Home | Composers Index | Musical Epochs | Musical Forms | Contact Musical Instruments | Updates | Cairo Opera House | Links

Luigi Nono (1924-1990)

Epoch: Since 1945
Country: Italy

Introduction

He studied with Malipiero at the Venice Conservatory (1941-5) and with Maderna and Scherchen, both of whom orientated him towards 12-note serialism (he married Sch�nberg's daughter Nuria in 1955). His avant-garde partisanship was inseparable from a commitment to socialism, twin aspects of a revolt against bourgeois culture: hence his avoidance of normal concert genres in favour of opera and electronic music, his frequent recourse to political texts and his work in bringing music to factories. His works include the operas Intolleranza 1960 (1961) and Al gran sole carico d'amore (1975), the cantata Il canto sospeso (1956), orchestral works and tape pieces. Much of his music of the 1950s and 1960s has a fervent lyricism; later works tended to be more pessimistic (Ein Gespenst geht um in der Welt, 1971).