Wolfango Dalla Vecchia

Wolfango Dalla Vecchia (born February 5, 1923 in Rome , † December 7, 1994 in Padua ) was an Italian composer, organist and teacher.

Life

After his initial musical training in Padua, he moved back to Rome in 1943, where he studied composition (diploma in 1948) and organ with Goffredo Petrassi and Fernando Germani . During this time he was organist at the Iglesia Nacional Argentina . Again at the University of Padua he received his doctorate in philosophy in 1945 ("Saggio storico di filosofia della musica"). After the Second World War, Dalla Vecchia quickly made a name for himself as a concert organist and composer (debut in 1955 at the Teatro Nuovo Bergamo with the ballet “Le stelle vere”). After his first employment as an organ teacher, he taught from 1958 as a professor of composition, first in Bologna, from 1960 in Venice and from 1973 until his retirement in 1993 at the Conservatorio di Padova; As an enlightened pedagogue, he shaped several generations of composers there. He also initiated the Seminari internazionali di studi e ricerche sul Linguaggio musicale (Vicenza, 1971–76), in which Stockhausen , Kagel , Berio , Ferneyhough and Nono participated, and the composition courses Teoria generale della Composizione (Conegliano, 1988–1994). In the 1970s he investigated computer-aided composition methods and founded the Centro di Sonologia Computazionale at the University of Padua. Intensive artistic collaboration connected him with the orchestra " I Solisti Veneti ", for which several works were created. In 1985 he was appointed Commendatore by the Italian President Sandro Pertini , and in 1988 he was awarded the “San Vidal Prize” in Venice for services in the field of spirituality.

Musical work

Dalla Vecchia recognized Igor Stravinsky's positions as its primary aesthetic reference and defined art as perfetta libertà interiore (“complete inner freedom”). He therefore consciously took the path of “coherent” eclecticism, not subscribing to any particular compositional technique and always withdrawing from any classification. His compositional horizon extended from the neoclassicism of his early works ( Concertino all'italiana for orchestra) to expanded tonality, mathematical organizational thinking , aleatoric ( Jeu d'éches for open instrumentation) and electronics ( Media vita for organ and tape) - ways of expression that For the Paduan composer, they were not mutually exclusive, but could coexist in one and the same work. On the semantic level, with Dalla Vecchia ironic and grotesque ( Miao variations for piano), speculative ( Sette corali in onore die JS Bach for organ) and philosophical reflection ( Atrocissime tange for tape, pantomime and percussion) can be ascertained. Much of his work is published by Zanibon (Padova).

Works (selection)

orchestra

• Prima Suite (1948-50)
• Seconda Suite (from the ballet “Le stelle vere”) (1950–51) Premiere Bergamo-Teatro delle Novità 1955
• Concertino all'italiana (1957) premiered in Milan 1957
• Variati amorosi momenti (1978, after Variati amorosi momenti for guitar, 1977)

Orchestra with soloists

• Overture for double bass and string orchestra (1962) premiered in Munich 1962
• Quattro momenti musicali for flute and string orchestra (1965) WP Torino-RAI 1965
• Victoris laus for viola and string orchestra (1970) premiered in London 1970
• O Padua Felix . Overture for trumpet, string orchestra and two horns (1991) WP Padova 1991

Vocal music with instruments

• Messa Bassa . Cantata for bass, upper choir and orchestra with live electronic (1960–62)
• Le canzoni del quadrifoglio . “Liriche cinesi” for soprano, tenor, bass, harp and percussion (1962) premiered in Piazzola sul Brenta 1962
• Canti d'inverno for soprano (or tenor), harpsichord, electr. Organ, piano and percussion (6 players) (1967) WP Vicenza - Istituto Canneti 1968
• Domina for soprano, piano and percussion (1977) premiered Asiago-Dom 1981
• Andreuccio da Perugia (dal “Decameron”). Opera in one act and three pictures for soprano, mezzo-soprano, two tenors, two basses, mixed Choir, chamber orchestra, pantomime and speaker (1984)
• Musiche per una professione di pace for baritone, speakers, acc. Choir, upper choir, string orchestra, percussion and historical instruments (1986) WP Abano terme 1986

Chamber music

• Dulcissime tange for percussion ensemble (2 to 6 players) (1974) UA Abano 1975
• Il carro di fuoco for organ, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones (1975) premiered in Ancona 1975
• Jeu d'éches for two or more instruments ad lib. (1975) UA Padova 1975
• Cassiopeia for four guitars (1989) WP Piacenza 1995
• El musico estrambótico . Motete para tres clarinetes (1989) WP Padova 1989
• Media vita for organ and tape (1978) premiered in Ancona 1978
• Atrocissime tange for tape, pantomime and percussion (1981) WP Como 1981
• Affettuosa memoria for flute and oboe (1986) WP Padova 1986
• Musique pour Gazomètre for double bassoon and wind instruments (1994) premiered by Vittorio Veneto 1994

Solo instruments

• Preludio adagio e fuga for piano (1952) WP Aquila 1955
• Variazioni sopra un tema della “Perséphone” di Stravinskij for piano (1955) premiered in Stuttgart 1956
• Miao variations . “Grottesco” for piano (1961) premiered in Padova 1961
• Fantasia for organ (1952) premiered in Padova 1956
• Gaudeamuscorale for organ (1974) WP Freiburg i. B. 1974
• Adagiosissimo for organ (1982) WP Padova 1982
• Sette corali in onore di JS Bach for organ (1985) WP Padova 1986
• Ang - trois preludes pour harpe (1983) WP Vicenza 1990
• Variati amorosi momenti for guitar (1977) WP Padova 1986
• Gorgon . “Assolo” for percussion instruments (1993) WP Padova 1994
• Piéce thématique pour violon (1985, 1988) WP Padova 1988

Choral works

• La collina - madrigale for gem. Choir (1953)
• Missa Antoniana for medium voice and organ (1968)
• Si quaeris miracula for gem. Choir (1970) WP Padova 1987
• Anima di Cristo for gem. Choir (1981) WP Milano 1983
• Angele Dei for gem. Choir (1987) WP Conegliano 1991
• Missa ”Ubi charitas” for mixed Choir and Organ (1989) Premiere Verona 1991
• Christ passus est pro nobis for gem. Choir (1992)

Discography

• Affettuosa memoria . CD Edipan 3030 (1991)

• Omaggio a Volfango Dalla Vecchia (Anges, Musique pour Gazomètre, Domina and others). ARCL CD / 38 (1995), “Auditorio classico S. Cecilia”.

• Wolfango Dalla Vecchia suona Wolfango Dalla Vecchia . (Fantasia, Adagiosissimo, Gaudeamuscorale, Sette corali in onore di JS Bach, Media vita) CD Rescd 0404 (2004)

• Wolfango Dalla Vecchia: Opera omnia per organo solo . CD Discantica 108 (2004), Org.Silvio Celeghin.

literature

• Wolfango Dalla Vecchia: Eventi musicali rapportati alla storia civile del pensiero e delle Belle Arti dal Medioevo a oggi , Zanibon, Padova 1988.
• Ricordo di Wolfango Dalla Vecchia - Atti della giornata di studio , ed. Giovanni Battista De Biasi, Conservatorio di Musica “Cesare Pollini”, Padova 1996.
• Wolfango Dalla Vecchia: Teoria generale della composizione , DIASTEMA ANALISI-2, “Ensemble '900”, Treviso 1997.
• Marco Peretti: Wolfgango Dalla Vecchia. Stringendo alla musica il tempo , Collane Librarie DIASTEMA, “Ensemble '900”, Treviso 2006.