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UMI Microform 9520535 Copyright 1995, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 JAMES-GALLAGHER, ELIZABETH W., D.M.A. Luigi Dallapiccola's Liriche greche: An Analysis for Performance. (1994) Directed by Dr. Eddie Bass. 205 pp. In the early 1940s, composer Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) wrote a triptych of song cycles for voice and instruments, the Liriche greche ("Greek Lyrics"). The individ­ ual cycles are Cinque frammenti di Saffo ("Five Sappho Fragments," 1942); Sex carmina Alcaei ("Six Alcaeus Songs," 1943); and Due liriche di Aruicreonte ("Two Anacreon Lyrics," 1944-45). The songs, settings of Salvatore Quasimodo's Italian translation of ancient Greek lyrics, were the first works Dallapiccola composed in his mature, dodecaphonic style. For Dallapiccola—twentieth-century man, Italian, Central European, lover of litera­ ture, essayist, protester against oppression, and composer—music was a means of self- expression. The central questions of this study are; what does Dallapiccola wish to express in the Liriche greche, and how does he express it? The nature of the songs is related to the circumstances of their composition. Dallapiccola suffered particular hardship in World War II Italy. He lived in fear because his wife was Jewish; he abhorred the fascist government; and he felt ostracized by the musical public. Inspired by the "supreme equilibrium" of Quasimodo's Greek lyrics, Dallapiccola retreated from the war into the "spiritual refuge" of ancient civilization. The cycles are as different as their poets are. Sappho commits herself entirely to her subjects. The music, too, changes identity with each new song. Anacreon is a victim of the power of the gods. He is put through trials and is rendered incoherent by the experience. Alcaeus, the most objective poet, deals not with emotions or deities but with human beings and nature. The cycle transcends emotion and moves in the world of logic. In the opening bars of the first cycle, Dallapiccola presents two archaisms—parallel fifths and canon—which undergird the whole triptych. The pervasiveness of the archaic gives the entire triptych a feeling of remoteness. Other-worldliness also emerges from Dallapiccola's ethereal timbres, slow tempos, soft dynamics, wide-spaced textures, and use of pedal point. The Liriche greche, then, withdraw from the present into a remote region. But the triptych does not end in escape. Rather, it re-emerges to present an image of supreme equilibrium. © 1994 by Elizabeth Woodall James-Gallagher APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dissertation Advisor (^• Committee Members (ii1*-?) ~N I hi.Ium, /-). dyes Il/zi jti Date of Acceptance by Committee )i)*H Date of Final Oral Examination ii • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my appreciation to the members of my committee. Without their help, this project would not have been possible. 1 thank Dr. William Mclver, who chaired the committee and guided my research. I thank Dr. Eddie Bass, who oversaw the analysis of the Liriche greche. I also wish to thank Drs. Nancy Walker and Richard Cox, whose criticisms and comments benefited me greatly. I would like to thank Edizioni Suvini Zerboni in Milan, Italy, the publisher of Dallapiccola's Liriche greche, which gave me permission to reproduce excerpts from the score as examples in this document. Additionally, I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the people who have assisted me in my work. I thank my husband, John Gallagher, whose support has sustained me through this project; I thank the James family and my many friends; and I thank the faculty and staff of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPROVAL PAGE ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Luigi Dallapiccola, Expression, and the Liriche greche 1 Justification of Research 2 Status of Related Research 3 The Place of This Study Within Dallapiccola Scholarship 6 II. DALLAPICCOLA'S WORLD 7 Dallapiccola's Birthplace 8 The Years Leading up to World War I 9 Between the Wars 11 The Fascist Dictatorship and World War II 15 III. DALLAPICCOLA THE COMPOSER 20 Dallapiccola's Works: An Overview 20 Dallapiccola's Aesthetic 21 Dallapiccola's Development as a Composer 24 IV. THE CREATION OF THE TEXTS OF THE LIRICHE GRECHE 36 Dallapiccola's Choice of the Greek Lyrics 36 Life and Times of Salvatore Quasimodo 38 The Ancient Greek Lyrics 43 The Greek Lyrics and Twentieth-Century Culture. 46 V. ANALYSIS OF THE LIRICHE GRECHE 47 Overview of theLiriche greche 47 Analysis of the Liriche greche 50 Conclusion: Structure and Expression in the Liriche greche ...... 189 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 191 DISCOGRAPHY 201 APPENDIX. WORKS LIST 202 iv 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Luigi Dallapiccola. Expression, and the Liriche ureche I do not write any abstract music. In all that I compose—even in a seemingly imper­ sonal canon—I attempt to express something that I have to say.1 I was convinced that the use of the "Dies irae" in the manner of a cantus firmus would facilitate the comprehension of my ideas. "Comprehension," let me repeat, not success nor the possibility of frequent performances. Never in my life—not even for an instant— have such motives influenced my actions or my thoughts.2 For a long time the tonal system showed signs of being inadequate for what com­ posers needed to express Twelve-tone composition ... is the most complete solution as a method of composition in as much as it offers a base upon which to build. Personally I adopted such a method because it is the only one which, up until now, allows me to express what I feel I must express.3 For Luigi Dallapiccola—twentieth-century man, Italian, Central European, lover of litera­ ture, essayist, protester against oppression, and composer—music was a means of self- expression. 1 "Ich schreibe keine abstrakte Musik. In allem, was ich komponiere—sogar in eineni scheinbar un- personlichen Kancm—, versuche ich etwas auszudriicken, was ich zu sagen habe." Everett Helm, "Luigi Dallapiccola in einem unveroffentlichten Gesprach," Melos/Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik 2 (1976): 469 (translation by the author unless otherwise noted). 2 Luigi Dallapiccola, "The Genesis of Canti di prigionia and II prigionierotrans. Rudy Shackelford, Dallapiccola on Opera (London: Toccata Press, 1987), 47. (Hereafter this collection of Dallapiccola's writings will be referred to as Dallapiccola on Opera) 3 "Da molto tempo il sistema tonale dava segni di essere inadeguato a quanto i musicisti avevano urgenza di esprimere .... La dodecafonia ... e la soluzione piu completa del metodo di cornporre. In quanto offire delle basi su cui costruire. Personalmente ho adottato tale metodo perche e il solo che, a tutt'oggi, mi permetta di esprimere quanto sento di dover esprimere." Dallapiccola, "Sulla strada delta dodecafonia," Parole e musica, ed. Fiamma Nicolodi (Milan: II Saggiatore, 1980), 459. (Hereafter this collection of Dallapiccola's writings will be referred to as Parole e musica) "> Between 1942 and 1945, Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-75) composed three song cycles which form a triptych, the Liriche greche ("Greek Lyrics"). The songs are settings of an­ cient Greek texts in an Italian translation by poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-68). The cy­ cles are Cinque frammenti di Sqffb ("Five Sappho Fragments," 1942), for voice and fif­ teen instruments; Sex carmina Alcaei ("Six Alcaeus Songs," 1943), for voice and eleven instruments; and Due liriche di Anacreonte ("Two Anacreon Lyrics," 1944-45), for voice and four instruments. The composite of these three cycles, the, Liriche greche, is the topic of this study. Dallapiccola, if we are to take him at his word, always expressed something in his music, changed his style to suit his expressive needs, and was concerned that his music be understood by his fellow humans.