Concerto for oboe and orchestra (Marcello)
The Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra in D minor by Alessandro Marcello (1673–1747) owes its popularity to the harpsichord arrangement by Johann Sebastian Bach ( BWV 974).
Around 1712 Bach had dealt with the concerts of his Italian contemporary Antonio Vivaldi and adapted 22 of them as solo pieces for harpsichord for study purposes . It is not known whether Bach knew at the time that these 22 concerts included a work by Marcello, because it was considered a work by Vivaldi until the 19th century, before it was first attributed to Benedetto Marcello and then to his brother Alessandro . Bach research alone brought the concert the attention that keeps the name of its composer alive.
construction
The work consists of three movements:
In the performance name of the first sentence, the word spiccato means “clearly”. The movement is in 4/4 time and begins with a unison - ritornello of the orchestra, before the oboe introduces the theme in its first entry in a modified form. Marcello varies the ritornello with each occurrence and also changes the tone gender until it appears in the middle of the movement in major.
The second movement, an adagio in 3/4 time, is dominated by a tense oboe cantilena, which is accompanied by eighth notes in the strings. The oboe part should be varied according to the zeitgeist; Today it is also common to use the ornaments written by Bach here. It should be noted, however, that these were written by another composer for a different instrument and so cannot automatically claim to represent what the composer had in mind.
The third movement, Presto, is in 3/8 time. Solo instrument and strings introduce different themes at the beginning; only later do they pick up on the other's material.
Web links
- Audio sample from the 2nd movement
- Alessandro Marcello - Oboe Concerto in D minor in: The strong piece on BR-Klassik from January 13, 2015.