Marco Marazzoli was an Italian priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 and composer.

Early life

Born at Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, Marazzoli received early training as a priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

, and was ordained around 1625. He moved to Rome in 1626, and entered the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini

Antonio Barberini

Antonio Barberini was an Italian Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts and a prominent member of the House of Barberini. As one of the cardinal-nephews of Pope Urban VIII and a supporter of France, he played a significant role at a number of the papal...

. In 1631, he and other musicians such as Filippo Vitali and Landi accompanied the cardinal on a trip to Urbino

Urbino

Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...

 and may have accompanied him on other official travels. In 1637, Marazzoli was appointed Barberini's aiutante di camera, and became a tenor in the papal chapel that same year; in 1639 he was awarded the position of musico under Barberini.

Barberini patronage

About this time, it becomes possible to trace some of Marazzoli's compositions to specific places and functions. In 1638, he composed the music for a ballet La piazza d'Orlando for the Carnival of Venice

Carnival of Venice

The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival, held in Venice, Italy. The Carnival starts 40 days before easter and ends on Shrove Tuesday , the day before Ash Wednesday.-History:...

 in 1638 and the intermedi for Chi soffre, speri

Chi soffre, speri

Chi soffre, speri or L'Egisto is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the Italian composers Virgilio Mazzocchi and Marco Marazzoli. It has been described as the "first comic opera". The libretto, by Giulio Rospigliosi , is based on Boccaccio...

 for the Carnival of 1639. These two pieces were performed at the Palazzo Barberini

Palazzo Barberini

Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, facing the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi and is home to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.-History:...

.

After 1640, he began composing more for patrons in Ferrara

Ferrara

Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...

 and Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, including an opera, L'Amore trionfante dello Sdegno (or L'Armida), for a Ferrarese wedding in 1641.

In 1641, the Barberini

Barberini

The Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII...

 were embroiled in the Wars of Castro

Wars of Castro

The Wars of Castro is a term referring to a series of events in the mid-17th century revolving around the ancient city of Castro , which eventually resulted in the city's destruction on 2 September 1649...

, and Marazzoli set the events of the battle fought by Taddeo Barberini

Taddeo Barberini

Taddeo Barberini was an Italian nobleman of the House of Barberini who became Prince of Palestrina and Gonfalonier of the Church; commander of the Papal Army. He was a nephew of Pope Urban VIII and brother of Cardinals Francesco Barberini and Antonio Barberini...

 and Luigi Mattei

Luigi Mattei

Luigi Mattei was an Italian military General and Marquis de Belmonte. During the 17th century he commanded troops loyal to the papal armies of Barberini Pope Urban VIII and Pamphili Pope Innocent X during the Wars of Castro.-Biography:...

 in October 1641 to music in Le pretensioni del Tebro e del Po, probably composed late in 1641. Marazzoli's L'Armida was performed in a revised version in January 1642 at a celebratory fete. At Carnival in 1642, Marazzoli had another opera performed, Gli amori di Giasone e d'Isifile; following this, Marazzoli returned to Ferrara and directed another performance of Le pretensioni to celebrate Taddeo Barberini's return to the city in March 1642.

Returning to Rome by midyear, Marazzoli composed the opera Il giudito della ragione tra la Beltà e l'Affetto (or Il Capriccio), which was first given at Carnival 1643. Towards the end of 1642, Marazzoli was granted papal permission to travel to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 with a group of Italian musicians; here he was employed at the court of Anne of Austria

Anne of Austria

Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...

, composing chamber cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s which greatly pleased his patron.

Barberini exile

In April 1645 he returned again to Rome, finding to his chagrin that the Barberini family had been exiled to France (where they would remain until 1653). He then turned to composing oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

s both in Latin and Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, some of which were written for the Arciconfraternita del SS Crocifisso.

Barberini return

Upon Antonio Barberini

Antonio Barberini

Antonio Barberini was an Italian Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts and a prominent member of the House of Barberini. As one of the cardinal-nephews of Pope Urban VIII and a supporter of France, he played a significant role at a number of the papal...

