Aldo Clementi (25 May 1925 – 3 March 2011) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
classical composer.
Life
Aldo Clementi was born in
Catania, Italy. He studied the
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, graduating in 1946 at the
Conservatorio Santa Cecilia
The Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia is a state conservatory in Rome.
History
The institution has its roots dated back to the Congregazione de' musici di Roma named after Saint Cecilia in 1565 (now Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia). Sin ...
in Rome. His studies in composition began in 1941, and his teachers included and
Goffredo Petrassi
Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.Petrassi, Goffredo. (2008). ...
. After receiving his diploma in 1954 again at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia, he attended the
Darmstadt summer courses from 1955 to 1962. Important influences during this period included meeting
Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer.
Life
Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s th ...
in 1956, and working at the electronic music studio of the Italian radio broadcaster RAI in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
''Poesia de Rilke'' (1946) was the first work of his to be performed (
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, 1947). Of more significance was the premiere of ''Cantata'' (1954), which was broadcast by
North German Radio (Hamburg) in 1956. In 1959 he won second prize in the ISCM competition with ''Episodi'' (1958), and in 1963 he took first prize in the same competition, with ''Sette scene da "Collage"'' (1961).
He taught music theory at the University of Bologna from 1971 to 1992.
Clementi died on 3 March 2011 in Rome.
Style
In 1983
David Fanning described Clementi's style of decelerating canons as "sharing in the widespread post-serial depression of the 1970s",
while in 1988
Paul Griffiths referred to the "Alexandrian simplicity of his solution to the current confusion in music.
Clementi himself described his works as "an extremely dense counterpoint, relegating the parts to the shameful role of inaudible, cadaverous micro-organisms".
His music has been featured at ''Ultima'', the Oslo Contemporary Music Festival (2009),
performed and recorded by ensembles including
Trio Accanto
Trio Accanto is a contemporary piano trio formed of Marcus Weiss (saxophone), Nicolas Hodges (piano) and Christian Dierstein (percussion). It is based in Freiburg, Germany.
History
Trio Accanto was formed as the result of a discussion between Ma ...
, the
Quatuor Bozzini,
the
Ives Ensemble and the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Wales
and broadcast by
BBC Radio 3.
Selected works
*''Episodi'' (1958) for
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
*''Ideogrammi n. 1'' (1959) for 16 instruments
*''Triplum'' (1960) for
flute,
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
and
clarinet
*''Collage'' (1961) – stage work
*''Informel 2'' (1962) for 15 performers
*''Collage 2'' (1962) for electronics
*''Informel 3'' (1961–63) for orchestra
*''Intavolatura'' (1963) for
harpsichord
*''Variante A'' (1964) for mixed
chorus and orchestra
*Concerto (1970) for piano and 7 instruments
*Concerto (1975) for piano, 24 instruments and
carillons
*''Clessidra'' (1976) for chamber orchestra
*''L'orologio di Arcevla'' (1979) for 13 performers
*''Variazioni'' (1979) for viola solo
*''Capriccio'' (1979–1980) for viola and 24 instruments
*''Dodici variazioni'' (1980) for solo
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
*''Fantasia su roBErto FABbriCiAni'' (1980–81) for flute and tape
*''Es'' (1981) – stage work
*''Parafrasi'' (1981) 18 voice
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
realized with processor
*''Adagio'' (1983) for quintet with
prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Works for p ...
*''Ouverture'' (1984) for 12 flutes
*Concerto (1986) for piano and 14 instruments
*''Fantasia'' (1987) for 4 guitars
*''Tribute'' (1988) for
string quartet
*''Berceuse'' (1989) for orchestra
*''Romanza'' (1991) for piano and orchestra
*''The Plaint'' (1992) for female voice and 13 instruments
*''Wiegenlied'' (1994) for soprano and 5 instruments
*''Tre Ricercari'' (2000) for saxophone, piano and celesta/vibraphone/tubular bells
*''Sonate Y.'' (2002) for solo
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
References
Further reading
*Clementi, Aldo, Maria Rosa De Luca, Salvatore Enrico Failla, and Graziella Seminara. 2005. ''Per Aldo Clementi: nell'occasione dei suoi ottant'anni, 25 maggio 2005''. Catania: Università degli studi di Catania.
*Cresti, Renzo. 1990. ''Aldo Clementi: studio monografico e intervista''. Milan: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni.
*Lux, Simonetta, and Daniela Tortora. 2005. ''Collage 1961: un'azione dell'arte di Achille Perilli e Aldo Clementi''. Luxflux proto type arte contemporanea, Documenti 1. Rome: Gangemi.
*Mattietti, Gianluigi. 2001. ''Geometrie di musica: il periodo diatonico di Aldo Clementi''. Lucca: Libreria musicale italiana.
*Osmond-Smith, David. 1981. "Aux creux néant musicien: Recent Work by Aldo Clementi". ''Contact'', no. 23:5–9.
*Osmond-Smith, David. 2001. "Clementi, Aldo". ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie and
John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
*Seminara, Graziella, and Maria Rosa De Luca (eds.). 2008. ''Canoni, figure, carillons: itinerari della musica di Aldo Clementi: atti dell'incontro di studi, Facoltà di lettere e filosofia, Catania, 30–31 maggio 2005''. Milan: Suvini Zerboni. .
*Zaccagnini, Michele. 2016. "''Deus ex Machina'': Uncovering Aldo Clementi's System". ''
Perspectives of New Music'' 54, no. 1 (Winter): 137–178.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clementi, Aldo
1925 births
2011 deaths
Musicians from Catania
Conservatorio Santa Cecilia alumni
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Italian male classical composers
Musicians from Bologna
Pupils of Goffredo Petrassi
Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen
20th-century Italian composers
Twelve-tone and serial composers
20th-century Italian male musicians
21st-century Italian male musicians