MUTH 6680 "Dallapiccola: Self-Trained Serial Composer"
Graham H. Phipps
Spring 2005
On April 1, 1924, Luigi Dallapicoccola attended the Italian première of Pierrot Lunaire, conducted by the composer himself at the Pitti Palace in Florence. Thus, the young Italian pianist and would-be composer came into direct contact with the Second Viennese School. Unlike other composers of twelve-tone music of this time, Dallapiccola did not study with Schoenberg, Webern, or Berg. His only contact with their repertory came from live performances (Berg’s Lyric Suite and der Wein, Webern’s Concerto and das Augenlicht, and Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra.) Other influences in Dallapiccola’s musical life came from his native Italy. This combination of conservative elements having strong 18th- and 19th-century components (from Monteverdi to Verdi) with elements derived only from live performances from Second-Viennese-School composers led to a very different kind of serial music from that of the Viennese masters.
This seminar will examine the broad range of Dallapiccola’s serial music from the late 1930s until his last works of the 1970s. Our study will focus in a particular way upon three works: Liriche greche for soprano solo and chamber ensemble (1942-45), Canti di liberazione for chorus and orchestra (1951-55), and the opera Ulisse (1968). As the culmination of this study, each student will present a paper on some aspect of Dallapiccola’s serial composition.