Dallapiccola, Luigi. (1904–1975). Important Autograph Manuscript, "Congedo di Girolamo Savonarola." . Congedo di Girolamo Savonarola / Canti di Prigonia, N. 3) / Per voci miste e alcuni strumenti / (1941) / Partitura. Autograph manuscript in black and red ink on printed ruled manuscript paper, 39 X 33 cm. Title with date, inscription and dedication; Quotation from Savonarola, Instrumentation, Duration, Performance note; Full score music, p. 1 - 20.
Number 21 (p. 129) in L'Opera di Luigi Dallapiccola Catalogo Ragionato (Ruffini).
A highly important autograph manuscript from the influential Italian composer and pianist, with numerous alterations and variations from the published score, the third and final section of his “Canti di Prigionia,” a key work from the composer and one of the defining works of “protest music” of the 20th Century. By descent, originally given by the composer and dedicated to his lifelong friends Alessandro and Luisa Materassi. Sandro, one of the leading Italian violinists of the period, performed internationally with Dallapiccola in the Duo Dallapiccola-Materassi from 1930, for over three decades. Sold together with a signed and detailed 3 pp. letter of provenance from the Materassi family (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manuscript”), a published magazine article discussing the relationship of the composer with the Materassi family, and a fine copy of the first published edition of the work (Milano: Carish S.A. Editori. 1948. 39 X 35 cm), autographed and inscribed by Dallapiccola.
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“Canti di Priogonia is an example of 'protest music,' as the composer himself defined it, and is without doubt one of the works by which such a category can be defined...What perhaps distinguishes Dallapiccola's Canti from many other works of protest, however, is the degree to which the intense emotion that lies behind it is set within a musical form of a remarkable degree of organization and rationality. The texts used in the work determined the dual nature of the musical setting, combining the highly impassioned, almost desperate pleading of the prayers of Mary Stuart and Girolamo Savonarola which frame the work, with the central, more reflective and philosophical prayer of Boethius...In the formal structure of Canti, Dallapiccola exhibits his characteristic concern with clarity of musical design. This is evident both in the large-scale forms, with all three movements constructed in the arch form that was almost a constant in Dallapiccola's work, and also in smaller-scale canonic procedures. Canons abound in all sections of the piece, but the composer himself was particularly proud of one point in the work. This is a passage at the center of the final 'Congedo di Savonarola,' to which the composer attached a note in the score pointing out the canons...Such rationality of design contributes greatly to the expressivity of Canti, and in this way the work provides a vital link between the earlier and later periods of Dallapiccola's creative life.” (Raymond Fearn, “The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola” (NY: University of Rochester Press), p. 59-62)
The history of the manuscript and the fascinating circumstances by which it was given to the Materassi family are related in an unpublished essay by Mario Materassi (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manusrcipt”), the full version available by request. A few excerpts follow here:
“In the late 1920's, Luigi Dallapiccola and my father Sandro Materassi, a concert violinist, met at the Cherubini Music Conservatory in Florence. A deep, life-long friendship ensued. Their friendship and affection, which included my mother Luisa and Luigi's wife, Laura Luzzatto, extended well beyond their artistic activity. The two couples shared strong intellectual interests, and deep political and ethical values. ...Throughout the years of Fascist oppression, the two families were a source of reciprocal support. From the winter of 1943 to August 11, 1944, when the Resistance fighters liberated Florence, my parents hid Gigi [Luigi], Laura (who was of Jewish exgtraction), her parents and two more of her relatives in various locations where they moved in order to escape capture.”
“After the 1940 Brussels performance of the first panel, 'Preghiera di Maria Stuarda,' the 'Canti di Prigionia' was premiered in its entirety at the Teatro delle Arti in Rome on December 11, 1941 - ironically, on the very same day that Mussolini declared war on the United States. As indicated in the manuscript, the 'Congedo' had been completed in Florence less than two months earlier, precisely on October 23.”
