Casella, Alfredo

Alfredo Casella ( Italian: Alfredo Casella ; July 25, 1883 , Turin - March 5, 1947 , Rome ) - Italian composer , pianist and conductor . One of the most influential representatives of Italian music of the first half of the XX century .

Alfredo Casella Alfredo casella
basic information
Date of Birth	July 25, 1883 ( 1883-07-25 )
Place of Birth	Turin
Date of death	March 5, 1947 ( 1947-03-05 ) (63 years old)
Place of death	Rome
Buried
A country
Professions	composer , conductor , pianist
Years of activity	1906-1946
Instruments
Genres	and

Casella received his first music lessons from his mother, and soon showed a talent for playing the piano, performing for the first time in public in 1894 . He was also actively interested in science, and for some time he faced the choice of one of the possible career options. Interest in music prevailed, and in 1896 , on the recommendation of Giuseppe Martucci and Antonio Badzini , his parents sent him to study at the Paris Conservatory (piano class of Louis Diemer ). The rich cultural life of the French capital expanded Casella's creative horizons and had a strong influence on him. After some time, he became interested in composition and in the years 1900-1901 attended the class of Gabriel Foret . In the conservative years, Casella became close to Maurice Ravel and George Enescu , and his musical interests extended to the music of Debussy , Russian composers of the 19th century, Richard Strauss , Mahler , Bartok , Schoenberg and Stravinsky . The young musician was also attracted by the latest trends in the art of that time ( cubism , futurism , etc.). He graduated from the conservatory in 1902, after which he toured as a pianist in many European countries, including in 1907 and in 1909 in Russia.

After returning to Italy, Casella defined the goal of his work: to create art in Italy that would be not only Italian, but also European in its position in world culture. In 1915 he received the post of professor at the Lyceum of Santa Cecilia in Rome. At the same time, Casella began to promote the music of Ravel, Stravinsky and other contemporary composers in provincial Italy. By 1917 , a creative community of young composers was forming around him, sharing his views, among them - Gian Francesco Malipiero , Ildebrando Pizzetti , Ottorino Respigi , Vincenzo Tommazini , Vittorio Gui , Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco . Together with them, Casella founded the National Society of Music, which was soon renamed the Italian Society of Contemporary Music ( Società Italiana di Musica Moderna - SIMM ). Over the next two years, this group gave a large number of concerts of contemporary Italian and foreign music and published the magazine Ars nova . Casella’s performances as a pianist, composer or conductor have always provoked a strong reaction from the music community. The society existed only until 1919, but its influence on the development of Italian musical life was very great.

After World War I, Casella began to travel a lot again, performing as a pianist (solo and as part of an Italian trio with Arturo Bonucci and Alberto Poltronieri ) and conductor. In 1922 he left his professorship at the Lyceum (by then renamed the Conservatory) and resumed his activities to modernize Italian music. Soon Casella, together with Malipiero and Mario Labroca, with the support of the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio , organizes the “Corporation of new music” ( Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche ). The tasks of the new organization were significantly different from those in SIMM : Casella saw her as a “window into the world” and the path to opening for Italy the latest expressions and studies of contemporary musical art. After some time, the “Corporation” merged with the Italian branch of the International Society of Contemporary Music, although it retained some degree of autonomy until 1928 . By this time, Schoenberg's “Lunar Pierrot” and Stravinsky's “Wedding” were performed by the efforts of its participants in Italy.

In 1930, Casella founded the Venice International Festival of Modern Music (as part of the Venice Biennale ), which was led by the first four years of its existence (together with Adriano Lualdi ), two years later he began to teach piano at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. At the same time, the composer fell under the influence of fascist ideology - his opera Temptation in the Desert ( Italian: Il deserto tentato , lit. “Seduced Desert”) is dedicated to the Mussolini Abyssinian campaign. On the other hand, thanks to Casella's efforts, the compositions of the avant-garde composers continued to appear in the programs of the Venice festivals (in particular, Schönberg's compositions were performed in 1937). Soon, however, the situation changed: Casella's wife was French and Jewish, which endangered the entire family of the composer . In 1942, he showed signs of a serious illness that subsequently led to his death. Casella continued to compose until 1944 , conducted until 1946 , and as a pianist he performed for the last time three weeks before his death.

In 1967 , the newly created conservatory in the city of Aquila was named after Casella. In 1952 - 2001 Casella International Piano Competition was held in Naples .