Synopsis
Ask a serious music lover to name major figures in 20th century music and it’s likely the names Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Bartók will crop up. But in addition to those Austrian, Russian and Hungarian composers, a lively group of Italian modernists were also active throughout the 20th century — only their names and music are not so well known.
One of them was Goffredo Petrassi, born in 1904. Petrassi became one of the leading figures in a group of Italian composers that included Luigi Dallapiccola, Alfredo Casella and Gian Francesco Malipiero. This group tried to compensate for Italy’s almost total preoccupation with opera by concentrating more on instrumental pieces.
Petrassi’s own musical influences range from the Italian Renaissance music he sang as a young choirboy in Rome to the works of abstract painters like Jackson Pollock that he viewed when visiting America.
Petrassi’s largest body of work was his eight Concertos for Orchestra composed between 1933 and 1972, but in his final years he turned to chamber works, such as this Autumn Sestina completed in 1982, scored for six instruments. When asked where the “Autumn” in the title came from, the 78-year-old Petrassi responded, “Perhaps it’s got something to do with my age.”
Music Played in Today's Program
Goffredo Petrassi (1904-2003): Sestina d’autunno; Compania; Andrea Molino, conductor; Stradivarius 33347
On This Day
Births
1824 - Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana, in Leitomischl
1900 - German-born American composer Kurt Weill, in Dessau
1905 - American composer Marc Blitzstein, in Philadelphia
1917 - British composer John Gardner, in Manchester
1921 - British composer Robert Simpson, in Leamington
Deaths
1959 - Finnish composer Yrjö (Henrik) Kilpinen, 97, in Helsinki. He was the most famous Finnish composer of art songs (lieder).
2003 - Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi, 98, in Rome
2003 - Australian composer Malcolm Williamson, 71, in Cambridge, England. In 1975, he became the first non-British born composer to serve as the Queen’s Master of Music.
Premieres
1724 - Handel: opera Giulio Cesare in London (Julian date: Feb. 20)
1744 - Handel: oratorio Joseph and his Brethren in London at the Covent Garden Theater (Gregorian date: March 13)
1792 - Haydn: Symphony No. 98, conducted by the composer, at the Hanover-Square Concert Rooms in London
1795 - Haydn: Symphony No. 103 (The Drumroll), conducted by the composer, at the King's Theater in London
1874 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 3, in St. Petersburg, with the composer conducting. This was a benefit concert for the victims of the Volga famine, and marked Rimsky-Korsakov's debut as a conductor (Julian date: Feb. 18).
1887 - R. Strauss: Aus Italien (From Italy), in Munich
1911 - Scriabin: Symphony No. 5 (Prometheus: Poem of Fire), in Moscow (Gregorian date: Mar. 15)
1961 - Copland: Nonet for Strings, at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., by members of the National Symphony conducted by the composer
1977 - Benjamin Lees: Dialogue for cello and piano, in New York City
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.
