Luigi Ceccarelli (born 20 April 1953 in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) is an Italian composer.AA.VV. "Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti", diretto da Alberto Basso, Volume appendice 2005, UTET, Torino, 2004, p. 111, .

Biography

Luigi Ceccarelli completed his musical studies in the ‘70s at the

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

Conservatory of Pesaro (Italy) where he studied Electronic Music and Composition with Walter Branchi, Giuliano Zosi and Guido Baggiani. His career as a composer began in 1975, and was strongly influenced by digital technology and research into Sound Spatialisation. In addition to his exclusively musical work right from the start he dedicated a significant part of his professional activity to

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

, cinema and visual arts. After moving to Rome in 1978 he began to collaborate with the ''Gruppo di lavoro intercodice - ALTRO'' (inter-codex work-group), an artistic association led by the painter Achille Perilli, and during this period his contacts with artists in various other disciplines allowed him to develop forms of music that were closely related to the visual arts and the theater. With ALTRO he wrote and performed the music for the performance ''Abominable A'', which was staged at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. In 1981 ALTRO became a dance company with the name of AltroTeatro and, with the choreographer Lucia Latour, Ceccarelli wrote and performed the music for the group’s performances until 1994. These included the show Anihccam dedicated to the Futurist artist

Fortunato Depero Fortunato Depero (30 March 1892 – 29 November 1960) was an Italian Futurism (art), futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer. Biography Although born in Fondo or in the neighboring village of Malosco, according to other sou ...

and staged at the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

in Paris, which launched Ceccarelli’s international career. In 1994 he made the radio-film (a story told only with sounds and music) ''La Guerra dei Dischi'' (The War of the Records), which was commissioned by

Rai Radio 3 Rai Radio 3 (''Radio tre'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organization RAI and specializing in culture and classical music. It is currently directed by Andrea Montanari. Founded on 1 October 1950 ...

and based on a text by

Stefano Benni Stefano Benni (born 12 August 1947) is an Italian satirical writer, poet and journalist. His books have been translated into around 20 foreign languages and scored notable commercial success. 2.5 million copies of his books have been sold in I ...

. This was the beginning of Ceccarelli’s research into the relationship between music and recited texts, which led the composer to create a series of radio plays and audio plays for

. In 1996 his work ''Birds'' for bass clarinet and birdsong was awarded the first prize in the competition of the IMEB ( Institut international de musique électroacoustique de Bourges - France). This institution then invited Ceccarelli to work in Bourges and commissioned various electroacoustic works from him, including ''De Zarb à Daf'' for Iranian percussion instruments. At the end of the ‘90s Ceccarelli founded Edison Studio together with the composers Alessandro Cipriani, Mauro Cardi and Fabio Cifariello Ciardi with whom he created various soundtracks for silent movies from the second and third decades of the 20th century. These soundtracks, performed live by the composers themselves during screenings of the films, have included those for four particularly important movies:

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting '' The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' () is a 1920 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypno ...

Blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

and Inferno. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s with the soundtracks of Inferno realized by Edison Studio were released in 2011 by the

Cineteca di Bologna The Cineteca di Bologna is a film archive in Bologna, Italy. It was founded on 18 May 1962. Since 1989, it has been a member of the Fédération internationale des archives du film (FIAF). It has been a member of the Association des ciném ...

(in the series Cinema ritrovato).Cinema Ritrovato
/ref> Ceccarelli’s particular interest in the relationship between music and film have led him to carry out intensive studies on contemporary cinema and in 2007 he published an article on Stanley Kubrick's

Eyes Wide Shut ''Eyes Wide Shut'' is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella '' Dream Story'' () by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's setting from earl ...

. Starting from 2000, he realized a series of compositions for musical theater and

site-specific art Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. Site-specific art is produced both by commercial artists, and independently, and can ...

installations for the

Ravenna Festival The Ravenna Festival is a summer festival of opera and classical music (as well as dance, jazz, ethnic, musical theater, ballett, sacred music, electronic music, drama, film, plus conventions and exhibitions) held in the city of Ravenna, Italy an ...

