Riccardo Malipiero Jr. (24 July 1914 – 27 November 2003) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, critic, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. He was awarded the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

by the city of

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 ...

in 1977 and by the city of

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

in 1984.John C. G. Waterhouse : , Contemporary Music Studies 17 (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1999), , pp. 7 et seq. Born in Milan, Malipiero was the son of cellist

Riccardo Malipiero Riccardo Malipiero Jr. (24 July 1914 – 27 November 2003) was an Italian composer, pianist, critic, and music educator. He was awarded the gold medal by the city of Milan in 1977 and by the city of Varese in 1984.John C. G. Waterhouse : , Cont ...

(1886–1975). He studied piano and composition at Milan Conservatory (in 1930), where he graduated in 1932, and Turin Conservatory, where he obtained a diploma in 1937. He pursued further studies in composition with his uncle Gian Francesco Malipiero in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. From 1935 to 1947 he was a lecturer at the Liceo Musicale "Vincenzo Appiani" in Monza. Malipiero was active as a pianist, and also wrote criticism for ''Il popolo'' and ''Corriere lombardo'', from 1945 to 1966. He lectured in the United States in 1954, 1959, and 1969, and in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1963. Between 1969 and 1984 he directed the Varese Conservatory, in which he joined the music faculty in 1979. Malipiero's early works were composed using a free

atonality Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...

. In 1945 he began using a twelve-tone technique in his compositions, becoming one of the pioneers of that technique in Italy. He promoted the twelve-tone technique in articles he contributed in Italian music periodicals, books, and lectures. In 1949 he organized the First Congress of twelve-tone music in Milan which was attended by such important composers as

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 ...

, Luigi Dallapiccola, Karl Amadeus Hartmann,

René Leibowitz René Leibowitz (; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after ...

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 thr ...

, and

Camillo Togni Camillo Togni (18 October 1922 – 28 November 1993) was an Italian composer, teacher, and pianist. Coming from a family of independent means, he was able to pursue his art as he saw fit, regardless of changing fashions or economic pressure. ...

. In 1969 he represented Italy at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's 7th Congress in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Malipiero died in Milan in 2003 at the age of 89.

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Further reading