Luigi Dallapiccola’s An Mathilde (1955) is a cantata for soprano and orchestra setting five German poems by Heinrich Heine drawn from Romanzero and Letzte Gedichte. Lasting about 15 minutes, the work unfolds as a continuous sequence of...

Luigi Dallapiccola’s Cinque Frammenti di Saffo (1942) is a song cycle for soprano and chamber orchestra setting Italian texts by Salvatore Quasimodo after five poems of Sappho. Though built on a twelve-tone row—his first work to foreground...

Dallapiccola’s Sex Carmina Alcaei is a vocal work that applies his mature serial techniques to a careful setting of poetic texts. The composition uses a meticulously structured tone row to shape both its melodic and harmonic material, resulting in...

Luigi Dallapiccola’s Commiato (1972) is a masterful example of the composer’s late style, blending his deep engagement with serial techniques and his fascination with literary expression. Scored for soprano and a chamber ensemble of 15...

Partita is the work with which Dallapiccola first came to international recognition. Written in memory of the Italian pianist Ernesto Consolo, it is scored in four movements for orchestra, with a soprano solo in the final movement. In a manner analogous...

 Luigi Dallapiccola was spurred to write his Tartiniana seconda, for violin accompanied by either piano or orchestra, by violinist Sandro Materassi; hoping for a sequel to Dallapiccola's well-received first Tartiniana, Materassi came to him with...