 

December 31, 2005 & January 1, 2006 
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist: 
Marc Schachman, oboe 

April 7, 1979 
Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist: 
Stephen Hammer, oboe 

December 5, 1978
King’s Chapel, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist: 
Stephen Hammer, oboe 

February 17, 1978 
Paine Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist: 
Michel Piguet, oboe