Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of

modern classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

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, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.Petrassi, Goffredo. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9059491

Life

Petrassi was born at Zagarolo, near

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. At the age of 15 he began to work at a music shop to supply his family's financial needs, and became fascinated by music. In 1928, he entered the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome to study organ and composition. In 1933, composer Alfredo Casella conducted Petrassi's ''Partita'' for orchestra at the ISCM festival in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. From 1940 to 1960 Petrassi was professor of composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory; later, he also became musical director of the opera house

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...

, and from 1960 to 1978 he taught in the master courses in composition at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.Restagno, Enzo (ed.) (1992). ''Petrassi''. Turin: EDT, pp. 41–42. He was also a teacher at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Petrassi had many famous students, including Franco Donatoni, Aldo Clementi, Cornelius Cardew,

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classic ...

, Karl Korte,

Boris Porena Boris Porena (Rome, 27 September 1927 - Cantalupo in Sabina, 3 May 2022) was an Italian thinker, music composer and didactical expert. He was married to Paola Bučan, a famous Croatian cellist and teacher who, until her retirement in 2014 was a t ...

, Norma Beecroft, Mario Bertoncini, Ernesto Rubin de Cervin, Eric Salzman, Kenneth Leighton,

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Mus ...

, Michael Dellaira, Armando Santiago, and Richard Teitelbaum. Petrassi died in

at the age of 98.

Music

Petrassi's early work was part of an attempt by several Italian composers to create a national "Italian" revival in classical music, corresponding to the romantic work of Germans such as

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. During this time, his work was characteristically neoclassical in style, influenced by Bartók, Hindemith and

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

. In later years, Petrassi's open musical mind and acute personality led him to experiment with different post- Webernian influences and a wide range of poetic materials, from Latin hymns to Ariosto's ''La follia d'Orlando'' and ''Ritratto di Don Chisciotte'' (''Portrait of

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

''), based on the

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best know ...

literary character. All these influences are present in a remarkable series of eight Concerti for Orchestra which he composed between 1934 and 1972. Petrassi stopped composing in 1986 due to progressive loss of eyesight.

Works

* Sinfonia, Siciliana e Fuga per Quartetto d'Archi (1929) * Partita for Orchestra (1932) * Preludio, Aria, e Finale for Cello and Piano (1933) * Concerto for Orchestra (1934) * Psalm IX (1934–36) * Piano Concerto (1936–39) * Magnificat (1939–40) * Coro di Morti (1941) * Quatro inni Sacri (1942–50) * La follia di Orlando (1942–43) (also as a symphonic suite) * Ritratto di Don Chisciotte (1945) * Il Cordovano (1948) * Morte dell'aria (1950) * Noche Oscura (1950–51) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 (1951) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 3 (1953) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 4 (1954) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 5 (1955) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 6 (1956–57)Porena, Boris. (1978). ''Goffredo Petrassi: Trio E Quartetto Per Archi''. Italia

TL 70033 TL or Tl may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Teens' love, Japanese erotic fiction marketed towards women * Télé Liban, a Lebanese television network * Turn Left (newspaper), ''Turn Left'' (newspaper), Cornell University student publication ...

Fonit Cetra spa. Retrieved 2021-09-05

/ref> * Quartetto per Archi (String Quartet) (1957) * Serenata (1957) * Trio per Archi (String Trio) (1959) * Flute Concerto (1960) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 7 (1963–64) * Concerto for Orchestra No. 8 (1970–72) * Orationes Christi (1975) * Kyrie (1990)

Notes

External links

The Goffredo Petrassi Institute

*
Guardian obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrassi, Goffredo 1904 births 2003 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia faculty Conservatorio Santa Cecilia alumni Conservatorio Santa Cecilia faculty People from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital