Serial Techniques and Sartre’s Literary Influence: Exploring the Creative Process in Camillo Togni’s «Ricerca» op. 36

Abstract

This article examines the compositional process of «Ricerca. Sei studi su testo di J.-P. Sartre», op. 36, by Camillo Togni, situating the work within the composer’s broader engagement with Jean-Paul Sartre, from «Tre studi per Morts sans sépulture» to the unfinished «Lucie» project. Drawing on sketches, autograph manuscripts, and analytical notes preserved in the Camillo Togni Collection at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, the study reconstructs the extensive pre-compositional planning underlying «Ricerca», including the design of its six tone rows, pitch–rhythm proportionality, principles of segmentation, overlap and displacement, and the cycle’s symmetrical organization. It argues that «Ricerca» marks a crucial transitional stage between Togni’s earlier twelve-tone practice, shaped through his engagement with René Leibowitz, and his later multi-parametric serialism. The analysis further demonstrates that, rather than determining the serial procedures themselves, the selected excerpts from Sartre’s «La Nausée» inform the musical realization of parameters that remain outside serial organization, revealing how pre-compositional serial planning and textual meaning operate on complementary yet distinct compositional levels within Togni’s creative process.