, including In Die Resurrectionis, for the Basilica of San Vitale (

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

) and Bianco Nero Piano Forte, in collaboration with the photographers Lelli & Masotti and the writer Mara Cantoni, which was located in the

Biblioteca Classense The Biblioteca Classense is the public library of Ravenna, Italy. In 1803, with the Napoleonic suppression of monasteries and religious institutions, a library was created to harbor the confiscated books. They were housed in the library of the Cam ...

. Also beginning in 2000 Ceccarelli began an artistic collaboration with the Teatro delle Albe, culminating with two works of musical theater, ''L’isola di Alcina'' (The Island of Alcina) and ''Ouverture Alcina'', with a text by Nevio Spadoni in

Romagnol dialect Romagnol ( or ; ) is a Romance language spoken in the historical region of Romagna, consisting mainly of the southeastern part of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The name is derived from the Lombard name for the region, ''Romagna''. Romagnol is classif ...

. These two creations were staged in Italy, as well as in several European cities (Paris, Berlin, Moscow) and in New York. Another work of musical theater that Ceccarelli realized in the same period was the ''Requiem'' staged by the theater company Fanny & Alexander and performed for the first time at the

in 2001. For these works he received the Italian Theater Critics Award of the ''Premio UBU'' (an award where the jury consists of the reviewers in the most important Italian newspapers and magazines) in 2002 (which on that occasion was awarded to a musician for the first time), as well as the prize of

Belgrade International Theatre Festival The Belgrade International Theatre Festival (abbr. BITEF) is a theatre festival that takes place every September annually in Belgrade, Serbia. History Founded in 1967, BITEF has continually followed and supported the latest theatre trends. It h ...

(Serbia) and that of the MESS International Theatre Festival of

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. During this period Ceccarelli continued to compose music for dance performances, and he composed the music for ''Live*'' with the Norwegian dance company ''Wee/Francesco Scavetta''. From 2009 to 2011 he worked with the South African choreographer Robyn Orlin and in collaboration with Alessandro Cipriani he created the music for several dance performances including ''Have you hugged kissed and respected your brown Venus today?'', which was staged at the

Théâtre de la Ville (; "City Theatre") is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Included a ...

in Paris and the

Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg The Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, inaugurated in 1964 as the Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg is the city's major venue for drama, opera and ballet.

. In 2012 Ceccarelli met the double-bass player Daniel Roccato and with him he established an improvisational duo with the double-bass as a source for the electronic processing of sound in real time. In 2013 he returned to composing for the cinema and with Alessandro Cipriani he made the music for the film by Michel Comte ''The Girl from Nagasaki'', a reworking of Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly set in the '60s, which premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in 2014. Luigi Ceccarelli’s works have been released on CD by RaiTrade, CNI, Luca Sossella Editore, Edipan,

BMG-Ariola Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola Express, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international ...

, Newtone Gmeb / UNESCO / Cime and the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. Since 1979 he has been the head professor of Electronic Music Composition at the Conservatory of Perugia.

Catalogue of main works

Musical theatre

* ''Ouverture Alcina'' (2004/2009) - text Nevio Spadoni, directed by Marco Martinelli * ''+/- '' (2009) - directed by Luigi De Angelis-Fanny & Alexander * ''Tupac Amaru, la deconquista, il Pachacuti'' (1997/2007) - on a text by Gianni Toti * ''La Mano, de profundis rock'' (2005) – on a text by Luca Doninelli, directed by Marco Martinelli * ''Francesca da Rimini'' (2004) – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Elena Bucci * ''Galla Placidia'' (2003) – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Elena Bucci * ''Requiem'' (2001) - directed by Luigi de Angelis * ''L’isola di Alcina'' (2000) – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Marco Martinelli * ''Esercizi di Patologia'' (1995/1997) – on a text by Valerio Magrelli * ''Macchine Virtuose'' (1993/1994) – a staged concert by Gianfranco Lucchino * ''Isla Coco'' (1985/1987) - with ElectraVox Ensemble. * music for ''Abominable A'' (1979) – with "Altro, gruppo di lavoro intercodice"

