Dialectics and Matter in the Aesthetics of Giacomo Manzoni

Abstract

This article discusses the concepts of dialectics and matter in the work and writings of Giacomo Manzoni (1932), Luigi Nono (1924-1990), and Bruno Maderna (1920-1973), composers who were influenced by Marxism and involved in the Italian Communist Party. Utilizing diverse primary sources, including a text by Maderna for a conference in Dartington and unpublished correspondence between Luigi Nono and Manzoni, the article explores the links between their philosophical, aesthetic, and political positions and their musical thinking, particularly in the 1960s and 1980s. To illustrate this, two emblematic works by Manzoni, «Per Massimiliano Robespierre» (1974) and «Doktor Faustus» (1988), were studied.