's return, he commissioned an opera from Marazzoli for the wedding of Taddeo Barberini's son Maffeo Barberini; pressed for time, Marazzoli collaborated with Antonio Maria Abbatini

Antonio Maria Abbatini

Antonio Maria Abbatini was an Italian composer, active mainly in Rome.Abbatini was born in Città di Castello. He served as maestro di cappella at the Basilica of St. John Lateran from 1626 to 1628; at the cathedral in Orvieto in 1633; and at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome between 1640 to 1646, 1649...

 to create Dal male il bene, given at Carnival 1654 at Barberini's theater

Teatro delle Quattro Fontane

The Teatro delle Quattro Fontane is an opera house in Rome, Italy, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and built in 1632 by the Barberini family...

.

Le armi e gli amori was to be given at Carnival 1655, but the papal conclave of 1655

Papal conclave, 1655

The Papal conclave of 1655 was the papal conclave of Cardinals called on the death of Pope Innocent X. The conclave elected Fabio Chigi, who took office as Alexander VII.- History :...

 interrupted production, and it was not given until 1656, alongside Dal male e bene and Marazzoli's latest opera, Vita humana (composed to honor the visiting Queen Christina of Sweden).

Marazzoli may have composed the prologue to a ballet by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...

 in 1657 entitled L'Amour malade, but this is not certain. From 1655 Marazzoli composed works commissioned by Pope Alexander VII

Pope Alexander VII

Pope Alexander VII , born Fabio Chigi, was Pope from 7 April 1655, until his death.- Early life :Born in Siena, a member of the illustrious banking family of Chigi and a great-nephew of Pope Paul V , he was privately tutored and eventually received doctorates of philosophy, law, and theology from...

, including festival cantatas. Alexander named him cameriere extra in 1656, but a plague hit that year, and musical life in Rome ebbed until 1660.

Marazzoli was also a famed harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

ist, and played the gilded "Barberini harp", which was painted by Giovanni Lanfranco

Giovanni Lanfranco

Giovanni Lanfranco was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.-Biography:Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi, and was placed as a page in the household of Count Orazio Scotti...

 and which is now owned by the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali in Rome.

Marazzoli was seriously hurt in an accident during a mass at the Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...

 on 25 January 1662, and died the following day.

Stage works

Operas

• La pazzia d'Orlando (1638, music lost)
• La fiera di Farfa (1639)
• L'Amore trionfante dello Sdegno (L'Armida) (1641)
• Gli amori de Giasone e d'Isifile (1642, music lost)
• Le pretensioni del Tebro e del Po (1642)
• Il giudito della ragione tra la Beltà e l'Affetto (Il Capriccio) (1643, music lost)
• Dal male il bene (1654)
• La Vita humana (1656) - libretto by Rospigliosi, the future pope Clement IX. Revived by Le Poème Harmonique, dir. Vincent Dumestre at the Ambronay Festival
  Ambronay Festival
  The Ambronay Festival is a French opera festival and early music festival.The festival has been running in October for 30 years and previously produced recordings with labels such as the Auvidis label. 7 of 14 early recordings were with Jordi Savall. Since 2005 the Festival has been issuing...
  
   2006.
• Le armi e gli amori (1656)

Other

• Intermedio for Troades (1640, doubtful)
• Prologue to Lully
  Jean-Baptiste Lully
  Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
  
  's L'Amour malade (1657, doubtful)

Oratorios

(all composed 1645-1653)
Latin oratorios

• Erat fames in terra Canaan
• Erat quidam languens Lazarus
• Erat quidem languidus
• Homo erat pater familias
• Venit Jesus in civitatem Samarie
• O mestissime Jesu

Italian oratorios

• Per il giorno della resurrezione
• S Tomaso
• S Caterina
• Natale di N.S. (lost)
• Per ogni tempo (lost)
• S Giustina di Padova (lost)
• Ecco il gran rè de regi
• Poichè Maria dal sui virgineo seno
• Qual nume omnipotente che diè leggi
• Udito habbiam Giesù

Cantatas

Marazzoli wrote a large number of cantatas, for one to six voices with continuo

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

accompaniment.