''Canti di prigionia'' (''Songs of Imprisonment'') is a setting for chorus, two pianos, two harps and percussion by the Italian composer

Luigi Dallapiccola Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical serialism, twelve-tone compositions. Biography Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current ...

. Dallapiccola sets three texts of imprisonment: a prayer of Mary Stuart, an extract from Book Three of

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...

' ''

The Consolation of Philosophy ''On the Consolation of Philosophy'' ('' la, De consolatione philosophiae'')'','' often titled as ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' or simply the ''Consolation,'' is a philosophical work by the Roman statesman Boethius. Written in 523 while he ...

'' and

Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction o ...

's unfinished ''Meditation on the Psalm 'My hope is in Thee, O Lord''. Composed in 1938–41, the first song was premiered on Brussels Radio in 1940, weeks before the Nazi Invasion of Belgium. Dallapiccola himself wrote that the work was a direct response to Benito Mussolini's speech introducing race laws to Italy:

I should have liked to protest, but I was not so naive as to disregard the fact that, in a
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
regime, the individual is powerless. Only by means of music would I be able to express my indignation.Quoted by Francesco Lombardi (trans. Gwyn Morris), notes to ''Il Prigioniero/Canti di prigionia'', Sony Classical SK 68 323

Dallapiccola was to develop the material (and some of the musical ideas) in his 1948 opera ''

Il prigioniero ''Il prigioniero'' (''The Prisoner'') is an opera (originally a radio opera) in a prologue and one act, with music and libretto by Luigi Dallapiccola. The opera was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on 1 December 1949. The work is ba ...

'', in which he further explores the ideas of personal as well as ideological imprisonment. ''Canti di liberazione'' followed in 1955.

Songs

#"Preghiera di Maria Stuarda" (Mary Stuart's Prayer) #"Invocazione di Boezio" (The Invocation of Boethius) #"Congedo di Girolamo Savonarola" (Girolamo Savonarola's Farewell)

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Luigi Dallapiccola 1938 compositions Choral compositions