''Il canto sospeso'' (''The Suspended Song'') is a
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning o ...
for vocal soloists, choir, and orchestra by the Italian composer
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music.
Biography
Early years
Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...
, written in 1955–56. It is one of the most admired examples of
serial composition from the 1950s, but has also excited controversy over the relationship between its political content and its compositional means.
History
The title ''Il canto sospeso'' may be literally translated as "The Suspended Song", though the word ''sospeso'' may also be rendered as "floating" or "interrupted". The title is actually taken from the Italian edition of a poem, "If We Die", by
Ethel Rosenberg
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
who, together with her husband
Julius
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...
, was tried and convicted in the United States of espionage and of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. Their execution on 19 June 1953 caused outrage in Europe. The phrase in the English original is "the song unsung".
Nono chose his texts from an anthology published in 1954 by
Giulio Einaudi as ''Lettere di condannati a morte della Resistenza europea'', a collection of farewell letters written to loved ones by captured European resistance fighters shortly before their executions by the Nazis. The score is dedicated "a tutti loro" (to all of them). The premiere was given under the direction of
Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor.
Life
Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga ...
in Cologne on 24 October 1956. Four years later, it was performed at the twenty-third Festival of Contemporary Music of the Venice Biennale under the direction of
Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer.
Life
Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s th ...
. This Venice performance was recorded for the radio on 17 September 1960 and in 1988, nearly three decades later, became the first commercially released recording of ''Il canto sospeso''.
Four years after completing the work, Nono incorporated its entire fourth
movement into his opera ''
Intolleranza 1960''.
Scoring
''Il canto sospeso'' is set for solo soprano, alto, and tenor voices, mixed choir, and an orchestra consisting of:
Woodwind
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...
s:
: 4
flutes
: 2
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
s
: 3
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...
s
: 2
bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuos ...
s
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...
:
: 6
horns
: 5
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s
: 4
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
s
3
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...
Percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
:
: 5
snare drum
The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...
s
: 5
suspended cymbals
:
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone.
The gloc ...
: 12
bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...
s
:
marimbaphone
:
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
:
xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...
2
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...
s
celesta
The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...
Strings:
: first
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
s
: second violins
:
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
s
:
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...
s
:
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
es
Analysis
The work is divided into nine movements with changing forces:
The movements are grouped into three large segments of four, three, and two movements, marked by a short pause between groups.
In its alternation of instrumental, choral, and solo movements, as well as in some internal details, ''Il canto sospeso'' resembles a
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning o ...
or mass setting. Although it is in no way a
neoclassical composition, the Darmstadt ideology to which Nono subscribed at the time shared with neoclassical aesthetics a commitment to the notions of purity, order, and objectivity. Nono himself referred to the work as a "cantata".
For its pitch material, ''Il canto sospeso'' employs an
all-interval twelve-tone row sometimes called the "wedge" series because of its presentation of all the intervals within the octave in expanding order. It is a symmetrical series, whose retrograde is identical to the prime form transposed by a
tritone.)
Reception
''Il canto sospeso'' is regarded today as a "serial masterpiece", and is admired for the variety of ideas achieved with the compositional technique of
serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were al ...
, while at the same time the work's expressive content is considered to be unsurpassed by Nono's subsequent works.
Although the premiere under
Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor.
Life
Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga ...
's baton in Cologne on 24 October 1956 was a success, the direct reference to Nazi crimes was bound to be controversial at a time when such things were not generally spoken of in Germany.
Herbert Eimert, reviewing the concert (on which it appeared in the company of
Anton Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...
's opp. 6 and 10 orchestral pieces and
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
's ''Friede auf Erden''), declared that ''Il canto sospeso'' "probably left the most significant impression to date of any concert work of the young generation of composers today. ... This one work would be enough to legitimize the enigmatic 'legacy of
Webern' once and for all".
[, translated in ]
The choice of texts, however, provoked protracted dissension over the appropriateness of Nono's compositional means to its political content, particularly in the context of
Theodor Adorno's recently published "Das Altern der neuen Musik", which associated integral serialism with totalitarian regimes, and his famous phrase, "to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric".. Sides in the debate were largely along national lines, between West Germany and Italy.
Heinz-Klaus Metzger attacked Nono as "a serial
Pfitzner" who exploited such texts "in order to present them at the next important festival to the applause of a delighted bourgeoisie", while Massimo Mila defended Nono against Metzger's attack.
In at least one case opposition to Nono's composition went beyond words. A
terror bombing at the Munich
Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...
on 26 September 1980 killed 13 people and injured more than 200 others. It is believed to have been directed at the scheduled performance of ''Il canto sospeso'', which was cancelled as a result. The political message of the work, rather than its use of
integral serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
, is presumed to have been the provocation for the attack.
Though largely overshadowed by the political debate, various aspects of the composition have attracted a steady stream of analysts,
Recordings
* ''La nuova musica: volume 1''.
