Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988, sometimes cited as 8 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, altered in all manners through microtonal oscillations,

harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', t ...

allusions, and changes in timbre and dynamics, as paradigmatically exemplified in his ''Quattro pezzi su una nota sola'' ("Four Pieces on a single note", 1959). This composition remains his most famous work and one of the few performed to significant recognition during his lifetime. His musical output, which encompassed all Western classical genres except scenic music, remained largely undiscovered even within contemporary musical circles during most of his life. Today, some of his music has gained popularity in certain postmodern composition circles, with pieces like his "Anahit" and his String Quartets rising to increased prominence. Scelsi collaborated with American composers including

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 f ...

, Morton Feldman, and Earle Brown, as well as being a friend and a mentor to

Alvin Curran Alvin Curran (born December 13, 1938) is an American composer, performer, improviser, sound artist, and writer. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives and works in Rome, Italy. He is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard ...

. His work was a source of inspiration to

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...

's Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza, and his music influenced composers like Tristan Murail and Solange Ancona.

Life

Born in the village of Pitelli near

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...

, Scelsi spent most of his time in his mother's old castle where he received education from a private tutor who taught him Latin, chess and fencing. Later, his family moved to Rome and his musical talents were encouraged by private lessons with Giacinto Sallustio. In Vienna, he studied with Walther Klein, a pupil of

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

. He became the first exponent of dodecaphony in Italy, although he did not continue to use this system. In the 1920s, Scelsi made friends with intellectuals like

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

and Virginia Woolf, and traveled abroad extensively. He first came into contact with non-European music in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in 1927. His first composition was ''Chemin du coeur'' (1929). Then followed ''Rotativa'', first conducted by

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...

at Salle Pleyel, Paris, on 20 December 1931. In 1937, he organised a series of concerts of contemporary works, introducing the music of (among others)

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

, Schoenberg,

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

, and

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

to an Italian audience for the first time. Due to the enforcement of racial laws under the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

regime of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

, which prevented the performance of works by Jewish composers, these concerts did not continue for long. Scelsi refused to comply, and gradually distanced himself from Italy. In 1940, when Italy entered the war, Scelsi was in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where he remained until the end of the conflict, composing and honing his conception of music. He married Dorothy Kate Ramsden, a divorced Englishwoman. Back in Rome after the war, his wife left him (eventually inspiring ''Elegia per Ty''), and he underwent a profound psychological crisis that eventually led him to the discovery of Eastern spirituality, and also to a radical transformation of his view of music. In this so-called second period, he rejected the notions of composition and authorship in favour of sheer improvisation. His improvisations were recorded on tape and later transcribed by collaborators under his guidance. They were then orchestrated and filled out by his meticulous performance instructions, or adjusted from time to time in close collaboration with the performers. Scelsi came to conceive of artistic creation as a means of communicating a higher, transcendent reality to the listener. In this view, the artist is considered a mere intermediary. For this reason, Scelsi never allowed his image to be shown in connection with his music; he preferred instead to identify himself by a line under a circle, as a symbol of Eastern provenance. Some photographs of Scelsi have emerged since his death. One of the earliest interpreters Scelsi closely worked with was the singer Michiko Hirayama, whom he met in 1957 in Rome. From 1962 to 1972 he wrote the extensive song cycle ''Canti del Capricorno'' directly for her in view of her special and unique vocal range. The writing process of the piece set an example for Scelsi's very personal way of working: developing pieces through improvisation, recording, and then making a final transcription. From the late 1970s, Scelsi met several leading interpreters, such as the Arditti String Quartet, the cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, and the pianists Yvar Mikhashoff and

Marianne Schroeder Marianne Schroeder (born 1949 in Reiden) is a Swiss pianist and composer. She studied with Giacinto Scelsi. She played at Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She worked with John Cage and Shigeru Kan-no. She is ...

, who have promoted his music all over the world and gradually opened the gates to wider audiences. Scelsi was a friend and a mentor to

(whose '' VSTO'' is a tribute) and other expatriate American composers such as Frederic Rzewski who were residing in Rome during the 1960s. Scelsi also collaborated with other American composers including

, Morton Feldman, and Earle Brown (who visited him in Rome). Frances-Marie Uitti, dedicatee of all Scelsi's cello works, collaborated intensively with him for over 10 years editing and then recording La Trilogia, a massive 3 part work of 45 minutes in length which Morton Feldman called his "autobiography in sound". It was first premiered in Festival di Como, and recorded on Fore records (Raretone) with Scelsi in the studio and later for Etcetera Records. A more recent acclaimed version with several of the Latin Prayers is to be found on ECM under the title Natura Renovatur. Uitti also transcribed many of the chamber works for contrabass, contrabass and cello, viola, and two improvisations based on the ondiolina tapes that are found under the title Voyages. Alvin Curran recalled that: "Scelsi ... came to all my concerts in Rome even right up to the very last one I gave just a few days before he died. This was in the summer time, and he was such a nut about being outdoors. He was there in a fur coat and a fur hat. It was an outdoor concert. He waved from a distance, beautiful sparking eyes and smile that he always had, and that's the last time I saw him" (Ross, 2005). Scelsi died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 8 August 1988, in Rome.

