The immense (hidden) legacy of the Italian twentieth century

I had already noticed the unjust neglect of twentieth-century Italian instrumental music.

On my website, I am attempting a modest revival of these almost forgotten composers.

If you go to check, in addition to the catalogues of Giovanni Sgambati and Giuseppe Martucci, who can be considered the promoters of the revival of instrumental music in Italy, you will also find Busoni (not very Italian), Casella, Catalani, Dallapiccola, Malipiero, Pizzetti, and Respighi.

Right now I am working on Telemann's catalogue, which is gigantic and will occupy me for a few months, but then I am thinking of Alfano.

Petrassi died too recently (2003) and therefore it will be almost impossible to build a serious catalogue since his archives have not found a definitive arrangement and, above all, they have not yet been fully catalogued.

Terenzio wrote:

I had already noticed the unjust neglect of twentieth-century Italian instrumental music.

On my website, I am attempting a modest revival of these almost forgotten composers.

If you go to check, in addition to the catalogs of Giovanni Sgambati and Giuseppe Martucci, who can be considered the promoters of the revival of instrumental music in Italy, you will also find Busoni (not very Italian), Casella, Catalani, Dallapiccola, Malipiero, Pizzetti, and Respighi.

Right now I am working on the Telemann catalog, which is gigantic and will occupy me for a few months, but then I am thinking of Alfano.

Petrassi died too recently (2003) and therefore it will be almost impossible to build a serious catalog since his archives have not found a definitive arrangement and, above all, they are not yet fully indexed.

Dear Terenzio,

I believe I have already written this in one of my first posts, but, in this case, I am happy to repeat myself.

I am honored to be able to know the architect of the miracle of the Flaminio virtual orchestra.

I admire your passion, your dedication, your study, your hard work, the LOVE you have for Classical Music.

And I thank you on behalf of all the users for having given us this precious gift.

Dear Viola,

facing these compliments, I blush and feel confused.

Ultimately, I am just a retired former sales agent who enjoys poking around in Roman libraries.

In the end, I pass for a musicologist, but I can assure you it's all a bluff!

The only real thing is the passion for Classical Music that I like to share with those who do not have the possibility to access its in-depth study.

Terenzio wrote:

Dear Viola,

in the face of such compliments, I blush and feel confused.

Ultimately, I am just a retired former sales agent who enjoys poking around in Roman libraries.

In the end, I pass for a musicologist, but I can assure you it is all a bluff!

The only real thing is the passion for Classical Music that I like to share with those who do not have the possibility of accessing in-depth study.

I detest (and do not follow) the majority of classical music experts.

"I am just a retired former sales agent who enjoys poking around in libraries".

My esteem for you has increased further.

Viola wrote:

I detest (and do not follow) the majority of classical music experts.

... and here perhaps you are not doing well.

But excuse me: didn't you report an opinion by Noseda at the beginning of the topic? Isn't he one of those classical music experts?

In reality, Italian musicology gave us wonders in the last century; you just have to look for them and study them.

danielescarpetti wrote:

... and here perhaps you are not doing well.

But excuse me: did you not report an opinion of Noseda at the beginning of the topic? Is he not one of those classical music experts?

In reality, Italian musicology gave us wonders in the last century; one only needs to look for them and study them.

Good morning Daniele.

Gianandrea Noseda does not seem to me to be a musicologist, but rather a conductor.

As far as musicologists (Italian and otherwise) are concerned, I don't think I wrote ALL of them, but the majority (this YES).

Everyone has their own style of communicating, dear Daniele. Yours is always very balanced without great outbursts, while mine is often the opposite of yours.

As I have already told Luca, I have a flaw: I say everything I think; and I have a virtue: I say everything I think. And I add it without too many filters (although I always try to respect my interlocutor, and when I cannot restrain myself, I regret it very much).

That being said, and to better clarify what I meant in my post, I will give you a small example regarding one of my favorite composers, Anton Bruckner (he is also among those I am fond of).

In the pages of a serious and well-prepared contemporary scholar like our Massimo Mila, in certain cases, one finds mentions of Bruckner's figure in the most ungenerous terms, as a "modest self-taught organist". In a hundred years, one could bet, Bruckner will still be performed, while who knows if Mila will still be read ...

P.S.: the short but profoundly deep biography "Life of Beethoven" written by the musicologist, writer, and playwright Romain Rolland is one of the books I keep on my bedside table, same fate for "Gustav Mahler" by Ugo Duse. I need their "physical" proximity.

Regarding the theme of this discussion, the immense legacy of the Italian twentieth century, Mila himself, when speaking of Ottorino Respighi, insists mainly on the Roman Trilogy (in my modest opinion, the most "commercial" and least significant), briefly mentions the Doric Quartet, and omits the concertos and operas, but above all does not speak of the Metamorphoseon, which represents the composer's last and highest symphonic achievement, conceived in the fullness of his maturity.

This work, in my modest opinion, is one of the masterpieces of the Italian twentieth century (and not only).

