Rhythm in the Works of Luigi Dallapiccola
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Keywords: Luigi Dallapiccola, Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, “floating rhythm” („schwebender Rhythmus“), serial music, integral serialism, music of the twentieth century.
Author: Ekaterina G. Okuneva
About the author
ОRCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5253-8863
e-mail: okunevaeg@yandex.ru
PhD in Art History (2006), Associate Professor of Department of Music Theory and Composition, Vice-rector for Scientific and Creative Work at the Petrozavodsk State Glazunov Conservatory
16 Leningradskaya St., Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia 185031, Russia
Submitted on: 09.11.2019
Published on: 15.04.2020
Abstract
The work of Luigi Dallapiccola of the 1950–1960s is characterized by active experiments in the field of meter and rhythm. The composer has developed the concept of the so-called “floating rhythm” („schwebender Rhythmus“). In the article, this concept is interpreted as associated with a free metric, rhythmic irregularity, and lack of focus. The complex of techniques mentioned by the author as contributing to violation of the metro-rhythmic equilibrium, includes the veiling of accented beats, the use of in-bar and inter-bar syncopes, additional duration, polymetry.
The principles of composer’s work with rhythm are demonstrated by particular compositions of the 1950–1960s: Quaderno musicale di Annalibera [Musical Notebook of Annalibera], the vocal cycles Goethe-Lieder and Cinque canti, [Five Songs], the concert for cello and orchestra Dialoghi [Dialogues], and the opera Ulisse.
Dallapiccola synthesizes the achievements of ancient polyphony and composers of the new Viennese school. It autonomizes pitch and rhythmic rules, operates with durations as constructive elements, works with rhythmic cells as syntactic units, searches for the equivalent of pitch inversion in the rhythmic parameter by converting long durations into short ones and vice versa. The author draws parallels between the rhythmic thinking of Dallapiccola and the rhythmic ideas of Messian, Boulez and other composers-serialists.
There is a tendency toward complication of rhythmic structures: Dallapiccola refers to various methods of numerical organization of rhythm and gives it figurative and symbolic meaning.
Works Cited
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Okuneva, Ekaterina G. (2014). Printsipy organizatsii ritmicheskikh struktur v serial’noy muzyke [Principles of organization of rhythmic structures in integral serial music]. Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk State University, 124 p. (in Russian).
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For citation: Okuneva, Ekaterina G. “Rhythm in the Works of Luigi Dallapiccola.” In Оpera musicologica, vol. 12, no. 1 (2020), pp. 6–24 (in Russian). DOI: 10.26156/OM.2020.12.1.001.