By Michael Burden
Musical works rarely come in pairs—at least in genuine ones, that is. But the two oratorios written to mark the feast of the Assumption by the Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello (1688–1739)—Il pianto e il riso delle quattro stagioni (1731) and Il trionfo della Poesia, e della Musica (1733)—are exceptional in this regard. They were both written by the same composer for the same feast day, the same venue, and the same series of oratorio performances; and both texts, though unconnected, are highly allegorical in nature. In both works, the story is carried forward by a small number of characters, with little or no involvement of a chorus, and both are characteristic examples of the oratorio volgare genre—the dominant oratorio genre of early eighteenth-century Italy.
