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Born in Zagarolo (Italy), he studied in the
Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome: organ with F. Germani and
composition with
A. Bustini. In 1932 his Partita per orchestra won an Italian as well as an
international competition and one year later was performed under the baton
of A. Casella at the iscm festival in Amsterdam. In 1935 Petrassi attended
Bernardina Molinari1s conducting courses in Accademia di Santa Cecilia;
since then he performed also as a conductor. In the years 193740 he held
a post of superintendent of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 1939 he
became a Professor of composition at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia.
In the years 194750 he was an artistic director of the Accademia
Filarmonica Romana; in 1951 he gave a course in composition at the
Mozarteum in Salzburg and in 1956 at the Berkshire Music Festival in
Tanglewood (usa). In 1950s Petrassi often performed as a conductor,
including a South American tour. In 195456 he served as President of the
iscm, in 1959 he became a member of the West-Berlin Akademie der Künste.
From 1960 to 1978 he was a chief of the composition department at the
Accademia di Santa Cecilia. In 196668 he taught the summer composition
courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.
In 1976 the University of Bologna granted Petrassi an honorary doctorate,
in 1977 he was acclaimed an honorary member of the American Academy of
Arts and Letters in New York as well as a member of the Academia Nacional
de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. In 1978 the Accademia Nazionale dei
Lincei awarded Petrassi the International OAntonio Feltrinelli1 Prize for
music. In the same year he became an honorary member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston and a correspondent member of the
Bayerische Akademie in Monachium. In 1979 Petrassi became an honorary
Professor of the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. In 1985 he was
awarded the Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize, and in 1990 the University La
Sapienza in Rome granted him an honorary doctorate.
He died in Rome.
Selected works: La Follia di Orlando, ballet with
baritone recitativo to
a text by L. Ariosto (1943), Invenzioni for piano (1944), Due liriche di
Safo, in the Italian translation by Salvatore Quasimodo, version for voice
and 11 instruments (1945), Ritratto di Don Chisciotte, one-act ballet to
a libretto by A. M. Milloss (1947), Sonata da camera for harpsichord and
10 instruments (1948), Il Cordovano, one-act opera to a libretto based on
Cervantes, in the Italian translation by Eugenio Montale (1944/48),
Dialogo angelico for two flutes (1948), Noche oscura, cantata for mixed
choir and orchestra to poems by San Juan de la Cruz (1950), Concerto for
Orchestra No. 2 (1951), Morte dell1aria, one-act opera according to Toti
Scialoja (1949/50), Nonsense for a cappella mixed choir to poems by E.
Lear (1952), Recreation Concertante (Concerto for Orchestra No. 3,
1952/3), Concerto for String Orchestra No. 4 (1954), Concerto for
Orchestra No. 5 (1955), Invenzione concertata for orchestra (1956/57),
String Quartet (1958), Serenata for five instruments (1958), Trio for
violin viola and cello (1959), Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (1960),
Seconda serenata, trio for harp, guitar and mandolin (1962), Musica di
ottoni for brass and timpani (1963), Piano Concerto (196369), Concerto
for Orchestra No. 6 (196164), Sesto non-senso for mixed choir a cappella
to poems by E. Lear (1964), Mottetti per la Passione for
a cappella mixed choir (1966), Estri for 15 musicians (1967), Tre per
sette for seven brass instruments (three players; 1966), Octet for brass
instruments (1968), Beatitudines for baritone or bass and instruments, to
a memory of Martin Luther King, to texts by dal Vangelo (1969), Souffle
for three flutes (one player; 1969), Elogio per un1ombra for violin
(1971), Nunc for guitar (1971), Elogio per un1ombra for violin (1971),
Ottavo concerto per orchestra (1970/72), Orationes Christi for mixed choir,
brass instruments, violas and cellos (1975), Oh les beaux jours! for piano
according to Le petit chat [Miro] (1941/1976), Alias for guitar and
harpsichord (1977), Poema for strings and trumpets (197780), Viola sola
for viola (1978), Grand Septuor avec clarinette corcentante (197778),
Flou for harp (1980), Romanzetta for flute and piano (1980), Sestina
d1autunno. Veni, creator Igor for six players (198182), Laude
creaturarum for speaking voice and ensemble (1982), Frammento for
orchestra (1983), Tre cori sacri for choir a cappella (198083) Inno for
12 brass instruments (1984), Kyrie for choir and strings (1986).
Souffle
About twenty years after Dialogo angelico (1948) for two flutes,
Petrassi1s flute writing had become more slender, yet also considerably
more expansive. Souffle (1969) gives the performer a chance to move
through all registers in alternation, from the alto flute to the piccolo,
and to use all the new performance techniques. Once again, the technical
aspects still remain only a means to the end, which is an uncompromising
need to communicate.
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