Biography
This composer from Venice did not depend on music as his main source of income. After acquiring violin technique through lessons with his father, he converted his residence into the regular site of weekly musical gatherings. His own pieces received frequent performances at these events, which attracted steady guests such as Gasparini, Lotti, and, in subsequent years, Tartini. Although Marcello issued relatively few publications, the "Oboe Concerto in D-mol" became his most familiar work, owing largely to J.S. Bach's later keyboard transcription. The surviving editions encompass twelve cantatas together with one collection each of concertos and violin sonatas. These scores portray him as a capable craftsman who possessed solid musical skill yet repeatedly extended modulations and harmonic sequences past the accepted boundaries of his era. The concertos in particular remain puzzling on account of their atypical instrumental combinations. His melodic lines stay brief and exact while frequently reverting to established contrapuntal methods.