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uigi
Dallapiccola was born on February 3, 1904 in Pisino (now Pazin), then under
Austro-Hungarian rule. He was the son of
Pio Dallapiccola (1869-1951), professor of Latin
and Greek and headmaster of the local Italian high school (gymnasium), and
Domitilla Alberti (1869-1956), both of whom originated from Trento, Italy. |
Deutsch |
Italiano |
Pianist and composer
born in Pazin
1904 |
Luigi Dallapiccola is considered to be one of the most
important European composers of the 20th
century, is the first to use atonality, and ranks as a pioneer of
twelve-tone music and the "musica impegnata"
Pisino, Pazin, Mitterburg - Dallapiccola characterized his native town
as a "luogo d’incontro di
tre culture e di scontro di tre culture", a place where three
cultures meet in a positive, mutually enriching sense, as well as with
aspects of conflict.
With Italy‘s declaration of War in 1915, the high school in Pisino was
closed down by the Austro-Hungarian authorities. In 1917, the
Dallapiccola family, suspected of having irridentist sentiments, was
declared "politically treacherous" and were interned at Graz, Austria. A
performance there, The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner, aroused
Luigi's wish to become a musician.
The
Dallapiccola family returned to Pisino after the annexation of Istria
and Trieste to Italy in 1918. Luigi had already had piano lessons in
nearby Trieste during his late school years and discovered there the
harmonic theory of Schönberg. In May 1922, Dallapiccola matriculated at
the conservatory in Firenze, Italy, where he was granted a diploma in
piano after finishing his studies in 1924. A performance of Pierrot
Lunaire by Arnold Schönberg in Firenze 1924 finally led to his
decision to become a composer. During his studies to become a composer
he wrote his earliest compositions: Canti based on texts from Biagio
Marin (1924-26); four canti Della mia Terra based on lyrics of
popular Istrian folk music (1928) and
Canzone del Quarnero, a musical version of a
Gabriele
D’Annunzio poem (1930). In 1930, he starts giving live concerts in
various European countries as a pianist together with the violinist
Sandro Materassi and becomes a pioneer for the New Music (among others
for Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky and Jánaček). In 1931, he was granted a
diploma for composition and became a lecturer at the Conservatorio di
Musica L. Cherubini in Florence, where he stayed for 36 years.
He discovered the "genuine soul of Italian music" in Gian Francesco
Malpiero's Torneo notturno which he heard 1932 for the first time
and which influenced his compositional life.
The next years brought a series of compositions, e.g. Cori di
Michelangelo
(1933-35), and as a result of the political events including Mussolini's
Abyssinia Campaign and the Spanish Civil War, the one-act opera Volo
di Notte (1938) which picked out as a central theme the suffering
of the individual existence and the transitory life standing in straight
opposition to the Fascist propaganda at that time. The Fascist race-laws
of Italy 1938 lead to the composition of the Canti di Prigionia
(Preghiera di Maria Stuarda). With those compositions resulting from the
political events Luigi Dallapiccola became the first composer of
an Italian "musica impegnata".
Luigi Dallapiccola in
Firenze 1958 |
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During the war years 1942-45 he composed the Liriche Greche based
for the first time entirely on the twelve-tone music and the ballet
Marsia
in 1943. The same year brought the overthrow of Mussolini and Italy
being occupied by the German Army and in consequence the arrests of the
Italian Jewish population. Luigi Dallapiccola and his Jewish wife Laura
Luzzatto fled Firenze and found shelter at a friend's villa in
Fiesole/I, where he laid the foundations for his masterwork of the 40‘s
Il Prigionero.
The 50‘s and
60‘s are characterized by travels and lectures stretching from Canada to
California and Mexico-City to Buenos Aires. He participates at
congresses, holds lectures and gives concerts in many European
countries, particularly West Germany. In 1951 and 1952, Dallapiccola
holds composition courses at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood,
where he finishes the Tartiniana I in honour to the violinist
Giuseppe Tartini, who was also from Istria. In 1956 he completed
Tartiniana II.
In 1955 he finished composing the Canti di Liberazione dedicated
to Thomas Mann, with whom he was in frequent contact. With the Canti
di Liberazione a trilogy is completed, which beginning are the
Canti di Prigionia and the center part is the one-act opera Il
Prigioniero. He held courses in composition and analysis at the
Queens College in Flushing, New York (1956, 57, 59 and 67) and at the
Instituto Tarcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires (1964).
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Dallapiccola called his opera Ulisee (1960-67) "il risultato di
tutta la mia vita". He resigned from this teaching at the conservatory
in Firenze in 1967 to enable to him finish the opera and he moved to
Berlin, the city divided by a wall and occupied by the four victorious
powers. There in Berlin at the Deutsche Opera it is also played for the
first time in 1968.
A busy time with
lectures and teaching consequently brought him to many European
countries, e.g. to the London Royal College of Music and the University
of Leeds. Followed by compositions on textes by the Spanish poet Juan
Ramón Jinénez (1970) and Paulinius of Aquilea (1971).
Dallapiccola died on February 19, 1975 in Firenze from edema of the
lungs. His childhood experience of war, foreign rule and internment is
well reflected in Dallapiccola's complete works and his important
compositions radicating deeply in contemporary historical events.
Works
Awards and
Honorariums:
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1953 - Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts,
Germany
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1958 - Member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, Germany
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1962 - Great Arts Award (Großer Kunstpreis) for
music of the State of Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany
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1964 - Ludwig Spohr award of the city of
Braunschweig, Germany
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1967 - Moretti d’Oro music award of the Province of
Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
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1969 - Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London,
UK
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1969 - Member of the Academy of Music and Visual
Art, Graz, Austria
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1972 - Arthur Honegger award, Paris, France
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1973 - Doctor musicae honoris causae,
University Durham, UK
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1973 - Doctor musicae honoris causae,
University Edinburgh, UK
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1973 - Feltrinelli award for music of
the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
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1973 - Great Cross of the highest
Italian decoration awarded
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1975 - International Albert Schweitzer
Arts award
Writings by Dallapiccola:
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On Opera, Selected writings of Luigi Dallapiccola, Vol 1,
Toccata Press (1987)
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On Music and Musicians, Selected writings of Luigi
Dallapiccola, Vol. 2, Toccata Press
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Parole e musica. Hrsg. v. F. Nicolodi, Mailand 1980, il
Saggiatore.
Writings on
Dallapiccola:
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Kämper, Dietrich. Gefangenschaft und
Freiheit. Leben und Werk des Komponisten Luigi Dallapiccola.
Verlag Gitarre und Laute, Köln 1984. 210 Seiten.
Sources:
- Luigi Dallapiccola. Parole e musica. Hrsg.
v. F. Nicolodi, Mailand 1980, il Saggiatore.
- Photo gallery/list of works: Classical Music
Dictionary - L. Dallapiccola -
https://www.karadar.it/Dictionary/dallapiccola.html
- Kämper, Dietrich. Gefangenschaft und Freiheit.
Leben und Werk des Komponisten Luigi Dallapiccola. Verlag
Gitarre und Laute, Köln 1984. 210 Seiten.
- Translation from the German: Casimir (surname not
given)
- Photograph: Dallapiccola a Firenze dal
libro di Kämper, Dietrich. Gefangenschaft und Freiheit. Leben und
Werk des Komponisten Luigi Dallapiccola. (vedi sopra). Other
photographs found on the internet.
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This page compliments of
Marisa Ciceran, Michael Plass and Casimir (surname unknown)
Created: Saturday, April 9,
2001. Last Updated:
Monday, January 03, 2022
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