Review

'Alegant's sophisticated, accessible analyses deeply enrich our understanding of one of the most fascinating sound worlds from the twentieth century. The Twelve-Tone Music of Luigi Dallapiccola is a major achievement.' -Christoph Neidhofer, associate professor (music theory), Schulich School of Music, McGill University Koegel's magnificent and substantial tome . . . reveals long-forgotten legacies of shows, theaters, impresarios, composers, conductors, and performers. . . . The prose is lively, and many well-produced illustrations (including portraits, production photos, images of theaters, and sheet-music covers) add to the book's charm. . . . A twenty-track CD made expressly for the book allows the reader to hear gems from the repertory described in the prose. . . . Will be of interest to musicologists, theater, cultural, and immigrant historians, . . . German-studies scholars (and) a broader readership.-AMERICAN MUSIC (William K. Kearns)

Product Description

Luigi Dallapiccola was one of twentieth century's most accomplished and admired composers. His music incorporated many of the twelve-tone techniques developed by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton von Webern, but blended their expressionistic impulses with an Italianate sense of lyricism. Brian Alegant's The Twelve-Tone Music of Luigi Dallapiccola traces the evolution of Dallapiccola's compositional technique over a thirty-year period (1942-74). Using both historical and music-analytical lenses, this book documents the influences of Webern and Schoenberg, highlights Dallapiccola's innovative handling of harmony, form, and text setting, and sheds light on several works that have been virtually ignored. Alegant's book will be a crucial source of insights for scholars and other readers interested in twentieth-century music.