Giacinto Scelsi
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Giacinto Scelsi, Count of Ayala Valva (January 8, 1905 – August 9, 1988), was an Italian composer. He is best known for writing music based on only one pitch, such as Quattro Pezzi Su Una Nota Sola ["Four pieces each on a single note"] (1959). He also wrote surrealist poetry in French. (His name is pronounced ja-CHEEN-to SHELLsi.)
Contents
Life
Born in La Spezia, Scelsi studied music first in Rome, and later in Vienna with a disciple of Arnold Schönberg, and became one of the first adepts of dodecaphony in Italy. At the end of the 1940s, he underwent a profound religious crisis that led him to the discovery of Eastern spirituality and also to a radical transformation of his view of music. He rejected the notions of composition and author in favor of sheer improvisation.Scelsi came to conceive of artistic creation as a means of communicating a higher transcendent reality to the listener. From this point of view, the artist is considered a mere intermediator. It is for this reason that he never allowed his image to be shown in connection with his music. He preferred instead to identify himself with a line under a circle, a symbol of Eastern provenance. Some photographs of Scelsi have emerged after his death.
Scelsi was a friend and a mentor to Alvin Curran and other expatriate American composers such as Frederic Rzewski who lived Rome during the 1960s (Curran, 2003, in NewMusicBox). Scelsi also "conspired" with other American composers including John Cage, Morton Feldman and Earle Brown who visited him in Rome.
Alvin Curran recalled that: "Scelsi ... came to all my concerts in Rome even right up to the very last one I gave just a few days before he died.... This was in the summer time, and he was such a nut about being outdoors. He was there in a fur coat and a fur hat. It was an outdoor concert. He waved from a distance, beautiful sparking eyes and smile that he always had, and that's the last time I saw him." (Ross, 2005).
Scelsi died in Roma in 1988.
Frances-Marie Uitti has recorded his entire works for solo cello.
Works
First period (1929-1948)
- Chemin du coeur (for violin and piano) - 1929;
- Rotative (Symphonic poem for three pianos, winds and percussion) - 1929;
- *(version for 2 pianos and percussion) - 1938;
- 40 Preludes (for piano) - 1930-40;
- 6 Pieces from "Paralipomeni" (for piano) 1930-40;
- Dialogo (for cello and piano) - 1932;
- Sinfonietta (for orchestra) - 1932;
- Tre canti di primavera (for voice and piano) - 1933;
- L'amour et le crane (for voice and piano) - 1933;
- Tre canti (for voice and piano) - 1933;
- Suite No. 2 (for piano) - 1934;
- Toccata (for piano) - 1934;
- Poems (for piano) - 1934/39*;
- Sonata (for violin and piano) - 1934;
- Concertino (for piano and orchestra) - 1934;
- Trio No. 1 (for violin, cello and piano) - 1936;
- Preludio, Ariosa e Fuga (for orchestra) - 1936;
- Suite No. 5 (for piano) - unknown;
- Suite No. 6 "I Capricci di Ty" (for piano) - 1938/39;
- Hispania (Triptych for piano) - 1939;
- Sonata No. 1 (for piano) - unknown;
- Sonata No. 2 (for piano) - 1939;
- Sonata No. 3 (for piano) - 1939;
- Sonata No. 4 (for piano) - unknown;
- Trio No. 2 (for violin, cello and piano) - 1939;
- Variations (for piano) - 1940;
- Variations and Fugue (for piano) - 1941;
- Ballata (for cello and piano) - 1943;
- String Quartet No. 1 - 1944*;
- *(version for string orchestra) - 1962;
- Introduction and Fugue (for string orchestra) - 1945;
- La Nascita del Verbo (Cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra) - 1948
Second period (1952-1959)
- Suite No. 8 "Bot-Ba: Evocation of Tibet with its monasteries on high mountain summits: Tibetan rituals, prayers and dances" (for piano) - 1952*;
- Quattro Illustrazioni "Four illustrations of the metamorphoses of Vishnu" (for piano) - 1953*;
- Cinque incantesimi (for piano) - 1953*;
- Suite No. 9 "Ttai: A succession of episodes which alternatively express time - or more precisely, time in motion and man as symbolized by cathedrals or monasteries, with the sound of the sacred 'Om'" (for piano) - 1953*;
- Piccola suite (for flute and clarinet) - 1953;
- Suite No. 10 "Ka: The word 'ka' has many meanings, but the principle one is 'essence'" (for piano) - 1954*;
- Pwyll (for flute) - 1954*;
- Three studies (for Eb clarinet) - 1954;
- Preghiera per un ombra (for Bb clarinet) - 1954;
- Divertimento No. 2 (for violin) - 1954;
- Yamaon (for bass voice and alto sax, baritone sax, contrabassoon, double bass, percussion) - 1954-58;
- Action Music (for piano) - 1955;
- Divertimento No. 3 (for violin) - 1955*;
- Divertimento No. 4 (for violin) - 1955;
- Coelocanth (for viola) - 1955*;
- Hyxos (for alto flute in G, 2 gongs and cow-bell) - 1955;
- Suite No. 11 (for piano) - 1956;
- Four Pieces (for trumpet) - 1956*;
- Three Pieces (for saxophone or bass trombone) - 1956*;
- Four Pieces (for horn in F) - 1956;
- Ixor (for reed; Bb clarinet, oboe) - 1956*;
- Divertimento No. 5 (for violin) - 1956;
- Three Studies (for viola) - 1956;
- Three Pieces (for trombone) - 1957*;