“In 1942, the manuscript of the 'Congedo' was published by Carish Editori in Milan. The first line of page 1 is a dedication: 'a Sandro e a Luisa Materassi.' The manuscript itself, which is dated 1941, carries a later handwritten inscription that would have been impossible to include at the time of publication: Queste 'sudate carte' sono offerte con affetto ai nostri fraterni amici Sandro e Luisa, che con tanto amore ci hanno aiutati ad arrivate in fondo all'anno di prigionia che oggi si conclude e che, in istato d'animo alquanto sollevato, si commemora. / Laura e Luigi / Firenze, 11 Settembre 1944.
[These “sweat-laden papers” (quotation from G. Leopardi's 'A Silvia' (1820), v. 16) are affectionately offered to our fraternal friends, Sandro and Luisa, who so lovingly helped us reach the end of this year of imprisonment that terminates today, and which, with great relief, we commemorate.]
---------
Dallapiccola was the most significant Italian composer of his generation. We have traced no major manuscripts of his on the market in the past ten years and know of only a small number of manuscripts by the composer within the United States, at the Pierpont Morgan and at the Library of Congress. This is the first time that the present manuscript has been offered for sale since its composition and therefore presents an exciting new opportunity for study and scholarship of this important composer.
Number 21 (p. 129) in L'Opera di Luigi Dallapiccola Catalogo Ragionato (Ruffini).
A highly important autograph manuscript from the influential Italian composer and pianist, with numerous alterations and variations from the published score, the third and final section of his “Canti di Prigionia,” a key work from the composer and one of the defining works of “protest music” of the 20th Century. By descent, originally given by the composer and dedicated to his lifelong friends Alessandro and Luisa Materassi. Sandro, one of the leading Italian violinists of the period, performed internationally with Dallapiccola in the Duo Dallapiccola-Materassi from 1930, for over three decades. Sold together with a signed and detailed 3 pp. letter of provenance from the Materassi family (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manuscript”), a published magazine article discussing the relationship of the composer with the Materassi family, and a fine copy of the first published edition of the work (Milano: Carish S.A. Editori. 1948. 39 X 35 cm), autographed and inscribed by Dallapiccola.
----------
“Canti di Priogonia is an example of 'protest music,' as the composer himself defined it, and is without doubt one of the works by which such a category can be defined...What perhaps distinguishes Dallapiccola's Canti from many other works of protest, however, is the degree to which the intense emotion that lies behind it is set within a musical form of a remarkable degree of organization and rationality. The texts used in the work determined the dual nature of the musical setting, combining the highly impassioned, almost desperate pleading of the prayers of Mary Stuart and Girolamo Savonarola which frame the work, with the central, more reflective and philosophical prayer of Boethius...In the formal structure of Canti, Dallapiccola exhibits his characteristic concern with clarity of musical design. This is evident both in the large-scale forms, with all three movements constructed in the arch form that was almost a constant in Dallapiccola's work, and also in smaller-scale canonic procedures. Canons abound in all sections of the piece, but the composer himself was particularly proud of one point in the work. This is a passage at the center of the final 'Congedo di Savonarola,' to which the composer attached a note in the score pointing out the canons...Such rationality of design contributes greatly to the expressivity of Canti, and in this way the work provides a vital link between the earlier and later periods of Dallapiccola's creative life.” (Raymond Fearn, “The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola” (NY: University of Rochester Press), p. 59-62)
The history of the manuscript and the fascinating circumstances by which it was given to the Materassi family are related in an unpublished essay by Mario Materassi (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manusrcipt”), the full version available by request. A few excerpts follow here:
“In the late 1920's, Luigi Dallapiccola and my father Sandro Materassi, a concert violinist, met at the Cherubini Music Conservatory in Florence. A deep, life-long friendship ensued. Their friendship and affection, which included my mother Luisa and Luigi's wife, Laura Luzzatto, extended well beyond their artistic activity. The two couples shared strong intellectual interests, and deep political and ethical values. ...Throughout the years of Fascist oppression, the two families were a source of reciprocal support. From the winter of 1943 to August 11, 1944, when the Resistance fighters liberated Florence, my parents hid Gigi [Luigi], Laura (who was of Jewish exgtraction), her parents and two more of her relatives in various locations where they moved in order to escape capture.”