Open content (youtube)

well ...let's overlook Mila ....|

You often use the adjective masterpiece - here you go even further by defining Respighi's Metamorphosen as "one of the masterpieces of the Italian twentieth century (and not only)" but I have a distinct feeling that you confuse your highly respectable personal tastes with what is truly a masterpiece.

A masterpiece is in the artistic field, that which is considered such by the vast majority - if not precisely and even better, the totality - of critics who set as their goal to study and judge the relevance and importance of the work of art with respect to its historical context and with respect to the influence it has had on the future of that art.

Personal tastes - which do not necessarily have to coincide with those judgments - are those that you, I, we, you all, they, express regarding various works of art.

All highly respectable and sacrosanct but, precisely, personal tastes that are and will remain such.

I don't know whether to express myself on the matter. I am curious to know more about Viola, but it is obvious that I want to use the news to react to the judgment of classical music experts :-)

Regarding the early twentieth-century Italian music, I say little: it is an incredible source of amazing pieces and the Italian musicological world has contributed immensely to the rediscovery of some of them. All the published links and the many other links available online are the result of work that has been ongoing for several years now, work done by musicologists and musicians, and by a whole series of other "craftspeople," such as some enlightened artistic directions of Italian theaters (and, sometimes, foreign ones).

The problem of the impact of this repertoire is complex and should be treated with calmness and within a discussion on the "History" of music.

danielescarpetti wrote:

well... let's overlook Mila....|

You often use the adjective masterpiece - here you go even further by defining Respighi's Metamorphosen as "one of the masterpieces of the Italian twentieth century (and not only)" but I have the distinct feeling that you confuse your highly respectable personal tastes with what is truly a masterpiece.

A masterpiece is within the artistic sphere, that which is considered such by the vast majority - if not precisely and even better, the totality - of critics who set as their goal to study and judge the relevance and importance of the work of art in relation to its historical context and in relation to the influence it has had on the future of that art.

Personal tastes - which do not necessarily have to coincide with those judgments - are those that you, I, we, you, they, express regarding various works of art.

All highly respectable and sacrosanct but, precisely, personal tastes that are and will remain such.

As Ugo Duse marvelously wrote, "the Hanslicks always end up disappearing, lost in the meanders of their own academy."

"His eminence" Hanslick described Bruckner's music as "a vertigo over nothingness"; but the disparaging intent with which the expression was coined is not sufficient to cover the paradoxical truth hidden within it: nothingness is one of the essential forms of the absolute."},

" ..A l'alta fantasia qui mancò possa..."

The problem with music critics and those who deal exclusively with music is that they only deal with that, often having only that.

They do not have a mature and articulated perception of being. For them, only their intellectual sphere exists.

Nothing enters and nothing leaves, except for what they want to hear and what they want to say.

This pathological egocentrism that subsequently characterized and characterizes contemporary man is that small detail that prevents the human race from having other Beethovens, other Michelangelos, other Palladios and, we can now say, other Einsteins.

Dear Viola,

i would not gloss over Massimo Mila: I love his writing style, his irony, the respect he had for colleagues (even those much younger than him and of opposing political views). Furthermore, given my own limited culture, he is the only one whose writings in which I have read expressions of rethinking previously held ideas.

That being said, it's not that I agree with everything Mila maintained. On the contrary, on certain issues, I feel strong divergences from his conclusions.

But no one—not even Mila, whom I esteem, nor Hanslick—has the truth in their pocket. However, something good can come from anyone.

PS

on many occasions I have been grateful to those who thought differently than me, but who were able to argue their point with such clarity as to force me to clarify my own ideas better to myself.

If there is also respect for the opinions of others... that is the best.

But, by now, I can gloss over this.

If we wanted to dig beneath the surface of historiography and the emotional neutrality of a book page, Hanslick, together with his friend and companion in mischief Johannes Brahms, found Anton Bruckner's demeanor and cloistered habits inappropriate, like those of a total peasant, being in no way suitable or consistent with the high bourgeoisie of the time.

As modern behavioral sciences teach, every personal act reflects one's own personal disposition.

In nature, "nothing personal" does not exist.

And Bruckner was very much on edge: such a "Deutsche Michel" could not write symphonies of that quality... it was a true affront.

A triumph of envy.

we are exaggerating... you are exaggerating

thallo wrote:

we are exaggerating... you are exaggerating

We are exaggerators.

Love, in whatever form it presents itself, is excessive and overflowing.

For the love of Bruckner, are Hanslick, Mila, and Brahms being disparaged? It's the excuse of abusers who beat women out of too much love... it will be the three hundredth time I write this, but WE CAN love the things we love without saying that those who hate them are a d*ck...

thallo wrote:

For the love of Bruckner, are Hanslick, Mila, and Brahms being disparaged? It is the excuse of abusers who beat women out of too much love... this will be the three hundredth time I write it, but WE CAN love the things we love without saying that those who hate them are a d*ck...

The comparison is absurd and furthermore no one has expressed themselves in these terms.

... I have only read the last two posts. I don't have time to read everything right now but just, for the sake of writing some nonsense, I am thinking of reminding everyone to behave (if possible).