Pizzetti, Ildebrando

Pizzetti, Ildebrando , eminent Italian composer and teacher; b. Parma, Sept. 20, 1880; d. Rome, Feb. 13, 1968. He studied piano with his father, Odvardo Pizzetti, in Parma and composition with Tebaldini at the Parma Cons., graduating in 1901. He was on the faculty of the Parma Cons. (1907–08), then of the Florence Cons. (1908–24), where he became director in 1917. Form 1924 to 1936 he was director of the Milan Cons. He then taught at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1936–58), from 1947 to 1952 also serving as its president. In 1914 he founded (with G. Bastianelli) in Florence a modernistic periodical, pointedly named Dissonanza, to promote the cause of new music. In 1930 he made a trip to the U.S. to attend the performance of his Rondo veneziano, conducted by Toscanini with the N.Y. Phil.; in 1931 Pizzetti conducted his opera Fra Gherardo at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Pizzetti’s music represents the Romantic trend in 20^lh century Italy; in his many works for the theater, he created the modern counterpart of medieval mystery plays; the mystical element is very strong in his own texts for his operas. He employed astringent chromatic harmony, but the mainstream of his melody flows along pure diatonic lines.

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera: Fedra (1909–12; Milan, March 20, 1915); Debora e Jaele (1915–21; Milan, Dec. 16, 1922); Lo straniero (1922–25; Rome, April 29, 1930); Fra Gherardo (1925–27; Milan, May 16, 1928); Orséolo (1931–35; Florence, May 4, 1935); L’Oro (1938–42; Milan, Jan. 2, 1947); Vanna Lupa (1947–49; Florence, May 4, 1949); Ifigenia (RAI, Oct. 3, 1950; 1^st stage perf., Florence, May 9, 1951); Cagliostro (RAI, Nov. 5, 1952; 1^st stage perf., Milan, Jan. 24, 1953); La figlia di lorio (Naples, Dec. 4, 1954); Assassinio nella cattedrale, after T.S. Eliot (1957; Milan, March 1, 1958); Il calzare d’argento (Milan, March 23, 1961); Clitennestra (1961–64; Milan, March 1, 1965). Incidental Music To : G. d’Annunzio’s La nave (1905–07; Rome, March 1908) and La Pisanella (Paris, June 11, 1913); F. Belcare’s La sacra rappresentazione di Abram e d’Isaac (1915–17; Florence, June 1917; expanded into an opera, 1925; Turin, March 11, 1926); Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (Syracuse, April 28, 1930); Sophocles’ Le trachiniae (1932; Syracuse, April 26, 1933); Sophocles’ Edipo a Colono (Syracuse, April 24, 1936); La festa delle Panatenee (1935; Paestum, June 1936); Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Florence, May 1938). ORCH .: Ouverture per una farsa tragica (1911); Concerto dell’estate (1928; N.Y., Feb. 28, 1929); Rondo veneziano (1929; N.Y., Feb. 27, 1930; as a ballet, Milan, Jan. 8, 1931); Cello Concerto (Venice, Sept. 11, 1934); Sym. (1940); Violin Concerto (1944; Rome, Dec. 9, 1945); Canzone di beni perduti (1948; Venice, Sept. 4, 1950); Harp Concerto (1958–60). CHAMBER : 2 string quartets (1906; 1932–33); Violin Sonata (1918–19); Cello Sonata (1921); Piano Trio (1925). Piano : Da un autunno già lontano, 3 pieces (1911); Sonata 1942 (1942). VOCAL : Messa di requiem (1922); De profundis (1937); Epithalamium, cantata for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1939); Oritur sol et occidit, cantata for Brass and Orch. (1943); Cantico di gloria “Attollite portas” for 3 Choruses, 22 Wind Instruments, 2 Pianos, and Percussion (1948); Vanitas vanitatum, cantata for Soloists, Men’s Chorus, and Orch. (1958); Filiae Jerusalem, adjuro vos, cantata for Soprano, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (1966); songs.

Writings

La musica dei Greci (Rome, 1914); Musicisti contemporanei (Milan, 1914); Intermezzi critici (Florence, 1921); Paganini (Turin, 1940); Musica e dramma (Rome, 1945); La musica italiana dell 800 (Turin, 1947).

Bibliography

R. Fondi, I. P. e il dramma musicale italiano d’oggi (Rome, 1919); special issue of Il pianoforte, Il (Turin, 1921); G. Tebaldini, I. P. nelle memorie (Parma, 1931); G. Gatti, I. P. (Turin, 1934; 2^nd ed., 1955; Eng. tr., 1951); G. Gavazzeni, Tre studi su P. (Como, 1937); V. Bucchi, L. Dallapiccola et al, Firenze a I. P. (Florence, 1947); G. Gavazzeni, Altri studi pizzettiani (Bergamo, 1956); M. la Morgia, ed., La citta d’annunziana a I. P.: Saggi e note (Pescara, 1958); B. Pizzetti, ed., I. P.: Cronologia e bibliografia (Parma, 1980).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

Pizzetti, Ildebrando (b Parma, 1880; d Rome, 1968). It. composer and teacher, sometimes known as ‘Ildebrando da Parma’. Taught at Parma Cons. until 1908, moving to Cherubini Inst., Florence (dir. 1917–24). Dir. Milan Cons. 1924–36, prof. of comp. S. Cecilia Acad., Rome, 1936–58. Though associated briefly with It. avant-garde of his day ( Malipiero, Casella, etc.), he later advocated a return to ‘tradition’. His mus. character was divided between a deeply religious vein, which is reflected in his operas (at the other extreme from those of Puccini) and a hedonistic vein which found expression in collab. with d'Annunzio, for whose plays he wrote incidental mus. Toscanini cond. 2 of his operas in Milan. His choral works are especially fine. Prin. comps.:OPERAS: Fedra (1909–12); Debora e Jaele (1915–21); Lo straniero (1922–5); Fra Gherardo (1925–7); Orséolo (1931–5); L'Oro (1938–42); Vanna Lupa (1947–9); Ifigenia (1950); Assassinio nella Cattedrale (1957); Il calzare d'argento (1961); Clitennestra (1961–4).ORCH.: Per l'Edipo Re di Sofocle (1903); suite, La pisanella (1913); Sinfonia del fuoco (1914); Concerto dell’ estate (1928); Rondo Veneziano (1929); pf. conc. (Canti della Stagione Alta) (1930); vc. conc. (1933–4); sym. (1940); vn. conc. (1944); Preludio a un altro Giorno (Prelude to Another Day) (1952); hp. conc. (1958–60).CHORUS & ORCH.: Agamemnon (1931); Epithalamium (1939); Cantico di Gloria ‘Attollite Portas’ for 3 ch., 24 wind instr., 2 pf., perc. (1948); Vanitas Vanitatum, cantata (1958).UNACCOMPANIED VOICES: 2 canzoni corali (1913); Canto d'amore (1914); Requiem (1922–3); De profundis (1937); 2 composizioni corali (1961).