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
: ''La vocazione di Mosè''
'Moses_und_Aron'',_act_1_scene_1.html" ;"title="Moses_und_Aron.html" ;"title="'Moses und Aron">'Moses und Aron'', act 1 scene 1">Moses_und_Aron.html" ;"title="'Moses und Aron">'Moses und Aron'', act 1 scene 1 Luigi Nono: ''Il canto sospeso''.
Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer.
Life
Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s th ...
: ''Hyperion''. Sinfonieorchester und Chor der Norddeutscher Rundfunk Hamburg, cond. Hans Rosbaud (Schoenberg, recorded in Hamburg on 12 March 1954).
* Ilse Hollweg, soprano; Eva Bornemann, alto; Friedrich Lenz, tenor; WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Kölner Rundfunkchor and Orchestra of WDR Cologne (Bernhard Zimmermann, chorus master), cond. Bruno Maderna (Nono, recorded in Venice on 17 September 1960).
* Severino Gazzelloni, flute; Dorothy Dorow, soprano; Choro ed Orchestra della Radio Audizioni Italia di Roma, cond. Bruno Maderna (Maderna, recorded in Rome on 8 January 1966). CD recording. Stradivarius STR 10008.
.p. FSM, 1988.
* Luigi Nono: ''Il canto sospeso''.
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
: ''
Kindertotenlieder''; ''
Rückert-Lieder''
o. 3 only Barbara Bonney, soprano; Susanne Otto, alto; Marek Torzewski, tenor; Susanne Lothar and
Bruno Ganz, speakers;
Rundfunkchor Berlin (
Dietrich Knothe, chorus master) (Nono).
Marjana Lipovšek, mezzo-soprano (Mahler).
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
, cond.
Claudio Abbado. Recorded in the Philharmonie, Berlin, 9–11 December 1992 (Nono) and 3 & 4 September 1992 (Mahler). CD recording. Sony Classical SK 53360. Austria: Sony Classical, 1993.
* Luigi Nono, ''Il canto sospeso''. CD 9 of ''Anthology of the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Volume 3: Live, the Radio Recordings 1960–1970''. Ilse Hollweg, soprano; Sophia van Sante, mezzo-soprano; Friedrich Lenz, tenor; members of the Radio Netherlands Choir; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, cond.
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mo ...
. 14-CD set. Radio Netherlands Music RCO 05001. Hilversum: Radio Netherlands Music, 2002.
References
Sources
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Further reading
*
Adorno, Theodor W. 1951. "Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft". In ''Soziologische Forschung in unserer Zeit: Leopold Wiese zum 75. Geburtstag'', edited by Karl Gustav Specht. Cologne: Westdeutscher Verlag. Reprinted in Theodor W. Adorno, ''Prismen'', 7–31. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1955. English as "Cultural Criticism and Society", in ''Prisms'', translated by Samuel and Shierry Weber, 17–34. London: Neville Spearman, 1967. Reprinted Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1981.
* Adorno, Theodor W. 1955. "Das Altern der neuen Musik", broadcast April 1954, first published in ''Der Monat'' 80: 150–158. Expanded in ''Dissonanzen: Musik in der verwalteten Welt''. Göttingen:
ublisher 1956), 136–159. English as "The Aging of the New Music", translated by Robert Hullot-Kentor and Frederic Will. In Theodor W. Adorno, ''Essays on Music'', edited by Richard Leppert 181–202. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
* Nonnenmann, Rainer. 2013. ''Der Gang durch die Klippen:
Helmut Lachenmanns Begegnungen mit Luigi Nono anhand ihres Briefwechsels und anderer Quellen 1957-1990''. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. .
* Pestalozza, Luigi. 1975. "Luigi Nono und Intolleranza 1960". In ''Luigi Nono: Texte: Studien zu seiner Musik'', edited by
Jürg Stenzl
Jürg Thomas Stenzl (born 23 August 1942) is a Swiss musicologist, and University professor.
Life
Born in Basel, Stenzl began his musical education in 1949, first took flute and violin lessons. From 1961 he studied oboe with Walter Huwyler an ...
, 348–379. Zurich: Atlantis. .
External links
* ,
Mojca Erdmann
Mojca Erdmann (born 29 December 1975) is a German soprano who is particularly associated with the Mozart operas. She created the role of Ariadne in Rihm's ''Dionysos'' at the Salzburg Festival.
Career
Born in Hamburg, Erdmann sang in the chil ...
(soprano), , (alto), Robin Tritschler (tenor),
Peter Rundel conductiong the
SWR Symphonieorchester
The SWR Symphonieorchester (Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra) is a radio orchestra affiliated with the '' Südwestrundfunk'' (Southwest German Radio) public broadcasting network. Formed in 2016, the orchestra is administratively based in ...
, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canto Sospeso
Compositions by Luigi Nono
1956 compositions
Serial compositions
Cantatas
Music dedicated to causes or groups