“After the 1940 Brussels performance of the first panel, 'Preghiera di Maria Stuarda,' the 'Canti di Prigionia' was premiered in its entirety at the Teatro delle Arti in Rome on December 11, 1941 - ironically, on the very same day that Mussolini declared war on the United States. As indicated in the manuscript, the 'Congedo' had been completed in Florence less than two months earlier, precisely on October 23.”
“In 1942, the manuscript of the 'Congedo' was published by Carish Editori in Milan. The first line of page 1 is a dedication: 'a Sandro e a Luisa Materassi.' The manuscript itself, which is dated 1941, carries a later handwritten inscription that would have been impossible to include at the time of publication: Queste 'sudate carte' sono offerte con affetto ai nostri fraterni amici Sandro e Luisa, che con tanto amore ci hanno aiutati ad arrivate in fondo all'anno di prigionia che oggi si conclude e che, in istato d'animo alquanto sollevato, si commemora. / Laura e Luigi / Firenze, 11 Settembre 1944.
[These “sweat-laden papers” (quotation from G. Leopardi's 'A Silvia' (1820), v. 16) are affectionately offered to our fraternal friends, Sandro and Luisa, who so lovingly helped us reach the end of this year of imprisonment that terminates today, and which, with great relief, we commemorate.]
---------
Dallapiccola was the most significant Italian composer of his generation. We have traced no major manuscripts of his on the market in the past ten years and know of only a small number of manuscripts by the composer within the United States, at the Pierpont Morgan and at the Library of Congress. This is the first time that the present manuscript has been offered for sale since its composition and therefore presents an exciting new opportunity for study and scholarship of this important composer.
Dallapiccola, Luigi. (1904–1975). Important Autograph Manuscript, "Congedo di Girolamo Savonarola." . Congedo di Girolamo Savonarola / Canti di Prigonia, N. 3) / Per voci miste e alcuni strumenti / (1941) / Partitura. Autograph manuscript in black and red ink on printed ruled manuscript paper, 39 X 33 cm. Title with date, inscription and dedication; Quotation from Savonarola, Instrumentation, Duration, Performance note; Full score music, p. 1 - 20.
Number 21 (p. 129) in L'Opera di Luigi Dallapiccola Catalogo Ragionato (Ruffini).
A highly important autograph manuscript from the influential Italian composer and pianist, with numerous alterations and variations from the published score, the third and final section of his “Canti di Prigionia,” a key work from the composer and one of the defining works of “protest music” of the 20th Century. By descent, originally given by the composer and dedicated to his lifelong friends Alessandro and Luisa Materassi. Sandro, one of the leading Italian violinists of the period, performed internationally with Dallapiccola in the Duo Dallapiccola-Materassi from 1930, for over three decades. Sold together with a signed and detailed 3 pp. letter of provenance from the Materassi family (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manuscript”), a published magazine article discussing the relationship of the composer with the Materassi family, and a fine copy of the first published edition of the work (Milano: Carish S.A. Editori. 1948. 39 X 35 cm), autographed and inscribed by Dallapiccola.
