Bruno Bettinelli (4 June 1913 – 8 November 2004) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and teacher.

Biography

Bruno Bettinelli was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

where he studied at the Conservatorio "G. Verdi" in Milan, under the tutelage of Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Renzo Bossi. He held the title of professor of composition at that same institute and he trained many notable contemporary Italian musicians, including

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, Emiliano Bucci,

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, Gilberto Serembe, Danilo Lorenzini, Roberto Cacciapaglia,

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, Armando Gentilucci,

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, Angelo Paccagnini, Bruno Zanolini, Silvia Bianchera, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Francesco Degrada, Massimo Di Gesu, Carlo Alessandro Landini, Massimo Anfossi, Caterina Calderoni, Barbara Rettagliati, Massimo Berzolla and many others. He also taught the Italian singer-songwriter

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. He received many international awards for composition, including a prize from Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in the 1940s. He has also worked in musicology and music criticism. His compositions are currently performed all over the world. Bettinelli's music is published primarily by Ricordi, Suvini Zerboni and Sonzogno. He was elected Academic of Accademia National di Santa Cecilia (Rome), as well as a member of the Luigi Cherubini National Academy in Florence. Bruno Bettinelli died in Milan in 2004 at the age of 91. As a memoriam to Bruno Bettinelli, Milan's Edizioni Musicali European (EME), in collaborations with the magazines "Cartellina" and "Chorus," established a national competition for choral composition in his name.

Music

Bettinelli is an author of symphonic, choral, opera, and chamber music. His younger works incorporated a contrapuntal neoclassicism, influenced by

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and

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and by the Italian composers

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

Goffredo Petrassi Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.Petrassi, Goffredo. (2008). ...

and

Gian Francesco Malipiero Gian Francesco Malipiero (; 18 March 1882 – 1 August 1973) was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor. Life Early years Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gi ...

. His later music evolved constantly and incorporated new elements: atonality, dodecaphony (which however Bettinelli used in a very personal and never orthodox way) as well as the new instrumental techniques (multiphonic, harmonic, and other similar instrumental effects). His music flows into a free and personal chromatic language, always full of refined timbres and effectively eloquent gestures, endowed with formal structures of remarkable expressive rigour. His numerous symphonic compositions makes him the most important Italian composer of symphonies in the second half of Twentieth century.

List of works (selection)

CD and scores of works by Bruno Bettinelli

Orchestral music

*''Choral obstinate'' for large orchestra (1938) *''Movimento sinfonico n. 1'' for orchestra (1938) *''Sinfonia da camera in quattro tempi'' for orchestra (1938) (a.k.a. ''Symphony No. 1'') *''Due invenzioni'' for string orchestra (1939) *''Concerto per orchestra in tre tempi'' (1940) *''Introduzione'' for string orchestra (1941) *''Fantasia e fuga su temi gregoriani'' (Fantasy and Fugue on Gregorian themes) for string orchestra (1944) *''Divertimento'' for small orchestra (1944) *''Concerto da camera'' for small orchestra (1952) *''Concerto'' for piano and orchestra (1952–1953) *''Sinfonia breve'' for orchestra (1954) (a.k.a. ''Symphony No. 4'') *''Musica'' for string orchestra (1958) *''Preludio elegiaco'' (Elegiac Prelude) for orchestra (1959) *''Episodi'' for orchestra (1961–1962) *''Concerto'' for 2 pianos and chamber orchestra (1962) *''3° Concerto'' for orchestra (1964) *''Concerto n. 2'' for piano and orchestra (1968) *''Varianti'' for orchestra (1970) *''Studio'' for orchestra (1973) *''Sinfonia n. 5'' for orchestra (1975) *''Sinfonia n. 6'' for orchestra (1976) *''Sinfonia n. 7'' for small orchestra (1978) *''Contrasti'' for orchestra (1979) *''Concerto'' for guitar and string orchestra with vibraphone ''ad libitum'' (1981) *''Quadruplum'' for orchestra (1981) *''Concerto'' for violin and orchestra (1982–1983) *''Alternanze'' for orchestra (1983) *''Omaggio a Stravinsky'' (Homage to Stravinsky) for chamber orchestra (1984) *''Strutture'' for small orchestra (1985) *''4° Concerto'' for orchestra (1988) *''3 Studi d'interpretazione'' for string orchestra (1990)

Operas

*''Il pozzo e il pendolo'' (The Pit and the Pendulum), an opera in one act from Edgar Allan Poe (1957) *''La Smorfia'', an opera in one act and two scenes, libretto by Riccardo Bacchelli (1959) *''Count down'', an opera in one act, libretto by Antonello Madau Diaz (1969)

Instrumental music

*''Improvisation'' for guitar (1970) *''Studio da concerto'' for solo clarinet (1971) *''Cinque Preludi'' (Five Preludes) for guitar (1971) *''Studio da concerto'' for harpsichord (1972) *''Musica per sette per gruppo da camera'' (Music for seven for chamber group) (1975) *''Sonata breve'' for guitar (1976) *''Due movimenti'' for viola and piano (1977) *''Etudes'' for guitar (1977) *''Studio da concerto'' for solo bassoon (1977) *''Divertimento a due'' for 2 guitars (1982) *''Musica a due'' for flute and guitar (1982) *''Come una cadenza'' for guitar (1983) *''Dialogo'' for flute and piano (1983) *''5 + 5'' for double mixed quintet (1984) *''Tre pezzi per pianoforte'' (Three pieces for piano) (1984) *''Studio da concerto'' for solo cello (1991) *''Trio'' for Strings (1993)

Polyphonic choral music

*''Tre liriche corali di Ungaretti'' (Three choral lyrics of Ungaretti) (1940) *''Liriche di Ungaretti'' for chorus a cappella (1971) *''Sono una creatura'' (I am a creature), cantata for chorus and orchestra, text by Giuseppe Ungaretti (1971) *''Poesie di Tiziana'' for female choir, text by Tiziana Fumagalli (1978) *''Cantata No 2'' "In Nativitate Domini" for soprano and orchestra (1982) *''Cantata No 3'' for chorus and orchestra, text by Thomas Campanella (1985) *''Tre mottetti'' (Three motets) for choir of mixed voices (1985) *''Dittico ambrosiano'' for choir of four voices (1997) *''Missa Brevis'' (1997) *''Vocalizzo su Amen'' for choir of four mixed voices (1997)

Other choral music

*''Belina come te'' (Beautiful Like You) for four-part mixed choir (2001) *''E la bela de oflaga'' for four-part male choir (1985) *''Dormi o bel bambin'' (Sleep, o pretty baby) for four-part male choir (1985) *''La moretina'' for four-part male choir *''Alzando gli occhi al cielo'' (Raising the eyes to heaven) for four-part male choir (1998) *''L'erba rosa'' (The pink grass) for four-part male choir (1996) *''La cartolina'' for four-part male choir(1995) *''Varda i mori che bate le ore'' for four-part male choir (1996) *''Se la te domanda'' (If you ask it) for four-part male choir (1996) *''Tre canti popolari lombardi'' (Three popular Lombardi songs) for mixed choir: - ''Pover usellin'' - ''Ninna nanna del Bambin Gesù'' - ''Ciapa cinque''

References

External links

*. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bettinelli, Bruno 1913 births 2004 deaths Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers Musicians from Milan 20th-century Italian classical composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian male musicians