Photo: Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini

 

Giacinto Scelsi: Music across the Borders

Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini, Lucca, Italy

The opening of the archive at Fondazione Isabella Scelsi in 2009 made it possible to explore the work and significance of the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988). This meant countless documents, letters, notes, recordings as well as musicological analyses were made accessible to the public. Special insights into compositional processes that follow neither traditional compositional techniques nor ideas of the musical Modern Age have been published in recent years. In 2019, the focus is now on a volume that explores the composer's most important creative periods. Presented in Part 1 is the aesthetic development and compositional processes, especially in Scelsi's works from the late 1950s marked by non-European influences. Traditional concepts like work, improvisation and notation are explored and therefore questioned afresh. Analyses of his compositions, which as a rule feature unusual line-ups, are published alongside string quartets, piano works and essays accompanied by critical commentary. The way Scelsi's work is received in different cultures in the 21st century is also the subject of research by international musicologists. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is funding the publication of Giacinto Scelsi: Music across the Borders.


Further Information:
luigiboccherini.org