Aesthetical Writings of Giacinto Scelsi - by Franco Sciannameo & Alessandra Carlotta Pellegrini (Paperback)

About the Book

Giacinto Scelsi, an innovative and often controversial force in modern music, has been the subject of a vast amount of literary criticism, philosophical discussion, and performance. For the first time, this volume brings selected writings, spanning from the early 1940s to 1987, into English with historical, social, and cultural contextualization.

Book Synopsis

Giacinto Scelsi, an innovative and often controversial force in modern music, has been the subject of a vast amount of literary criticism, philosophical discussion, and performance. For the first time, this volume brings selected writings, spanning from the early 1940s to 1987, into English with historical, social, and cultural contextualization.

Review Quotes

In this fascinating volume, Sciannameo and Pellegrini provide the first English translations of Scelsirsquo;s writings on music. Indispensable for those wishing to observe Scelsirsquo;s musical journey from the terrestrial to the mystical.

The English translation of selected texts by Giacinto Scelsimdash;philologically accurate and terminologically precisemdash;is a most welcome complement to the recent translations of writings by European composers and the significant impulse to broaden the perspective on new musical thinking.

This book rectifies a great gap in our understanding of this utterly original composer. We glean from Scelsirsquo;s own writings the depth of his thinking from both historical and aesthetic perspectives, how these changed over the course of his career and, most importantly, how these changes shaped his development as a composer of some of the most original masterpieces of the late 20th century.

About the Author

Franco Sciannameo is College of Fine Arts Distinguished Scholar & Teaching Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Nino Rota's The Godfather Trilogy (2010), Phil Trajetta (Venice, 1776-Philadelphia, 1854), Patriot, Musician, Immigrant (2010), Experiencing the Violin Concerto (2016), Musicians' Migratory Patterns: The Adriatic Coast (2018), and Reflections on the Music of Ennio Morricone: Fame and Legacy (2020).

Alessandra Carlotta Pellegrini, one of Italy's foremost musicologists and twentieth-century music specialists, has written on Casella, Nono, Petrassi, and Scelsi among many others. She has edited both Italian and French editions of Giacinto Scelsi's autobiography Il sogno 101 (both published in 2010). Pellegrini is the President of the Verdi National Archive, Professor at the Conservatorio "Domenico Cimarosa" in Avellino, and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Isabella Scelsi in Rome.