Malipiero, Gian Francesco (
b Venice, 1882;
d Treviso, 1973). It. composer. Settled in Venice 1904–15, but spent some months in Berlin in 1908–10 attending lectures by Bruch. In this period, in the Marciana Library, Venice, he discovered and transcr. the almost forgotten works of Monteverdi, Galuppi, Tartini, Stradella, etc. This determined him to rebel against the ‘operatic tyranny’ of It. mus. life. In 1913 he met
Casella, who became his colleague in the struggle. Became prof. of comp., Parma, 1921–3. Then settled at Asolo. Taught comp. at Liceo B. Marcello, Venice, from 1932, becoming dir. 1939–52. Pubd. complete edn. in 16 vols. of Monteverdi 1926–42 which stimulated present revival of interest. Also ed. many vols. of Vivaldi's complete works. Author of books on Vivaldi, Monteverdi, and Stravinsky. He destroyed most of his mus. written before 1914, but thereafter he was a prolific composer and wrote many operas. His mus., naturally influenced by the early It. composers, also shows traces of Debussy's impressionism and, in the 1920s, the angularity of a Janáček. The later works border on atonality, but he rejected serialism. Prin. works:OPERAS:
L'Orfeide (triptych:
La Morte delle maschera, 1921–2,
Sette canzoni (1918–19),
Orfeo, 1919–20);
S. Francesco d'Assisi (1920–1);
Tre Commedie Goldoniane (triptych:
La bottega da caffè, 1922,
Sior Todero Brontolon, 1922,
Le baruffe chiozzote, 1920);
Filomela e L'infatuato (1925);
Merlino mastro d'organi (1926–7);
Il Mistero di Venezia (triptych:
Le Aquile di Aquileia, 1928,
Il finto Arlecchino, 1925, I Corvi di S. Marco, 1928); Torneo Notturno (1929);
I Trionfi d'amore (triptych:
Castel smeraldo,
Mascherate,
Giochi olimpici, comp. 1930–1. No.2 perf. 1937 as
Il festino);
La Favola del figlio cambiato (1932–3);
Giulio Cesare (1934–5);
Antonio e Cleopatra (1936–7);
Ecuba (1940);
La Vita sogno (1940–1);
I Capricci di Callot (1941–2);
L'Allegra brigata (1943);
Vergilii Aeneis (1943–4);
Mondi celesti e infernali (1948–9);
Il Figliuol prodigo (1952); Donna Urraca (1953–4);
Il Capitan Spavento (1954–5); Venere prigioniera (1955);
Rappresentazione e festa di Carnasciale e della Quaresima (1961); Don Giovanni (1962);
Le Metamorfosi di Bonaventura (1963–5);
Don Tartufo Bacchettone (1966);
Il Marescalco (1960–8);
Gli eroi di Bonaventura (1968);
Uno dei dieci (1970);
L'Iscariota (1970).BALLETS, etc.:
Pantea (1917–19);
Stradivario (1947–8);
Il Mondo Novo (1950–1).ORCH.: syms.: No.1 (‘in 4 movements like the 4 seasons’, 1933), No.2 (
Elegiaca, 1936), No.3 (
delle Campane, 1944–5), No.4 (
In Memoriam, 1946), No.5 (
Concertante, in Eco, 1947), No.6, for str. (1947), No.7 ( delle Canzoni, 1948), No.8 ( Sinfonia brevis, 1964), No.9 (
dell’ ahimè, 1966), No.10 (
Atropo, 1967), No.11 (
delle cornamuse, 1970);
Sinfonia in un tempo (1950);
Sinfonia dello Zodiaco (1951);
Impressioni dal Vero I (1910–11),
II (1915),
III (1921–2);
Pause del Silenzio I (1917),
II (1925–6);
Concerti (1931);
4 Invenzioni (1933),
Vivaldiana (1952).INSTR. & ORCH.:
Variazioni senza Tema, pf., orch. (1923); vn. conc. No.1 (1932), No.2 (1963); pf. conc. No.1 (1934), No.2 (1937), No.3 (1948), No.4 (1950), No.5 (1958), No.6 (1964); vc. conc. (1937); Triple Conc. (1938);
Dialogo, 2 pf. (1956); fl. conc. (1968).VOICES & ORCH.:
La Principessa Ulalia, cantata (1924);
La Cena, soloists., ch., orch. (1927);
La Passione, soloists., ch., orch. (1935);
Missa pro mortuis, bar., ch., orch. (1938);
Vergilii Aeneis, heroic sym., 7 soloists., ch., orch. (1943–4);
La festa della Sensa, bar., ch., orch. (1948);
Magister Josephus, 4 vv., small orch. (1957).VOICES & CHAMBER ENS.:
De profundis, v., va., bass drum, pf. (1937);
Universa Universis, male ch., chamber orch. (1942);
Mondi celesti, v., 10 instrs. (1948);
Ave Phoebe dum queror, ch., 20 instrs. (1964).CHAMBER MUSIC: str. qt. No.1 (1920), No.2 (1923), No.3 (1931), No.4 (1934), No.5 (1950), No.6 (1947), No.7 (1950), No.8 (1963–4) (No.5 based on material from opera
I Capricci di Callot, 1941–2); Sonata, vn., vc., pf. (1927); vc. sonatina (1942); wind quintet (1956).
Also songs and pf. pieces.
