Dalmazio Santini (September 11, 1923 – October 4, 2001) 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 ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

composer.

Early life

Santini was born in

Capestrano Capestrano ( Abruzzese: ') is a ''comune'' and small town with 885 inhabitants (2017), in the Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. It is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. History Antiquity In the necropolis the statu ...

in the

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

province of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He immigrated to the United States at age 14. He attended public schools in White Plains,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was inducted into the US Armed Forces and served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, eventually settling in

Valhalla, New York Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,162 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The name was in ...

. Following the war, the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

allowed him the opportunity to study composition at

Manhattanville College Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart ...

and the

Mannes College of Music Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School cam ...

. Santini studied composition with

Felix Salzer Felix Salzer (June 13, 1904 – August 12, 1986) was an Austrian-American music theorist, musicologist and pedagogue. He was one of the principal followers of Heinrich Schenker, and did much to refine and explain Schenkerian analysis after Sch ...

and

Tadeusz Kassern Tadeusz Zygfryd Kassern ( Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, 19 March 1904 – New York City (United States), 2 May 1957) was a Polish composer of Jewish origin. Born in Lemburg, he studied at the conservatory of the Polish Music Society in Lviv ...

, and conducting with Milton Forstat.

Musical career

Santini developed a system of composition using 21-tone rows. This system is similar to the more familiar 12-tone system of serial composition, but the rows Santini used as the basis of his 21-tone compositions also include all alternative enharmonic spellings for each note in the chromatic scale (except the notes D, G, and A, which have no enharmonic spellings). Thus, the available tones for a 21-tone row would include B-sharp, C, C-sharp, D-flat, D, D-sharp, E-flat, E, F-flat, E-sharp, F, F-sharp, G-flat, G, G-sharp, A-flat, A, A-sharp, B-flat, B, and C-flat. In order to generate 21-tone rows, Santini utilized a specially printed deck of cards (each card representing one of the aforementioned pitches), "dealing" himself rows until he found the row or rows he wished to use as the basis for a particular composition. Other of Santini's innovations include the use of circular notation (in his ''Continuum'' for accordion), as well as

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

s (which he referred to as "quasi tones"). His ''2+4,+'' calls for inside-the-piano playing as well as other techniques so avant-garde as to approach the theatrical, reminiscent of a

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

"happening." Many of Santini's other works are composed in a gentle, tonal, and more accessible style. Much of his output is for

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 keyboa ...

, and his numerous

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

works have been performed worldwide. His most widely performed composition, ''Ave Maria'', has been recorded by the duo of vocalist Mary Mancini and accordionist Mario Tacca. Santini's many works for orchestra include ''The White Peaks of Forca'' and ''Canti Gabrieleschi''. These works are also tonal, though modern in style, and draw on Santini's Italian heritage. His ''Canticum Angelicum'' was performed by the orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera San Carlo in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Among his last works is a concerto for

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

and orchestra, composed with the 21-tone system. A devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, much of Santini's output is sacred in nature, often with Latin texts. His ''Magnificat'' was selected for performance at the 1992 Incontri di Musica Sacra Contemporanea festival in Rome, Italy. Santini's music was self-published by his own company, DelSan Publications.

Retirement and death

Upon his retirement in 1981, Santini moved to

Cape Coral Cape Coral is a city located in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957 and developed as a planned community, the city's population has grown to 194,016 as of the 2020 Census, a rise of 26% from the 2010 Census ...

southwest Florida Southwest Florida is the region along the southwest Gulf coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is known for its beaches, subtropical landscape, and winter resort economy. Definitions of the region vary, though its boundaries are generally ...

. He died in nearby

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

in 2001.

External links

Dalmazio Santini
at New Music Jukebox {{DEFAULTSORT:Santini, Dalmazio 1923 births 2001 deaths 20th-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Italian classical composers Italian emigrants to the United States People from Cape Coral, Florida People from the Province of L'Aquila People from Valhalla, New York Manhattanville College alumni 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians