Ildebrando Pizzetti

Ildebrando Pizzetti , 1880-1968, Italian opera composer, chiefly concerned with dramatic projection. Among his 23 operas are Fedra (Milan, 1915; libretto by D'Annunzio) and Debora e Jaele (Milan, 1922). Pizzetti often employed polyphonic choruses in his operas and wrote numerous independent choral works.

Pizzetti, Ildebrando (b Parma, 1880; d Rome, 1968). It. composer and teacher, sometimes known as ‘Ildebrando da Parma’. Taught at Parma Cons. until 1908, moving to Cherubini Inst., Florence (dir. 1917–24). Dir. Milan Cons. 1924–36, prof. of comp. S. Cecilia Acad., Rome, 1936–58. Though associated briefly with It. avant-garde of his day ( Malipiero, Casella, etc.), he later advocated a return to ‘tradition’. His mus. character was divided between a deeply religious vein, which is reflected in his operas (at the other extreme from those of Puccini) and a hedonistic vein which found expression in collab. with d'Annunzio, for whose plays he wrote incidental mus. Toscanini cond. 2 of his operas in Milan. His choral works are especially fine. Prin. comps.:OPERAS: Fedra (1909–12); Debora e Jaele (1915–21); Lo straniero (1922–5); Fra Gherardo (1925–7); Orséolo (1931–5); L'Oro (1938–42); Vanna Lupa (1947–9); Ifigenia (1950); Assassinio nella Cattedrale (1957); Il calzare d'argento (1961); Clitennestra (1961–4).ORCH.: Per l'Edipo Re di Sofocle (1903); suite, La pisanella (1913); Sinfonia del fuoco (1914); Concerto dell’ estate (1928); Rondo Veneziano (1929); pf. conc. (Canti della Stagione Alta) (1930); vc. conc. (1933–4); sym. (1940); vn. conc. (1944); Preludio a un altro Giorno (Prelude to Another Day) (1952); hp. conc. (1958–60).CHORUS & ORCH.: Agamemnon (1931); Epithalamium (1939); Cantico di Gloria ‘Attollite Portas’ for 3 ch., 24 wind instr., 2 pf., perc. (1948); Vanitas Vanitatum, cantata (1958).UNACCOMPANIED VOICES: 2 canzoni corali (1913); Canto d'amore (1914); Requiem (1922–3); De profundis (1937); 2 composizioni corali (1961).