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Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco



Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was born in Florence on April 3, 1895 to a family of Jewish origins. He studied composition under Ildebrando Pizzetti, and soon caught the attention of Alfredo Casella, who launched him in Italy and internationally. He was an extremely versatile and prolific musician.

Compared to his maestro, Pizzetti, whose influence may be heard, we note fresh melodic facility, tempered by an elegance often associated with French composers – more along the lines of Ravel than Debussy, for the precision of his contours, and the liveliness and variety of his rhythms. His modern musical language encompasses movements found in contemporary dance, including the fox trot, and the blues, while he clearly did not shy away from recouping a “traditional”, neo-romantic expressiveness.

Music by Castelnuovo-Tedesco was featured at the first Modern Music Festival in Salzburg in 1922; his compositions would later be played at the Venice Biennale, La Scala in Milano, in Germany and in the United states. His vast output embraces a host of musical genres, from pieces for solo piano to operas, from concertos to cantatas, from sonatas for solo instrumentalists to symphonic overtures. An avid reader, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s favorite authors included Aeschylus, Virgil, Keats, Wordsworth, Whitman, Cervantes, García Lorca and Shakespeare. Indeed, he entitled his eleven symphonic overtures after plays by Shakespeare.

In 1958 he won the prestigious Campari Competition at La Scala in Milano for his opera The Merchant of Venice, though it was never performed there – it made its premiere in Florence in 1961, and was a rousing success.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco died in Los Angeles on March 17, 1968.

2 product(s) found in Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
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Item No. ECU011936
2 Sonate per tromba e pianoforte op. 179
Item No. ECU011936
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Edizioni Curci Book [Softcover] Trumpet, Cornet or Flugelhorn
€ 20,19
Item No. HL00400591
Sonatina and Serenata Op. 127
Item No. HL00400591
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Mauro Giuliani Music Minus One Book and CD Flute
€ 23,36
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