Guido Turchi (10 November 1916 – 15 September 2010) 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 writer on music. Guido Turchi was born in Rome, where he later studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia with Cesare Dobici, A. Ferdinandi, and Alessandro Bustini, and was awarded diplomas in piano and composition in 1940. In 1945 he achieved the highest possible marks in the advanced diploma course given by

Ildebrando Pizzetti Ildebrando Pizzetti (20 September 1880 – 13 February 1968) was an Italian composer of classical music, as well as a musicologist and a music critic. Biography Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" alon ...

. Like many Italian composers of his own and the preceding generation, he was not interested in continuing the tradition of his immediate predecessors of the 19th century, but rather turned to other, earlier sources: Gregorian plainchant, Renaissance madrigals, instrumental composers of the eighteenth century, and to non-Italian music of contemporary Europe. In his early works, Turchi employed a musical language sometimes close to the twelve-tone system, though he did not embrace it entirely. The neo-madrigalism fashionable at the time also marks his work, with particular influences from

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). ...

. Bartók's stamp is also prominent on works such as the ''Concerto breve'' (1947) for string quartet. The ''Piccolo concerto notturno'' (1950), combining a post-tonal style indebted to

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

with bold neo-Impressionist colours, is one of his most successful pieces. Turchi's only opera is the three-act ''Il buon soldato Svejk'', to a libretto by Gerardo Guerrieri based on

Jaroslav Hašek Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czechs, Czech writer, Humorism, humorist, Satire, satirist, journalist, Bohemianism, bohemian, first anarchist and then communist, and commissar of the Red Army against the Czechoslovak Legion. He is best k ...

’s '' Osudy dobrého vojáka Svejka za svetové války'' (The Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk During the World War), first performed at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

in 1962 after a gestation period of almost ten years. It begins in a style reminiscent of

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

’s ''

Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Composed between 1914 and 1922, it premiered in 1925. It is based on the drama '' Woyzeck'', which German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at his death. Berg attende ...

'', and progresses to a lighter, more detached mood. Turchi died in Venice in September 2010.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turchi, Guido 1916 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Italian classical composers 20th-century male composers Italian male classical composers Composers from Rome 20th-century Italian male musicians