| Abstrakt: |
In 1935, marking the centenary of Vincenzo Bellini’s death, the composer Alfredo Sangiorgi (Catania, 1894 Merano, 1962) paid homage with a concise Canzone and a more expansive Cantata. Two decades later, amidst a dynamically transformed cultural and musical landscape, Sangiorgi revisited Bellini’s legacy, composing three series of variations on themes from Norma and La sonnambula (1957-1959). Despite this, his artistic journey exhibits a fascinating dichotomy, deeply influenced by the avant-garde of the Second Viennese School. In an intriguing twist, he became Arnold Schoenberg’s only Italian pupil, studying under him for a few months in late 1922. This duality in his compositional trajectory oscillated between modernist and classicist phases, with Bellini’s image serving as a purifying force, cleansing him of the lingering influences of the Second Viennese School. The concept of purification draws from Ildebrando Pizzetti’s influential essay La musica di Vincenzo Bellini, resonating significantly in Italy then. Mario Pilati and Francesco Pastura also acted as intermediaries between Sangiorgi and Bellini’s music, encouraging him to cleanse his musical style of any atonal influences. The Canzone and the Cantata navigate between ancient modes and tonality; the three sets of variations showcase the attempt to integrate the technical procedures of the Second Viennese School into a tonal framework, marking the essence of Sangiorgi’s late style. This essay delves into rare printed scores, unpublished correspondence and journalistic sources from the archives of the Catania Conservatory, the Cini Foundation in Venice and the private collection of the composer’s son. By examining the ideological context surrounding Sangiorgi’s compositions and providing analytical insights from the scores, the research aspires to enrich the understanding of Bellini’s compositional reception in the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
