Compositional process in Dallapiccola's "Ulisse": A survey and analysis of new findings in the Dallapiccola Archive, Florence, Italy.
Item
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Title
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Compositional process in Dallapiccola's "Ulisse": A survey and analysis of new findings in the Dallapiccola Archive, Florence, Italy.
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Identifier
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AAI9432327
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identifier
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9432327
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Creator
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Biondi, Michael Paul.
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Contributor
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Adviser: David Olan
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Date
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1994
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music | Literature, Classical
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Abstract
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Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) was one of Italy's greatest 20th-century composers. Ulisse, his last opera and his largest work, marks the summit of his career. Based on a twelve-tone row, Ulisse features the cantabile vocal style which had become Dallapiccola's trademark. The libretto, by the composer, fuses interpretations of the Ulysses figure not only as it is found in Homer, but also--and especially--in Dante to create a unique 20th-century vision of the legendary hero.;The composer's sketches for Ulisse are preserved in the Dallapiccola Archive in Florence, Italy. They include the earliest attempts at the formation of the twelve-tone row used in the opera, as well as the sketches and drafts for each of the thirteen scenes. From the precise way these sketches are notated and preserved, we can see the systematic and thorough way the composer worked, and can trace the evolution of his ideas as he progressed from earliest to latest stages in the composition of the opera.;From the sketches we can determine four phases in the development of the opera: the pre-compositional stage of row-formation, and three compositional phases: early, developing and mature. The early phase of composition contains brief melodic and rhythmic ideas, while the developing phase extends and manipulates compositional material. The mature phase consists of corrections and final revisions.;The sketches for the twelve-tone row indicate that the composer had developed a type of interval-structure that provided for vertical as well as linear development of pitch material. There is a high degree of correspondence between this interval-structure in its earliest stage and in the later and final stages of the row, and between it and the pitch material of the completed opera. Chapter Three examines this correspondence.;To trace the composer's process of text-setting, Chapter Four surveys the changes the composer made in one line of text extracted from the opera, from early to late stages.;On the last page of the sketches for the final section of the opera, the composer notated an arpeggiated series of fourths. A discussion of this series in Chapter Five suggests it may be of interest in future studies of the opera. (Author wrote two dissertations for his Ph.D. degree. See also UMI pub. #94-32328.).
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
