The music of Luigi Dallapiccola /

Dallapiccola was the first Italian to develop the 12-tone technique, and his style is uniquely Italian, full of lyricism and emotional power. Musical symbols lay at the heart of Dallapiccola's musical thinking. In all his stage works he wanted to create the greatest possible network of links between text and music images present in the libretto and the musical symbols through which these images are conveyed; his use of the Wagnerian leitmotif was a strong aid with this, as was his use of allusions (self-quotations). The central idea of all his stage works was always the same, namely "the struggle of man against some force much stronger than he." He admired three writers above all others--Thomas Mann, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust. Mann was his most important spiritual mentor during the postwar years. Joyce was the only one of the three whose texts he actually set. Fearn (Keele University, UK) has carefully traced the development of Dallapiccola's compositional style. His is the first book in English to examine all of the compositions of Dallapiccola. Superbly researched, very informative, and well written. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. R. Pitts McLennan Community College