Luigi Dallapiccola, Half I, 2024

This Week in Classical Music: February 26, 2024.  Missed dates and Luigi Dallapiccola.  For the final three weeks, we’ve been preoccupied with Alban Berg, and we be ok with it: Berg was a revolutionary composer (not by his structure however by the character of his inventive expertise) and he needs to be celebrated, even when our time, philistine and woke, doesn’t go well with him properly.  The issue we’ve got is that we missed a number of very important anniversaries: for instance, George Frideric Handel‘s – he was born on February 23^rd of 1685; additionally, one of the crucial fascinating German composers of the 16^th century, Michael Praetorius, was born on February 15^th of 1571.  We missed the birthday of Francesco Cavalli, an important composer within the historical past of opera, on February 14^th of 1602.  Two well-known Italians had been additionally born throughout these three weeks, Archangelo Corelli on February 17^th of 1653 and Luigi Boccherini, on February 19^th of 1743.  Of our contemporaries, György Kurtág, one of the crucial vital composers of the late 20^th century, celebrated his 98^th (!) birthday on February 19^th.  After which this week, there are two large dates: Frédéric Chopin’s anniversary is on March 1^st (he was born in 1810) and Gioachino Rossini’s birthday shall be celebrated on February 29^th – he was born 232 years in the past, in 1792.  We’ve written about all these composers, about Handel and Chopin many instances.  Immediately, although, we’ll keep in mind an Italian whom we’ve talked about a number of instances however solely alongside someone else; his identify is Luigi Dallapiccola, and his story has a connection to Alban Berg. 

Luigi Dallapiccola was born on February 3^rd of 1904 within the largely Italian-populated city of Pisino, Istria, then a part of the Austrian Empire.  Pisino was transferred to Italy after WWI, to Yugoslavia after WWII, as Pazin, and now could be a part of Croatia.  The Austrians despatched the Dallapiccola household to Graz as subversives (Luigi, not having the ability to play the piano, loved the opera performances there); they returned to Pisino solely after the tip of the warfare.  Luigi studied the piano in Trieste and in 1922 moved to Florence, the place he continued with piano research and composition, first privately after which on the conservatory.   Throughout that point, he was a lot taken by the music of Debussy that he stopped composing for 3 years, making an attempt to soak up the affect.  A really completely different affect was Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, which Luigi heard in 1924 at a live performance organized by Alfredo Casella (within the following years, Casella would change into a giant supporter and promoter of Dallapiccola’s music). 

Upon commencement, Dallapiccola began giving recitals round Italy, later securing a place on the Florence Conservatory the place he taught for greater than 30 years, until 1967 (amongst his college students was Luciano Berio).  In 1930 in Vienna, he heard Mahler’s First Symphony, which additionally affected him strongly: on the time, Mahler’s music was virtually unknown in Italy.  Within the Thirties, Dallapiccola’s life underwent main modifications.  Musically, he turned extra influenced by the Second Viennese College, and in 1934 received to know Alban Berg (in 1942, whereas passing by means of Austria to a live performance in Switzerland, he met Anton Webern).  The insurance policies of Italy additionally affected him vastly: first, he was taken by Mussolini’s rhetoric, overtly turning into his supporter.  This modified with the Abyssinian and Spanish wars, which Dallapiccola protested, after which rather more so when Mussolini, underneath stress from Hitler, adopted racial (for all sensible functions, antisemitic) insurance policies: Dallapiccola’s spouse, Laura Luzzatto, was Jewish.  They married on Could 1, 1938; the racial legal guidelines had been adopted in November of that yr.  Right here, from 1938, is the primary of the three Canti di Prigionia (Songs of Imprisonment), Preghiera di Maria Stuarda (A Prayer of Mary Stuart) written, partly, as a protest towards Mussolini’s racial legal guidelines.  The New London Chamber Choir is carried out by James Wooden, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, by Hans Zender.  We’ll proceed with the life and music of Luigi Dallapiccola subsequent week.