- Trilogy "Triphon, Dithome, Ygghur" (for cello) - 1957-61/65*;
- Rucke di guck (for piccolo and oboe) - 1957;
- String Trio - 1958*;
- I presagi [The Forebodings] (for 10 instruments, brass and percussion) - 1958;
- Tre canti popolari (for 4-voice mixed choir) - 1958;
- Tre canti sacri (for 8-voice mixed choir) - 1958*;
- Kya (for Bb clarinet solo, and seven instruments) - 1959*;
- Quattro pezzi su una nota sola [Four pieces each on a single note] (for chamber orchestra) - 1959*
Third period (1960-1969)
- Ho "Four Songs" (for soprano voice) - 1960;
- Wo-Ma (for bass voice) - 1960;
- Hurqualia "A Different Realm" (for large orchestra, with amplified instruments) - 1960*;
- String Quartet No. 2 - 1961*;
- Aion "Four Episodes in one Day of Brahma" (for orchestra) - 1961*;
- Taiagaru "Five Invocations" (for soprano voice) - 1962;
- Riti "Ritual March" (version for Achilles, for four percussionists) - 1962;
- *(version for Alexander, for tuba, double bass, contrabassoon, electric organ & percussion) - 1962;
- *(version for Carl the Great, for cello and 2 percussionists) - 1967;
- Khoom "Seven episodes of an unwritten tale of love and death in a distant land" (for soprano voice, horn, string quartet & percussion) - 1962*;
- 20 Canti del Capricorno (for soprano) - 1962-72*;
- String Quartet No. 3 - 1963*;
- Hymnos (for large orchestra) - 1963*;
- Chukrum (for string orchestra) - 1963*;
- Xnoybis "The ability of energy to ascend to the spirit" (for violin) - 1964*;
- String Quartet No. 4 - 1964*;
- Yliam (for female choir) - 1964;
- Duo (for violin and cello) - 1965*;
- *(version for violin and double bass) - 1977;
- Anahit "Lyric Poem on the name of Venus" (for violin and 18 instruments) - 1965*;
- Anagamin "The one who is faced with a choice between going back and refusing to" (for 12 strings) - 1965;
- Ko-Lho (for flute and clarinet) - 1966*;
- Elegia per Ty (for viola and cello) - 1958/66*;
- Ohoi "The Creative Principles" (for 16 strings) - 1966;
- Uaxuctum "The Legend of the Maya City which destroyed itself for religious reasons" (for 4 vocal soloists, ondes martenot solo, mixed choir and orchestra) - 1966*;
- Ko-Tha "Three Dances of Shiva" (for guitar) - 1967;
- *(version for double bass) - 1972;
- *(version for six-string cello) - 1978*;
- Manto I, II, III (for viola and female voice) - 1967;
- Ckckc (for soprano voice and mandolin) - 1967;
- Natura renovatur (for 11 strings) - 1967;
- Tkrdg (for 6-voice male choir, electric guitar and percussion) - 1968;
- Okanagon "Okanagon is like a rite, or if you will, like grasping the heartbeat of the Earth" (for harp, tamtam & double bass) - 1968*;
- Konx-Om-Pax "Three aspects of sound: as the first motion of the immovable, as creative force, as the syllable 'om'" (for mixed choir, and orchestra) - 1969*;
Fourth period (1970-1985)
- Il est grand temps (for voice) - 1970;
- Meme si je voyais (for voice) - 1970;
- Three Latin Prayers (for voice) - 1970*;
- Antifona "on the name of Jesus" (for male choir) - 1970*;
- Nuits (2 pieces; for double bass) - 1972*;
- Pranam I "In memory of the tragic losses of Jani and Sia Christou" (for soprano voice, 12 instruments & tape) - 1972;
- L'ame ailee (for violin) - 1973*;
- L'ame ouverte (for violin) - 1973*;
- Arc-en-ciel (for two violins) - 1973*;
- Sauh I & II (for two female voices) - 1973;
- Sauh III & IV (for four female voices) - 1973;
- Pranam II (for nine instruments) - 1973*;
- Voyages (2 pieces; for cello) - 1974*;
- Et maintenant c'est a vous de jouer (for cello and double bass) - 1974;
- Kshara (for two doubles basses) - unknown;
- To the master "Two improvisations" (for cello and piano) - 1974;
- Manto "per quattro" (for voice, flute, trombone and cello) - 1974;
- In Nomine Lucis (2 pieces; for electric organ) - 1974*;
- Aitsi (for electronically prepared piano) - 1974*;
- *(version as String Quartet No. 5) - 1985*;
- Pfhat "A flash... and the sky opened!" (for mixed choir and large orchestra) - 1974*;
- Maknongan (for low-voice instrument: double bass, contrabassoon, etc) - 1976*;
Selected discography
- Yamaon; Anahit; I presagi; Tre Pezzi; Okanagon (Kairos 1203) the Klangforum Wien conducted by Hans Zender
- Streichquartett Nr. 4; Elohim; Duo; Anagamin; Maknongan; Natura renovatur (Kairos 1216) the Klangforum Wien conducted by Hans Zender
- Action Music, Suite No 8 "bot-ba" (Kairos 1231) played on piano by Bernhard Wambach
- The Piano Works 1 (Mode Records 92) played by Louise Bessette
- Music For High Winds (Mode Records 102)
- Chamber Works For Flute And Piano (Cpo 999340)
- Complete Works For Flute And Clarinet (Col Legno 200350) played by the Ebony Duo
Sources
- [NewMusicBox.org: Waking Up to Alvin Curran] Wednesday, November 26, 2003 1:30-2:30 p.m. A Conversation with Frank J. Oteri at the American Music Center © 2004 NewMusicBox
- [Scelsi Morning After] November 15, 2005 by Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise Articles, a blog, and a book-in-progress by the music critic of The New Yorker
- [Fondazione Isabella Scelsi]
External links
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