Music

Scelsi remained largely unknown for most of his career. A series of concerts in the mid to late 1980s finally premiered many of his pieces to great acclaim, notably his orchestral masterpieces in October 1987 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, about a quarter of a century after those works had been composed and less than a year before the composer's death. Scelsi was able to attend the premieres and personally supervised the rehearsals. The impact caused by the late discovery of Scelsi's works was described by Belgian musicologist

Harry Halbreich Harry Halbreich (Berlin, 9 February 1931 – Brussels, 27 June 2016) was a Belgian musicologist.Dust jacket biography of Harry Halbreich from Halbreich (2007).Patrick Szersnovicz. Harry Halbreich (obituary). '' Diapason'', September 2016, No.64 ...

: Scelsi was also an idol of

's Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza, whose sixteen-minute track 'Omaggio a Giacinto Scelsi' features on their live album 'Musica Su Schemi', released in 1976. The music of Scelsi was heard by millions in

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

's '' Shutter Island'', in which excerpts of his two works ''Quattro pezzi su una nota sola'' and ''Uaxuctum'' (3rd movement) were featured alongside the music of his contemporaries György Ligeti, Krzysztof Penderecki,

and Morton Feldman. Scelsi's archives are held at the Isabella Scelsi Foundation.

Works

:''See List of compositions by Giacinto Scelsi''.

Bibliography

* ''Le Poids net et l'Ordre de ma vie'', Vevey, 1945 * ''Sommet du feu'', Rome, 1947 * ''Le Poids net'', éditions GLM (Guy Levis Mano), 1949 * ''L'Archipel Nocturne'', éditions GLM, 1954 * ''La conscience aiguë'', éditions GLM, 1962 * ''Cercles'', Éditions Le parole gelate, Rome, 1986 * ''Il Sogno 101'' (Dream 101), an autobiographical book.

Macerata Macerata () is a city and '' comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza r ...

: , 2010.Sardo, F.
"Giacinto Scelsi, the Count who Invented Drone Music"
Pixarthinking, 12 August 2016. The French company Actes Sud published writings of Giacinto Scelsi in three volumes, the majority of which are now out of print: * ''L'homme du son'', poetry edited and with commentary by Luciano Martinis, with collaboration from Sharon Kanach. Actes Sud 2006, * ''Les anges sont ailleurs'', writings on Scelsi's life, music and art. Actes Sud, 2006. * ''Il Sogno 101'', an autobiography. Actes Sud.

Selected discography

Accord/Universal-Musidisc

*''Œuvre intégrale pour choeur et orchestre symphonique'' (1. ''Aion – Pfhat – Konx-Om-Pax'', 2. ''Quattro Pezzi – Anahit – Uaxuctum'', 3. ''Hurqualia – Hymnos – Chukrum''). Orchestre et chœur de la Radio-Télévision Polonaise de Cracovie, conducted by Jürg Wyttenbach (recorded 1988, 1989 and 1990; ref. 201692, 1992, 3 CDs: 1. ref. 200402, 1988 2. ref. 200612, 1989 3. ref. 201112, 1990; re-released by Universal-Musidisc in 2002) *''Scelsi collection, vol. 3: Aion, Hymnos, Four pieces for Orchestra, Ballata''. RAI Symphony Orchestra, (cello), conducted by

Tito Ceccherini Tito Ceccherini (born 1973) is an Italian conductor with a focus on opera, especially contemporary opera. He has performed at major opera houses in Europe, leading several world premieres. Career Ceccherini was born in Milan and studied in his ...

(recorded 2007). released by Stradivarius 2009 (STR33803) *''Elegia per Ty – Divertimento nº3 pour violon – L’Âme ailée – L’Âme ouverte – Coelocanth – Trio à cordes''. Zimansky, violin; Schiller, viola; Demenga, cello (ref. 200611, 1989) *''Quattro illustrazioni – Xnoybis – Cinque incantesimi – Duo pour violon et violoncelle''. Suzanne Fournier, piano; Carmen Fournier, violin; David Simpson, cello (ref. 200742, 1990) *''Suite No.8 (Bot-Ba) – Suite No.9 (Ttai)''. Werner Bärtschi, piano (ref. 200802, 1990) *''Intégrale des œuvres chorales (Sauh III & IV – TKRDG – 3 Canti populari – 3 Canti sacri – 3 Latin Prayers – Yliam)''. New London Chamber Choir, Percussive Rotterdam, conducted by James Wood (ref. 206812) *''Scelsi collection, vol. 7: Suite N. 6, Divertimento N. 1, L'Âme Ailée / L'Âme Ouverte, Xnoybis''. Marco Fusi (violinist), Anna D'Errico, piano. released by Stradivarius 2017 (STR 33807).