----------
“Canti di Priogonia is an example of 'protest music,' as the composer himself defined it, and is without doubt one of the works by which such a category can be defined...What perhaps distinguishes Dallapiccola's Canti from many other works of protest, however, is the degree to which the intense emotion that lies behind it is set within a musical form of a remarkable degree of organization and rationality. The texts used in the work determined the dual nature of the musical setting, combining the highly impassioned, almost desperate pleading of the prayers of Mary Stuart and Girolamo Savonarola which frame the work, with the central, more reflective and philosophical prayer of Boethius...In the formal structure of Canti, Dallapiccola exhibits his characteristic concern with clarity of musical design. This is evident both in the large-scale forms, with all three movements constructed in the arch form that was almost a constant in Dallapiccola's work, and also in smaller-scale canonic procedures. Canons abound in all sections of the piece, but the composer himself was particularly proud of one point in the work. This is a passage at the center of the final 'Congedo di Savonarola,' to which the composer attached a note in the score pointing out the canons...Such rationality of design contributes greatly to the expressivity of Canti, and in this way the work provides a vital link between the earlier and later periods of Dallapiccola's creative life.” (Raymond Fearn, “The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola” (NY: University of Rochester Press), p. 59-62)
The history of the manuscript and the fascinating circumstances by which it was given to the Materassi family are related in an unpublished essay by Mario Materassi (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manusrcipt”), the full version available by request. A few excerpts follow here:
“In the late 1920's, Luigi Dallapiccola and my father Sandro Materassi, a concert violinist, met at the Cherubini Music Conservatory in Florence. A deep, life-long friendship ensued. Their friendship and affection, which included my mother Luisa and Luigi's wife, Laura Luzzatto, extended well beyond their artistic activity. The two couples shared strong intellectual interests, and deep political and ethical values. ...Throughout the years of Fascist oppression, the two families were a source of reciprocal support. From the winter of 1943 to August 11, 1944, when the Resistance fighters liberated Florence, my parents hid Gigi [Luigi], Laura (who was of Jewish exgtraction), her parents and two more of her relatives in various locations where they moved in order to escape capture.”
“After the 1940 Brussels performance of the first panel, 'Preghiera di Maria Stuarda,' the 'Canti di Prigionia' was premiered in its entirety at the Teatro delle Arti in Rome on December 11, 1941 - ironically, on the very same day that Mussolini declared war on the United States. As indicated in the manuscript, the 'Congedo' had been completed in Florence less than two months earlier, precisely on October 23.”
“In 1942, the manuscript of the 'Congedo' was published by Carish Editori in Milan. The first line of page 1 is a dedication: 'a Sandro e a Luisa Materassi.' The manuscript itself, which is dated 1941, carries a later handwritten inscription that would have been impossible to include at the time of publication: Queste 'sudate carte' sono offerte con affetto ai nostri fraterni amici Sandro e Luisa, che con tanto amore ci hanno aiutati ad arrivate in fondo all'anno di prigionia che oggi si conclude e che, in istato d'animo alquanto sollevato, si commemora. / Laura e Luigi / Firenze, 11 Settembre 1944.
[These “sweat-laden papers” (quotation from G. Leopardi's 'A Silvia' (1820), v. 16) are affectionately offered to our fraternal friends, Sandro and Luisa, who so lovingly helped us reach the end of this year of imprisonment that terminates today, and which, with great relief, we commemorate.]
---------
Dallapiccola was the most significant Italian composer of his generation. We have traced no major manuscripts of his on the market in the past ten years and know of only a small number of manuscripts by the composer within the United States, at the Pierpont Morgan and at the Library of Congress. This is the first time that the present manuscript has been offered for sale since its composition and therefore presents an exciting new opportunity for study and scholarship of this important composer.
Number 21 (p. 129) in L'Opera di Luigi Dallapiccola Catalogo Ragionato (Ruffini).
A highly important autograph manuscript from the influential Italian composer and pianist, with numerous alterations and variations from the published score, the third and final section of his “Canti di Prigionia,” a key work from the composer and one of the defining works of “protest music” of the 20th Century. By descent, originally given by the composer and dedicated to his lifelong friends Alessandro and Luisa Materassi. Sandro, one of the leading Italian violinists of the period, performed internationally with Dallapiccola in the Duo Dallapiccola-Materassi from 1930, for over three decades. Sold together with a signed and detailed 3 pp. letter of provenance from the Materassi family (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manuscript”), a published magazine article discussing the relationship of the composer with the Materassi family, and a fine copy of the first published edition of the work (Milano: Carish S.A. Editori. 1948. 39 X 35 cm), autographed and inscribed by Dallapiccola.
----------
“Canti di Priogonia is an example of 'protest music,' as the composer himself defined it, and is without doubt one of the works by which such a category can be defined...What perhaps distinguishes Dallapiccola's Canti from many other works of protest, however, is the degree to which the intense emotion that lies behind it is set within a musical form of a remarkable degree of organization and rationality. The texts used in the work determined the dual nature of the musical setting, combining the highly impassioned, almost desperate pleading of the prayers of Mary Stuart and Girolamo Savonarola which frame the work, with the central, more reflective and philosophical prayer of Boethius...In the formal structure of Canti, Dallapiccola exhibits his characteristic concern with clarity of musical design. This is evident both in the large-scale forms, with all three movements constructed in the arch form that was almost a constant in Dallapiccola's work, and also in smaller-scale canonic procedures. Canons abound in all sections of the piece, but the composer himself was particularly proud of one point in the work. This is a passage at the center of the final 'Congedo di Savonarola,' to which the composer attached a note in the score pointing out the canons...Such rationality of design contributes greatly to the expressivity of Canti, and in this way the work provides a vital link between the earlier and later periods of Dallapiccola's creative life.” (Raymond Fearn, “The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola” (NY: University of Rochester Press), p. 59-62)
The history of the manuscript and the fascinating circumstances by which it was given to the Materassi family are related in an unpublished essay by Mario Materassi (“Concerning the Dallapiccola Manusrcipt”), the full version available by request. A few excerpts follow here:
“In the late 1920's, Luigi Dallapiccola and my father Sandro Materassi, a concert violinist, met at the Cherubini Music Conservatory in Florence. A deep, life-long friendship ensued. Their friendship and affection, which included my mother Luisa and Luigi's wife, Laura Luzzatto, extended well beyond their artistic activity. The two couples shared strong intellectual interests, and deep political and ethical values. ...Throughout the years of Fascist oppression, the two families were a source of reciprocal support. From the winter of 1943 to August 11, 1944, when the Resistance fighters liberated Florence, my parents hid Gigi [Luigi], Laura (who was of Jewish exgtraction), her parents and two more of her relatives in various locations where they moved in order to escape capture.”
“After the 1940 Brussels performance of the first panel, 'Preghiera di Maria Stuarda,' the 'Canti di Prigionia' was premiered in its entirety at the Teatro delle Arti in Rome on December 11, 1941 - ironically, on the very same day that Mussolini declared war on the United States. As indicated in the manuscript, the 'Congedo' had been completed in Florence less than two months earlier, precisely on October 23.”
“In 1942, the manuscript of the 'Congedo' was published by Carish Editori in Milan. The first line of page 1 is a dedication: 'a Sandro e a Luisa Materassi.' The manuscript itself, which is dated 1941, carries a later handwritten inscription that would have been impossible to include at the time of publication: Queste 'sudate carte' sono offerte con affetto ai nostri fraterni amici Sandro e Luisa, che con tanto amore ci hanno aiutati ad arrivate in fondo all'anno di prigionia che oggi si conclude e che, in istato d'animo alquanto sollevato, si commemora. / Laura e Luigi / Firenze, 11 Settembre 1944.
[These “sweat-laden papers” (quotation from G. Leopardi's 'A Silvia' (1820), v. 16) are affectionately offered to our fraternal friends, Sandro and Luisa, who so lovingly helped us reach the end of this year of imprisonment that terminates today, and which, with great relief, we commemorate.]
---------
Dallapiccola was the most significant Italian composer of his generation. We have traced no major manuscripts of his on the market in the past ten years and know of only a small number of manuscripts by the composer within the United States, at the Pierpont Morgan and at the Library of Congress. This is the first time that the present manuscript has been offered for sale since its composition and therefore presents an exciting new opportunity for study and scholarship of this important composer.