Alfredo Casella

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Casella, Alfredo (b Turin, 1883; d Rome, 1947). It. composer, conductor, pianist, and author. Visited Russia 1907 and 1909. On return to It. in 1915, as prof. of pf. at Liceo di S. Cecilia, Rome, became champion of all that was new in the arts and headed It. section of ISCM. Anticipated tastes of a later epoch by interest in It. baroque mus., particularly Vivaldi. His own mus. reflected restless and questing mind. Early works influenced by Mahler, whose mus. he cond. in Paris in the early 1900s. Tempted by atonality but after 1920 identified himself with neo-classicism. Comps. incl.: OPERAS: La donna serpente (1928–31); La favola d'Orfeo (1932); Il deserto tentato (1937).BALLETS: Il convento veneziano (1912); La Giara (1924).ORCH.: syms.: No.1 (1905), No.2 (1908–9 unpubd.), No.3 (1940); Italia Suite (1909); Pupazzetti (1919); Scarlattiana, pf., orch. (1926); vn. conc. (1928); Concerto romano (organ) (1926); conc. for pf., vn., and vc. (1933); vc. conc. (1934–5); Conc. for Orch. (1937); conc. for pf., timp., perc., str. (1943); songs; and pf. pieces (incl. 2 series entitled À la manière de … (In the style of … ) (1911 and 1913), 2nd series collab. Ravel).

Alfredo Casella , 1883–1947, Italian composer, pianist, conductor, and writer on music; pupil of Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatory. He taught piano at the Paris Conservatory (1911–15) and at the St. Cecilia Conservatory, Rome (1915–23). In 1917 he organized a society, later known as Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche, to promote the recognition of contemporary music. He is the author of The Evolution of Music throughout the History of the Perfect Cadence (tr. 1924). His best-known compositions are the ballets Il convento veneziano (1912) and La Giara (Paris, 1924), the latter based on a novel by Pirandello. Other works are piano pieces, songs, chamber music, orchestral works, and concertos.

Bibliography: See his memoirs, Music in My Time (tr. 1955).