6 Sonatas for Cello & Basso Continuo Op. 1

Between the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, Benedetto Marcello, as a result of his standing amongst the Venetian aristocracy, enjoyed the rare fortune (for a working musician) of not needing to maintain a frenetic pace of composition in order to achieve desirable levels of success, favor or economic stability. He was a man of many varied interests, and his activities as a musician represented just a small part of his creative life (which was probably rather fitting, at the time, for a nobleman with public duties to perform). The 'Sei Sonate per violoncello e basso continuo' were written sometime around the year 1730 (a good deal later than his other instrumental Sonatas), and also came about thanks to a renewal of public interest in this form of composition, which was also to inspire and influence Vivaldi. They were published as Op.1 in 1732 (by Witvogel, Amsterdam) and in 1735 (by le Clerc and Boivin, Paris); then as Op.2 in 1732, 1740 and 1747 (by Walsh, London). The sonatas are composed in four movements, and are exquisitely straightforward works, brimming with simple and beautiful melodies.