CPO

*''Chamber Works for Flute and Piano'' ( CPO 999340-2) played by Carin Levine, flutes; Kristi Becker, piano; Peter Veale, oboe; Edith Salmen, percussion; and Giacinto Scelsi, piano *''The Complete Works for Clarinet'' (CPO 999266-2) played by the Ensemble Avance conducted by Zsolt Nagy, with David Smeyers, clarinets; and Susanne Mohr, flute

Kairos

*''Yamaon; Anahit; I presagi; Tre Pezzi; Okanagon'' ( Kairos 1203) Klangforum Wien conducted by Hans Zender *''Streichquartett Nr. 4; Elohim; Duo; Anagamin; Maknongan; Natura renovatur'' (Kairos 1216) Klangforum Wien conducted by Hans Zender *''Action Music, Suite No 8 "bot-ba"'' (Kairos 1231) played on piano by

Mode

*''The Piano Works 1'' ( Mode Records 92) played by Louise Bessette *''The Orchestral Works 1'' (Mode Records 95) Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic & Choir conducted by , with Pauline Vaillancourt, soprano, and Douglas Ahlstedt, tenor *''Music For High Winds'' (Mode Records 102) played by Carol Robinson, clarinets, Clara Novakova, flute and piccolo, Cathy Milliken, oboe *''The Piano Works 2'' (Mode Records 143) played by Stephen Clarke *''The Piano Works 3'' (Mode Records 159) played by

Aki Takahashi is a Japanese pianist specializing in contemporary classical music. Biography Born in Kamakura, she began studying piano at the age of five and received her M.A. degree from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her teachers inclu ...

*''The Orchestral Works 2'' (Mode Records 176) Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra *''The Works For Double Bass'' (Mode Records 188) played by Robert Black *''The Piano Works 4'' (Mode Records 227) played by Stephen Clarke *''The Works for Viola'' (Mode Records 231) played by Vincent Royer with Séverine Ballon, cello *''The Works for Violin'' (Mode Records 256) played by Weiping Lin

Other labels

*''5 string quartets, String trio, Khoom''. Arditti String Quartet; Michiko Hirayama, voice; ''et al.'' (recorded 1988; Salabert Actuels, ref. 2SCD 8904-5; re-released by Montaigne / Naïve, ref. MO 782156, 2002; 2 CDs) *''Trilogia (Triphon, Dithome, Igghur) – Ko-Tha''. Frances-Marie Uitti, cello (Fore 80, No.6 P Etcetera, KTC 1136 D *''Intégrale de la musique de chambre pour orchestre a cordes'' (''Natura renovatur'', ''Anagamin'', ''Ohoi'', ''Elohim''). Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, conducted by (recorded May 1998; Forlane, ref. UCD16800, 2000) *''Canti del Capricorno''. Michiko Hirayama, voice; ''et al.'' (recorded 1969 & 1981/1982; WERGO, ref. WER 60127-50, 1988) *''Complete Works For Flute And Clarinet'' (Col Legno 200350) played by the Ebony Duo *''Trilogia'' (CTH 2480, together with Aşk Havasi by Frangis Ali-Sade) played by Jessica Kuhn, cello *''Natura renovatur'' (ECM 1963)

Münchener Kammerorchester The Munich Chamber Orchestra (german: Münchener Kammerorchester, links=no, italic=no, or MKO) is a German chamber orchestra based in Munich. Its primary concert venue is the Prinzregententheater, Munich. The MKO also gives concerts in Munich at s ...

conducted by

Christoph Poppen Christoph Poppen (born 9 March 1956) is a German conductor, violinist and academic teacher. Career Poppen was born in Münster. As a violinist, he was awarded first prize in the Kocian Violin Competition age 14. He studied the violin with Ku ...

, Frances-Marie Uitti on violoncello *''Trilogy: Triphon, Dithome, Ygghur'' (for cello solo) – 1957–1961/65. Arne Deforce, cello on AEON, AECD 0748, 2007.

Notes

References

External links

CompositionToday – Giacinto Scelsi Article Scelsi discography at Discogs.comListen to Scelsi's ''Four Pieces for Orchestra''
at Acousmata music blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Scelsi, Giacinto 1905 births 1988 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century Italian male writers Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian male poets Microtonal composers People from La Spezia Sub Rosa Records artists