Rosanna Scalfi Marcello () was an Italian singer and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

of the late

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and early Classical periods.

Life

Rosanna Scalfi's exact birth and death dates are unknown; she was professionally active around 1723–1742 in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. She was a

gondola The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...

singer of the Venetian ''arie di battello''–a tradition of simple

strophic Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music. Contrasting song forms include through-composed, ...

songs. A legendary account tells of the composer and nobleman

Benedetto Marcello Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher. Life Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello was a member of the noble Marcello family and in his composit ...

, while above the ciy's Grand Canal, hearing Scalfi sing. Impressed by her voice, Marcello began instructing her in vocal training around 1723; the two were secretly wed in a religious ceremony on 20 May 1728, when she was twenty-four years old. However, this marriage to a commoner was unlawful and they never completed the civil requirements. After Marcello died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1739, the marriage was declared null by the state, and Rosanna was unable to inherit his estate. Left destitute, she filed suit on 1 February 1742 against Benedetto's brother

Alessandro Marcello Alessandro Ignazio Marcello (; 1 February 1673 – 19 June 1747) was an Italian nobleman and composer. Biography Born in Venice, Marcello was the son of a senator, and as a member of the noble Marcello family, enjoyed a comfortable life that ...

, seeking financial support, but her claims were rejected. Also in 1742, she appeared as Arbace in Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli's ''

Artaserse ' is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia. There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, ...

'' at St. Salvatore during the Ascension season that same year. Some of Marcello's dramatic cantatas were likely written with her in mind, and she performed Marcello's settings of

psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

s. Little else is known of her life. Scalfi Marcello composed twelve cantatas for alto and basso continuo, writing most if not all of the texts, as well. Musicologist Eleanor Selfridge-Field notes that these cantatas "are far simpler than Benedetto Marcello’s numerous cantatas but show a basic mastery of compositional technique". The manuscript volume, ''Twelve Cantatas for Alto Voice and Basso Continuo'' (ca. 1730), has been published in modern edition by Deborah Hayes and John Glenn Paton (Fayetteville, AR: ClarNan Editions, 2012). The editors' preface includes a biography of the composer, notes on the cantata lyrics and music, and guidelines for performance. The edition also contains continuo realizations, poetic rendering of the lyrics in Italian, and English translation.

List of cantatas

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII. Rosanna Marcello appears as a character in

Joachim Raff Joseph Joachim Raff (27 May 182224 or 25 June 1882) was a German-Swiss composer, pedagogue and pianist.James Deaville'Raff, (Joseph) Joachim' in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) Biography Raff was born in Lachen, Switzerland, Lachen in Switzerland. ...

's 1878 opera ''

'', sung by mezzo-soprano.

References

Citations

Sources

* * Italian Baroque composers Italian women classical composers 18th-century Italian women opera singers 1700s births 18th-century deaths 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian women composers {{Italy-composer-stub