'The Song Unsung': Luigi Nono's Il canto sospeso

Nielinger-Vakil, Carola. 2006. 'The Song Unsung': Luigi Nono's Il canto sospeso. Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 131(1), pp. 83-150. ISSN 14716933 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Taking into account the sources now available at the Archivio Luigi Nono in Venice, this article first looks at Nono's serial masterpiece Il canto sospeso (1955-6) in its historical context, both in Germany and in Italy. Having outlined the political circumstances and aesthetic premisses, the article goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the serial technique employed. Particular attention is paid to a technique of pitch permutation that explains the pitch structures of several movements, hitherto not fully understood. Each of the nine movements is examined in view of a better understanding of the work's expressive qualities and in order to show the underlying formal and compositional relationships.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1093/jrma/fkl001

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Music

Dates:

DateEvent
January 2006Published

Item ID:

1759

Date Deposited:

12 Mar 2009 15:42

Last Modified:

07 Dec 2012 12:51

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/1759

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