Archival Notes

Gian Francesco Malipiero and Greek Tragedy: Theoretical Reflections and Compositional Instances

2026-06-30T17:27:10+02:00

This article examines Gian Francesco Malipiero’s engagement with Greek tragedy, focusing on the relationship between his incidental music for Euripides’ «Hecuba», staged at the Greek Theatre of Syracuse in 1939, and his subsequent opera «Ecuba» (1940). Drawing on archival material from the Malipiero Collection of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini—scores, librettos, correspondence, and interviews—the study reconstructs Malipiero’s compositional process, showing how the music for the Syracuse production and the opera emerged in close relationship, with the former providing an important point of departure for the latter. It considers Malipiero’s declamato, his reworking of the Euripidean choruses, and his collaboration with INDA and the translator Manara Valgimigli on the 1948 «Oresteia». The article also explores Malipiero’s ambivalent relationship with ancient Greek music, skeptical in principle yet attentive in practice.

Two Late Works by Niccolò Castiglioni: Twelve-Tone Materials and Musical Poetics in «Sette» and «Schönberg demeure»

2026-07-02T17:13:26+02:00

This article examines two late compositions by Niccolò Castiglioni, «Sette» (1995) and the unpublished «Schönberg demeure» (1995), through the study of autograph manuscripts, sketches, and preparatory materials preserved in the Castiglioni Collection at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini. Focusing on the composer’s self-defined ‘Schönbergian’ strand, the article reconstructs his compositional methods and investigates the role of twelve-tone techniques within his late musical language. The analysis demonstrates that ‘pre-compositional’ serial materials function not as prescriptive structures but as flexible resources, freely combined with tonal gestures, timbral experimentation, and expressive priorities. Particular attention is devoted to the interaction between speculative procedures and poetic intentions, revealing how Castiglioni balanced rigorous pitch organization with a highly personal concern for sonority, colour, and formal clarity. By contextualizing these works within the composer’s late aesthetic reflections, the article argues that they represent a significant synthesis of technical discipline, creative freedom, and a renewed engagement with the legacy of Schönberg and the Second Viennese School.

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

2026-07-02T17:04:38+02:00

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.

I’m Beginning to See the Leitmotif: Max Steiner’s Sketches for «Are These Our Children?»

2026-07-02T17:07:30+02:00

Max Steiner had already composed music for a few dozen films by mid-1931, but the first sketches he decided to preserve were for the RKO crime film «Are These Our Children?» Although the contents are in disarray, with multiple versions of related cues, music that never appears in the film, conflicting titles, and pages that are out of order, Steiner had the score bound and preserved alongside other more significant film scores, suggesting that it held some importance for him. We will demonstrate that these sketches reveal important early developments in Steiner’s use of the leitmotif technique, far beyond what he had attempted in previous films. The two principal themes Steiner created for this film are thoroughly transformed to support a variety of dramatic situations, appearing in stylized transitional montages that mark important steps in the transformation of a likable teen into a cold-blooded killer.

«Variazioni Danzate e Cantate su ‘Il Gabbiano’ di Čekhov»: Roman Vlad and the Challenge for a Contemporary Music Theatre

2026-06-30T17:33:05+02:00

«Variazioni danzate e cantate sul Gabbiano di Cekhov» is a theatrical work by Roman Vlad in which verbal, musical, and choreographic elements function as equally significant components of a unified dramaturgical system. Premiered in Siena in 1968, this sung-and-danced ballet was regarded by the composer as a turning point in his artistic career. On the one hand, the work synthesizes nearly three decades of Vlad’s experience in composing for theatre and ballet; on the other, it marks a renewed engagement with the operatic tradition by placing at the centre of the creative process a libretto based on Chekhov’s «The Seagull». This article examines this pivotal moment by relating Vlad’s aesthetic reflections and compositional process to their broader cultural context. It also investigates the work’s complex interplay of music, text, and dance through a close analysis of the pas de deux between Nina and Trepliov.

A Trajectory of Sound: Domenico Guaccero’s «Iter inverso» (1962)

2026-07-02T17:11:15+02:00

This article examines «Iter inverso» (1962) by Domenico Guaccero through the combined perspectives of source studies and analytical inquiry. Drawing on autograph manuscripts, sketches, performance materials, and correspondence, it reconstructs the work’s complex genesis, editorial history, and early reception, highlighting the circumstances that contributed to its limited dissemination despite its central position within the composer’s output. The study then investigates the compositional strategies underlying the score, focusing on the interaction between aleatory procedures, informal musical thought, and post-serial techniques. Rather than functioning as an autonomous principle, indeterminacy is shown to operate within a tightly organized network of compositional relationships that governs sonic transformation, perceptual processes, and formal articulation. By situating «Iter inverso» within Guaccero’s theoretical writings and the broader European avant-garde of the early 1960s, the article argues that the work represents a significant stage in his search for a musical language capable of reconciling structural control with openness and sonic experimentation.