Gli omaggi a Bellini di Alfredo Sangiorgi: per una «purificazione» tonale
Andrea Agresti
Abstract
In 1935, marking the centenary of Vincenzo Bellini’s death, the composer Alfredo Sangiorgi (Catania, 1894 – Merano, 1962) paid homage with a concise Canzone and a more expansive Cantata. Two decades later, amidst a dynamically transformed cultural and musical landscape, Sangiorgi revisited Bellini’s legacy, composing three series of variations on themes from Norma and La sonnambula (1957-1959). Despite this, his artistic journey exhibits a fascinating dichotomy, deeply influenced by the avant-garde of the Second Viennese School. In an intriguing twist, he became Arnold Schoenberg’s only Italian pupil, studying under him for a few months in late 1922. This duality in his compositional trajectory oscillated between modernist and classicist phases, with Bellini’s image serving as a purifying force, cleansing him of the lingering influences of the Second Viennese School.
This essay delves into rare printed scores, unpublished correspondence and journalistic sources from the archives of the Catania Conservatory, the Cini Foundation in Venice and the private collection of the composer’s son. By examining the ideological context surrounding Sangiorgi’s compositions and providing analytical insights from the scores, the research aspires to enrich the understanding of Bellini’s compositional reception in the 20th century.
Keywords
Alfredo Sangiorgi – Second Viennese School – Bellini’s reception in the 20th century – Canzone (In memoria di V. Bellini) – Cantata a Bellini – Dieci variazioni su un tema della Norma – Sette variazioni su un tema di Bellini – Cinque variazioni su un tema della Sonnambula – Ildebrando Pizzetti – Francesco Pastura – Mario Pilati – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
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