Petrassi, Goffredo

Petrassi, Goffredo
▪ 2004

      Italian composer (b. July 16, 1904, Zagarolo, Italy—d. March 2, 2003, Rome, Italy), was one of the leading creators of Italian modernist music. His progressive exploration of compositional styles was exemplified in his eight concertos for orchestra. As a child, Petrassi studied in the choir school of San Salvatore in Lauro. When he was 15, he left school to work in a music shop, though he continued to study privately. In 1928 he was admitted as a student of composition to the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome; he graduated in 1932 and began teaching there in 1934. Already his colourful Partita (1932) had been well received in Rome, and in 1933 it was played at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Amsterdam. His dark madrigal Coro di morti (1940–41) was regarded as one of his masterpieces, as was the moving cantata Noche oscura (1950–51), a setting of St. John of the Cross with contrapuntal textures. His First Concerto for Orchestra (1933–34) was similar in style to the Partita. During the 1950s he wrote five more concertos, ranging from pastoral delicacy to esoteric avant-garde intricacy. His later works became athematic, shaped by the timbre of the instruments. Petrassi's Seventh Concerto for Orchestra appeared at the beginning of the 1960s and the Eighth a decade later. His last major work was the large choral piece Orationes Christi (1974–75). Petrassi was director of La Fenice Theatre, Venice's opera house, in 1937–40. He then taught composition at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia until 1959 and thereafter at the Academy of Santa Cecilia; he retired in 1974.

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▪ Italian musician
born July 16, 1904, Zagarolo, near Rome, Italy
died March 2, 2003, Rome

      one of the most influential Italian composers of the 20th century. He is known for incorporating various avant-garde techniques into a highly personal style.

      Petrassi was born to a family of modest means. He studied voice for some time at the Schola Cantorum di San Salvatore in Rome before he was forced to seek employment as an assistant at a music shop. There he attracted the attention of composer Alessandro Bustini, who offered Petrassi free piano lessons. Petrassi then studied composition with Bustini and organ with Fernando Germani at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he received diplomas in composition (1932) and organ (1933) and later taught harmony and composition (1934–36). In 1956 he taught composition classes at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, and throughout his career he toured widely as a conductor. In 1959 he became a professor of composition at the Academy of Santa Cecilia, a position he held until 1974.

      Petrassi composed in a variety of styles—his early music shows the influence of Alfredo Casella (Casella, Alfredo) and Paul Hindemith (Hindemith, Paul), while his later works were influenced by Igor Stravinsky (Stravinsky, Igor) and Arnold Schoenberg (Schoenberg, Arnold). Choral composition, as in Coro di morti (1940–41), the cantata Noche oscura (1950–51), and Orationes Christi (1974–75), played a major role in his development. In his later compositions he displayed an interest in 12-tone (12-tone music) procedures, and several of his eight concerti for orchestra (1931–72) are deeply atonal (atonality). Petrassi's compositions include orchestral works (Partita, 1932; Concerto No. 1, 1933–34), operas (Il cordovano, 1949; Morte dell'aria, 1950), ballets (La follia di Orlando, 1942–43; Ritratto di Don Chisciotte, 1945), chamber and keyboard music (Psalm IX for chorus, strings, brass, three pianos, and percussion, 1934–36; Kyrie, for chorus and strings, 1990), and songs.

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