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Italian composer and conductor, one of the greatest
interpreters of contemporary music, Maderna was born in Venice. He made
his conducting debut at the age of twelve, gaining fame as a child prodigy.
He studied composition under the patronage of Countess E. de Polignac at
the Conservatory in Rome (with A. Bustini) and in Veni-
ce (with Gian-Francesco Malipiero). He studied conducting under
A. de Guarnieri in Siena. Drafted into the army during the war, he fought
in the Russian campaign; subsequently he joined the anti-Nazi resistance
movement.
In 1948, in the wake of contact with Hermann Scherchen, he became
interested in the dodecaphonic technique. From then onwards he divided his
time between composition, conducting and teaching (Darmstadt, Milan,
Salzburg, Tanglewood, New York).
Maderna played a crucial role in shaping the Italian avantgarde after
1945. In 1954, together with Berio, he founded the Studio de la Fonologia
at rai in Milan. In 195758 he conducted a course in dodecaphonic
technique in Milan. He developed close links with Darmstadt, attending the
courses, conducting seminars and eventually settling there for good
(1963). In 1970 the town granted him its honorary citizenship.
Maderna was awarded the prestigious Prix Italia three times: for music to
radio plays Il mio cuore e nel Sud by G. Patroni Griffi (1950) and
Ritratto di Erasmo to his own text (1970), and in 1972 for the
Oradiophonic invention1 Ages (text in collaboration with G. Pressburger).
He died in Darmstadt.
Selected works: Studi per OIl Processo1 di Franz Kafka,
stage music (1950), Improvvisazione I and II for orchestra (1951, 1953),
Sequenze e strutture for tape (1954), Concerto for Flute and Orchestra
(1954), Notturno for tape (1955), String Quartet (1955), Syntaxis for tape
(1957), Serenata II for
11 instruments (1957), Continuo for tape (1958), Piano Concerto (1959),
Dimensioni II for voice and electronic sounds; phonemes by H. G. Helms
(1960), Don Perlimplin, radio opera after F. Garcia Lorca (1961),
Se-renata III for tape (1962), Le rire for tape (1964), Hyperion, Opoetry
in the form of spectacle1, text by F. Hölderlin, phonems by H. G. Helms
(1964), Stelle per Diotima for orchestra (1965), Aulodia per Lothar for
oboe d1amore and guitar ad lib. (1965), Widmung for solo violin (1967),
Violin Concerto (1969), Serenata per un satellite for eight performers
(1969), Piece pour Ivry for solo violin (1971), Viola for viola (1971),
Tempo libero I for tape (1971), Solo for musette, oboe, oboe d1amore and
English horn, for one performer (1971), Ausstrahlung for female voice,
flute and solo oboe, orchestra and tape (1971), Venetian Journal after
J. Boswell for tenor, 22 instruments and tape (1972), Aura for orchestra
(1972), Dialodia for two flutes or two oboes (1972), Biogramma for
orchestra (1972), three concertos for oboe and orchestra (1962, 1967,
1973), Grande aulodia for flute, oboe and orchestra (1970), Satyricon,
opera, libretto after Petronius (1973).
The Cadenza da Dimensioni III is part of a series of
the stage piece Hyperion that Bruno Maderna wrote between the years of
196068. This works includes Hyperion I OAria1 for soprano and orchestra
to texts by Hölderlin, Hyperion II OStele per Diotima Serenata1 for
Orchestra, and Hyperion III for flute and orchestra. Hyperion III is an
interpolation of the previous works and was written for Maderna1s close
friend, the Italian flutist Severino Gazzalloni. The piece begins with
a long E Flat, which represents the OS1 of Severino. The Cadenza reminds
us of the lyrical, hysterical character of Hyperion.
Carin Levine
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