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Scan 74
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910
10 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 48. See the scan on archive.org.
1op. 25, No. 11, at the end, by Schumann in the last movement of the Sonata in F# minor, op. 11, and in No. 8 of the Études Symphoniques. The latter composer is the only one of note who uses this direction at the beginning of a movement, to denote the character of the whole. This he does frequently, as 'Allegro marcato,' in the third of the Intermezzi, op. 4; and 'Ben marcato,' in Nos. 1 and 3 of the Romances, op. 28. As a rule Marcato is coupled with a certain degree of force, as in Schumann's first Novelette, 'Marcato con forza (Markirt und kräftig)'; but in the Sonata, op. 14 (last movement), we find 'Leggiero marcato,' and near the end, 'Leggierissimo marcando.' The sign which is equivalent to Marcato is < over the separate notes, but this refers to the notes themselves, and Marcato to the whole passage.
3MARCELLO, BENEDETTO, eminent composer, a Venetian of noble birth, son of Agostino Marcello and Paola Capello, born July 31, or August 1, 1686. He was highly educated, and had great natural gifts for music, and was a pupil of Lotti and Gasparini. The violin was his first instrument, but he soon gave his whole attention to singing and composition. His father, objecting to the time thus occupied, sent him from home to study law, but on his death Benedetto returned to Venice, and contrived to combine the practice of music with his professional avocations. He held important government posts, was a member of the Council of Forty in 1711, and afterwards Provveditore of Pola (1730). Here he remained eight years, when his health having been ruined by the climate he became Camerlengo at Brescia, and there died July 24, 1739. His monument in the church of S. Giuseppe states his age to have been fifty-two years, eleven months, and twenty-three days.1 He was elected Cavaliere of the Filarmonici of Bologna in 1812, and was also a member of the Pastori Arcadi of Rome. In his youth he was wild, but sobered down in middle life. His great work, in eight volumes, folio, 'Estro poetico-armonico, Parafrasi sopra i primi 50 Psalmi, Poesia di Girolamo Giustiniani,' appeared in two parts of twenty-five Psalms each (Venice, 1724-27). They are composed for one, two, three, and four voices, with figured basses, and occasionally with two violins and violoncello obbligati; and for expression far surpass any other work of the kind. Dr. Burney, in his notice of Marcello (Hist. iv. 543), considers that they have been overpraised, and that even in the composer's day his airs and themes were neither new nor original. In spite, however, of this judgment it is not too much to say that, as a whole, they constitute one of the finest productions of musical literature. An English edition, edited by Avison and Garth, was published in London in 1757 in 8 vols.; a second in Italian soon after (Venice); and a third by Valle (1803-8). Marcello also composed instrumental concertos (1701), and 'Canzoni madrigaleschi' (Bologna, 1717); besides 'Calista in Orsa,' pastoral (libretto printed in 1725, music unpub.); 'La Fede riconosciuta,' opera (Vicenza, 1702); 'Arianna,' cantata; and 'Giuditta,' oratorio, all to his own words. As a poet he was above the average, and furnished the libretto for Ruggieri's 'Arato in Sparta' (Venice, 1709). In 1720 he published a satirical pamphlet, Il Teatro alla Moda, reprinted in 1727, 1733, 1738 (Venice), and 1741 (Florence). The Library of St. Mark in Venice contains a MS. Teoria Musicale; the Royal Library of Dresden ancient copies of two cantatas, 'Timotheus,' to his own Italian translation of Dryden's poem, and 'Cassandra'; the Court Library of Vienna many autographs and other works, including the cantatas 'La Morte d'Adone,' 'Clori e Daliso,' and 'La Stravaganza'; and the Royal Library of Brussels 'Il Trionfo della musica nel celebrarsi la morte di Maria Vergine,' an oratorio for six voices and chorus. This score was once in the possession of Fétis, who speaks highly of its expression, pathos, and effective instrumentation. Rossini has borrowed one of the most prominent themes in his overture to the 'Siege of Corinth' note for note from Marcello's 21st Psalm. For Marcello's Lettera Famigliare, see LOTTI. [A full catalogue of his works is in the Monatshefte für Musikgesch. vol. 23 (1891), pp. 187-197, supplemented in the Quellen-Lexikon.]
51 Both Eitner and Riemann overlook this definite statement, and give the date of birth, like that of death, as July 24.
7MARCH (Ger. Marsch; Fr. Marche; Ital. Marcia), a form originally associated with military movements, and afterwards imported into the music of the stage, the orchestra, the chamber, and the oratorio. In ancient times the sound of instruments was used as a means of stimulating the action of large numbers of people, whether in processes of labour requiring consentaneous effort, or as a means of exciting ardour in armies advancing to battle by the tones of 'the shrill trumpet, the spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife'—equally familiar being Milton's reference to the effect of the sound 'of trumpets loud and clarions,' and the influence on a mighty host of 'Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds.' Like most forms, however, in instrumental music, the development of the March followed that of vocal music. We find Marches in the early operas, in the stage works of Lully, and later in those of Handel and Rameau. In harpsichord music, too, it appears at a comparatively early date, the 'Suites des Pièces' of the French composer Couperin offering examples.
9Of the Military March as now understood, as a strictly rhythmical and harmonised composition, written for a band of wind instruments,
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