Electroacoustic music

* ''X-Traces'' (2011/2013) - with Daniele Roccato - for double bass and live electronics * ''Il contatore di nuvole'' (2012) – for piano and samples of prepared piano * ''I luoghi comuni non sono segnati sulle carte'' - with Edison Studio, on a text by Marco Martinelli * ''Armonia dell’ascendente'' (2011) - with the Tibetan monks of the Drepung Loseling monastery * ''Cadenza'' (2011) –

acousmatic music Acousmatic music (from Greek ἄκουσμα ''akousma'', "a thing heard") is a form of electroacoustic music that is specifically ''composed'' for presentation using speakers, as opposed to a live performance. It stems from a compositional tradit ...

* ''Birds'' (1995/2011) – for

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

, samples of bass clarinet and birdsongs * ''Quattro pezzi su poesie di Giovanni Pascoli'' (2003/2007): Notte d’Inverno, nella Nebbia, l’Uccellino del Freddo, le Rane – for reciting voice and elaborated sounds, text from four poems by

Giovanni Pascoli Giovanni Placido Agostino Pascoli (; 31 December 1855 – 6 April 1912) was an Italian poet, classical scholar and an emblematic figure of Italian literature in the late nineteenth century. Alongside Gabriele D'Annunzio, he was one of the grea ...

* ''Neuromante'' (1991/2007) - for

alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E, smaller th ...

and elaborated sounds of sax * ''Quanti'' (1991/2007) - for

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and elaborated sounds of clarinets * ''Anima di Metallo'' (1990/2007) - for three percussionists and elaborated sounds of percussions * ''Exsultet'' (1996/2007) - for choir of

gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

and electronic elaboration * ''Cadenza esplosa'' (2006) -

acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French , is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary pupils of the phi ...

piece * ''Inferi'' (2001) - for reciting voice and elaborated sounds, on a text by Mara Cantoni * ''In die resurrectionis'' (1999) - for choir of

and electronic elaboration * ''Respiri'' (1999) - for

french horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

and elaborated samples of horn * ''A propos de la chambre a coucher de Philippe II dans l’église de l’Escorial'' (1998) - for reciting voices and elaborated sounds, on a text by Valerio Magrelli * ''De zarb a daf'' (1996) - for zarb,

daf Daf (), also known as dâyere and riq, is an Iranian frame drum musical instrument, also used in popular and classical music in Persian-influenced South and Central Asia, such as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many ...

, and sampled sounds of zarb and daf * ''Aracne'' (1996) - for reciting voices and elaborated sounds, on a text by Guido Barbieri * ''Luce-ombra'' (from Anihccam),(1995) - for

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

and samples of strings * ''Aleph con zero'' (1993/1994) - for two pianos, two marimbas and sampled sounds * ''Discussione del 3000'' (from Anihccam) (1992) - for two percussionists and sampled sounds of voice * ''Aura in visibile'' (1991/1992) - for flute, piano and vibrating exciters * ''Etaoin shrdlu'' (1985) - for

Double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

and live electronics - with Marcello Federici * ''Titanic & Icarus spa'' (1984) - for amplified cymbals and tam-tams, and vibrating exciters * ''Incontro con Rama'' (1982) - for trombone and live electronics * ''Koramachine'' (1981) - for violin with ringmodulator and seven amplified instruments * ''Il contingente cambia colore'' (1975) – for

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

Soundtracks for cinema

* music for ''The Girl from Nagasaki'' (2013) - with Alessandro Cipriani – a film by Michel Comte (2013) editions M4 Films * music for ''Blackmail'' (2013) - with Edison Studio – a film by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

(1929) * music for ''Inferno'' (2008) - with Edison Studio – a film by Francesco Bertolini e Adolfo Padovan (1911) * music for ''Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari'' (2003) – with Edison Studio – a film by

Robert Wiene Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a German film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer, active during the Silent film, silent era. He is widely-known for directing the landmark 1920 film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ...

