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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.) Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Giacinto Scelsi. ...
January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
August 9 is the 221st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (222nd in leap years), with 144 days remaining. ...
1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ...
Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ...
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. Map of Italy showing La Spezia in the northwest La Spezia is a city in the Liguria region of northern Italy, at the head of La Spezia Gulf. ...
Arnold Schoenberg, Los Angeles, 1948 Schoenberg redirects here. ...
Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. ...
Philosophically, improvisation often focuses on bringing ones personal awareness into the moment, and on developing a profound understanding for the action one is doing. ...
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. Composer Alvin Curran (born 13 December 1938 in Providence, Rhode Island) is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. ...
Frederic Anthony Rzewski (born April 13, 1938) is an American composer and virtuoso pianist. ...
John Cage For the character of John Cage from the TV show Ally McBeal see: John Cage (Character) John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. ...
Morton Feldman (born January 12, 1926, died September 3, 1987) was an American composer. ...
Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer. ...
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). Composer Alvin Curran (born 13 December 1938 in Providence, Rhode Island) is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. ...
Scelsi died in Rome in 1988.
Frances-Marie Uitti has recorded his entire works for solo cello. Composer-improviser-cellist Frances-Marie Uitti is renowned the world over for her interpretations of contemporary music and is famous for her extended technique using two bows simultaneously in one hand as well as her improvisational skills. ...
The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ...
Works - See List of works by Giacinto Scelsi.
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Giacinto Scelsi. ...
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
- The Orchestral Works I(Mode Records 95) Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic & Choir conducted by Juan Pablo Izquierdo, with Pauline Vaillancourt, soprano, and Douglas Ahlstedt, tenor
- Music For High Winds (Mode Records 102) played by Carol Robinson, clarinets, Clara Novakova, flute and piccolo, Cathy Milliken, oboe
- The Piano Works 2 (Mode Records 143) played by Stephen Clarke
- The Piano Works 3 (Mode Records 159) played by Aki Takahashi
- Chamber Works For Flute And Piano (Cpo 999340-2) played by Carin Levine, flutes, Kristi Becker, piano, Peter Veale, oboe, Edith Salmen, percussion, and Giacinto Scelsi, piano
- The Complete Works For Clarinet (Cpo 999266-2) played by the Ensemble Avance, conducted by Zsolt Nagy, with David Smeyers, clarinets, and Susanne Mohr, flute
- Complete Works For Flute And Clarinet (Col Legno 200350) played by the Ebony Duo
- Trilogia (CTH 2480, together with Aşk Havasi by Frangis Ali-Sade) played by Jessica Kuhn on violoncello
- Natura renovatur (ECM 1963) Münchener Kammerorchester conducted by Christoph Poppen, Frances-Marie Uitti on violoncello
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
The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry, and fiction. ...
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