Benedetto Marcello

Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) was an Italian composer of the Baroque period, noted for his eight-volume publication, Estro poetico-armonico, otherwise known as the "Psalmi." Marcello has been hailed as a forerunner of the Classical style, and he was celebrated up through the 19th century as an exemplar of contrapuntal technique. Yet his oeuvre contains several misattributed pieces, including some by his brother, Alessandro Marcello, and his reputation has suffered from confusion over multiple versions of his works. Marcello served the Venetian Republic as a magistrate for two decades, but was exiled in 1728 and died shortly after his return to Brescia.