Mario Zafred (2 March 1922

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

– 22 May 1987

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) 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 Defi ...

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

, and opera director. He also served as the president of various Italian music conservatories including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Biography

Zafred began his music studies in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

under Gian Francesco Malipiero before attending the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. After graduating in 1944 with a diploma in music composition he continued to study further under

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

. In 1947 he moved to Paris where he continued to study composition for two years. After returning to Italy in 1949, Zafred began a successful career as a music critic, working first for ''L’unità'' (1949–56) and ''La Giustizia'' (1956–63). In 1966 he became artistic director of the

Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi The Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi is an opera house located in Trieste, Italy and named after the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Privately constructed, it was inaugurated as the Teatro Nuovo to replace the smaller 800-seat "Cesareo Regio Teatro di San Pie ...

in Trieste. He left that house in 1968 to become the artistic director of the Rome Opera where he stayed until he became the director of the

Teatro Lirico Sperimentale The Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto was founded in 1947 by Adriano Belli, lawyer and musicologist, with the aim of helping young singers to start a career in opera, above all students who had already completed their singing studies and were ...

, Spoleto in 1974. In 1973 he was appointed president of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where he stayed until he became president of the Sindacato Nazionale Musicisti in 1983. In 1985 he was appointed honorary president of both the Fondazione Arts Academy and the Istituzione Sinfonica di Roma.

Compositions

Zafred enjoyed a considerable amount of success as a composer in Italy, winning numerous prizes for composition including the

Premio Marzotto The and its twin the are Sedan (automobile), sedans sold in Japan from 2001 to 2021 by Toyota. The sedans are designated as a compact car by Vehicle size class#Japan, Japanese dimension regulations and the exterior dimensions do not change wi ...

(1956), the

Sibelius prize Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

(1959) and the

City of Treviso prize A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

(1963). His career focused mostly on writing symphonic works, including seven

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, three large works for

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, and numerous

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s and

sinfoniettas A sinfonietta is a symphony that is smaller in scale (either in terms of length or the instrumental forces required), or lighter in approach than a standard symphony. Although of Italian form, the word is not genuine in that language and has seld ...

. He also composed a moderate amount of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

works including four

string quartet The term string quartet can refer 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 violinists ...

s, three

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

s, three

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

s, a wind quintet, and a serenata, among others. His output for solo instrument is confined to only a few pieces for the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. Although, Zafred did not compose much

vocal music Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with musical instruments, instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which ...

he did create two fairly successful

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s, ''Amleto'' (1961) and ''Wallenstein'' (1965). His other vocal works consist of a handful of art songs for solo voice and piano with the exception of one piece for voice, piano, and

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

. Zafred’s musical language developed from an early

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

manner to something increasingly simple and accessible. His vast, generally uniform output is rooted in

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

(sometimes 12-tone), the free use of classical forms, and the avoidance of an excessively intellectual approach in favour of fluid musical argument. A personal style of solid craftsmanship reveals the influences of Pizzetti, especially in the early works and the operas, and of Bartók in the elaboration of

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folk melodies in his mature works.

Selected works

Zafred's compositions are published by Ricordi, Boccaccini & Spada and Suvini Zerboni. * Concerto for viola and orchestra (1957) * ''Elegia in tre tempi'' for viola and orchestra (1965) * ''Invenzioni'' for violin, viola and orchestra (1966) * ''Sonata in tre tempi'' for viola solo (1970)

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zafred, Mario 1922 births 1987 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian film score composers Italian music critics Italian male non-fiction writers Male opera composers Italian male film score composers Musicians from Trieste Opera managers Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia faculty Nastro d'Argento winners