(1919) * music for ''Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei'' (2001) – with Edison Studio – a film by Eleuterio Ridolfi (1913) * music for ''Opus II'' (1997) – a film by

Walter Ruttmann Walter Ruttmann (28 December 1887 – 15 July 1941) was a German cinematographer and film director, an important German abstract experimental film maker, along with Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger. He is best known for dir ...

(1921) * music for ''Filmstudie'' (1997) – a film by Hans Richter (1926)

Audiovisual works and installations

* ''Pic'' (2009/2011)) – video * ''Bianco Nero Piano Forte'' (2000/2009) – installation - proses and verses by Mara Cantoni, images by Lelli & Masotti

Works for radio

* music for ''La Commedia della Vanità'' (1998) – by

Elias Canetti Elias Canetti (; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994; ; ) was a German-language writer, known as a Literary modernism, modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and nonfiction writer. Born in Ruse, Bulgaria, to a Sephardi Jews, Sephardic Jewish fam ...

, adapted and directed by Giorgio Pressburgher * ''I Viaggi in Tasca, 20 luoghi mentali'' (1995) – on twenty texts by Valerio Magrelli * ''La Guerra dei Dischi'' (1994) – on a text by

Music for dance

* music for ''… Have you hugged, kissed and respected your brown Venus today?'' (2011) – with Alessandro Cipriani – choreography by Robyn Orlin * ''Strangely Enough'' (2010) – with Daniele Roccato and Wee Company – choreography by Francesco Scavetta * music for ''With astonishment I note the dog (revisited)'' (2009) – with Alessandro Cipriani – choreography by Robyn Orlin * ''Hey dude, let’s stick around a bit longer this time'' (2005/2008) – choreography by Francesco Scavetta * music for ''A Glimpse of Hope'' (2008) – choreography by Simone Sandroni, Lenka Flory * music for ''Margine Buio'' (2007) – choreography by Simone Sandroni, Lenka Flory * ''Live*'' (2002) – choreography by Francesco Scavetta * music for ''Tre Soli Italiani'' (2000) – three choreographyes by Francesco Scavetta, Monica Francia and Antonio Montanile * ''Naturalmente Tua'' (1992) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Anihccam'', (1989) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''On y Tombe on n’y Tombe'' (1988) – with Luca Spagnoletti – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Frilli Troupe'' (1986) – con Luca Spagnoletti – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''La Lu La'' (1984) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Spatium Teca'' (1982) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Porte à Faux'', (1981) – choreography by Lucia Latour

Main CD and DVD

Monographic CD

* ''La Mano'' (2006)– Luca Sossella editions * ''Exsultet'' (2005) –

Rai Trade (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels and ...

editions RTC006 * ''L’isola di Alcina'' (2000) – Ravenna Teatro editions CD 01/00 * ''Macchine Virtuose'' (1996) - Edipan editions CCD 3062 * ''La guerra dei Dischi/Naturalmente Tua'' (1995) – Edipan editions CCD 3054 * ''Anihccam'' AA.VV. "Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti", edite by Alberto Basso, Volume ''I titoli e i personaggi'', UTET, Torino, 1999, p. 85, . (1992) – BMG-Ariola editions CCD 3005

CD and DVD with Edison Studio

* ''Inferno'' (2011) – DVD Il Cinema Ritrovato editions –

* ''Edison Studio'' (2007) – DVD Auditorium editions EdiLDC278 1139/40 * ''Zarbing'' (2005) – CD edition La Frontiera LFDL 18401 – RaiTrade editions RTP00902005

References

Bibliography

* AA.VV., item "Luigi Ceccarelli", in ''Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti'', edited by Alberto Basso, Volume appendice 2005, UTET, Torino, 2004, p. 111, . * AA.VV., item "Anihccam", in ''Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti'', edited by Alberto Basso, Volume ''I titoli e i personaggi'', UTET, Torino, 1999, p. 85, .

External links

Luigi Ceccarelli official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceccarelli, Luigi Italian male classical composers Avant-garde composers 20th-century Italian classical composers 20th-century male composers 21st-century Italian classical composers 1953 births Living people Electroacoustic music composers People from Rimini 20th-century Italian male musicians 21st-century Italian male musicians