SHOW ALL BATTISTELLI'S WORKS

Glancing through the list of Battistelli’s works one is immediately struck by the large number of compositions linked to the theatre, all variously described as “operas”, “monodramas”, “ballets” or  “stage concerts”. But this is not all: a vivid sense of drama in sound also involves his purely instrumental compositions. In fact, each work is conceived for a series of “characters”, which may be motifs based on rhythm and intervals, orchestral sections or individual instruments; they are “characters” that play both an active and a passive role, transform themselves, are ordered on and off stage (an ideal stage) by the composer-cum-producer and are placed under an imaginary spotlight or suddenly plunged into darkness. A symbolic story underlies every score; but this is something the composer keeps to himself. It is definitely not a pretext for descriptions or symphonic poems of any shape or form. Succeeding in grasping this is not vital for performing or interpreting his works; it is just one of the symptoms that may point to a greater or lesser symbiosis with the composer.

This second level of depth that can be reached when assessing Battistelli’s works can also be expressed, up to a point, by the concept of “form”: a notion that is both fundamental and unavoidable for the composer. In Battistelli’s opinion the basic task of the contemporary composer is to seek new forms rather than new sound materials. For the musical work derives from the dialectical tension between the need for a carefully constructed form and the need for musical intuition (the only thing that can breathe genuine life into it).

This synthesis of imagination and constructivism brings us to the singular position Battistelli occupies in the crowded panorama of contemporary Italian composers. “Of the musicians I know Battistelli is certainly the one who most jealously guards his independence”, writes the musicologist Daniel Charles. “He keeps well away from closed circles and cliques of any kind, but not from the most daring attempts at experimentation.” He adds: “Careful reflection [...] and his own natural taste have prompted him to retain [...] firm references to history and tradition.”

Invisible, yet strong threads connect Battistelli’s work to the influences of the historic and post-War avant-gardes.

From a distillation of this musical heritage – too hastily forgotten by many today – Battistelli has developed an approach that is as distant from a restorational aesthetic as it is from all technological fetishism.

Cristina Cimagalli

1953-1980

He was born at Albano Laziale on 25 April 1953. He graduated in composition in 1978 with Giancarlo Bizzi at the Conservatorio “A. Casella” of L’Aquila, also studying history of music with Claudio Annibaldi and piano with Antonello Neri. In 1974 he was one of the founders of the Gruppo di Ricerca e Sperimentazione Musicale “Edgar Varèse” and the Gruppo Strumentale “Beat 72” of Rome.

In 1975 he attended the composition seminars held by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne; and in 1978-79 he attended the courses of technique and interpretation in contemporary music theatre given by Jean Pierre Drouet and Gaston Sylvestre in Paris. His first works are: Uno e trino for a percussionist (1975), Comme un opéra fabuleux for a percussionist (1979) and Il racconto di Monsieur B for orchestra (1980).

1981-1990

He makes his name as one of the most interesting composers of his generation. In 1983 he is awarded a grant at the radio studios of Baden-Baden. In 1985-86 he lives in Berlin on the invitation of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst; in 1986 he begins his collaboration with Casa Ricordi, his present publishers. He is awarded the SIAE Prize for music in 1990.

His works of music theatre include: Experimentum mundi, a work of imaginistic music on texts taken from the Encyclopédie (1981), which has so far been given over two hundred performances throughout the world; Aphrodite, a monodrama of ancient customs (1983); Jules Verne, a chamber fantasia in form of a spectacle on texts by the composer (1987); Le combat d’Hector et d’Achille, a “représentation de corps et de mémoire” for two musician-orators (Strasbourg, Festival Musica 1989); and Globe Theatre, a ballet with choreography by Virgilio Sieni (1990). His instrumental works include Anarca for orchestra (1988-89).

1990-1995

In 1993 he is awarded the Premio Cervo for music and in the same year is appointed by Hans Werner Henze to succeed him as head of the International Art Workshop of Montepulciano, where he has been artistic director since 1996.

He intensifies his theatrical output with Teorema, a parable in music (freely adapted from Pier Paolo Pasolini) given its world premiere at the Teatro Comunale of Florence at the 53rd Maggio Musicale (1992); Frau Frankenstein, a modern Promethus monodrama on his own text based on Mary Shelley (1993); and Prova d’orchestra, six end-of-century musical scenes on his own text, freely adapted from the Fellini film (1994-95). In the vocal field: Ascolto di Rembrandt on a text by Guido Ceronetti and Paz Music on texts by Octavio Paz (1993-94). And for instrumental music: Il y a un firmament for chamber orchestra (1991).

1995-2000

From 1996 to 2002 he is the artistic director of the Orchestra della Toscana. He works at Luciano Berio’s Centro Tempo Reale in Florence and at the Centro di Sonologia Computazionale of the University of Padua.

His works for the theatre include: The Cenci, music theatre after Antonin Artaud (London, Almeida Opera; 1997); La scoperta della lentezza, music theatre in five scenes after the novel by Sten Nadolny (Bremen 1997); Giacomo mio, salviamoci! on a text by Vittorio Sermonti for voice and orchestra (1998); Il fiore delle mille e una notte, ballet in eight scenes after Pier Paolo Pasolini (Modena 1999); and Impressions d’Afrique, music theatre after Raymond Roussel (63th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2000). His instrumental works include Orazi e Curiazi for two percussionists (Beijng Concert Hall 1996) and Etüde for orchestra (Berlin 2000). Another work is Tre voci on a text by Giorgio van Straten (Sagra Musicale Umbra 1996), in which the instrumental ensemble is joined by a reciting voice and electronics.

2001-2005

The most representative works of this period include: Auf den Marmorklippen (2001), musical visions after the novel by Ernst Jünger, staged at the Mannheim Opera House and performed by the Catalan company Fura dels Baus on 8 March 2002; The Embalmer (2002) on a text by Renzo Rosso, produced at the Omega Palace of London as part of the Almeida Festival on 10 July 2002; L’autunno del Patriarca, first performed at the Bremen Opera House in 2004; the Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, D’après Claudio Monteverdi, presented with Mario Martone and the collaboration of Alvise Vidolin, at the Festival of Ravello on 30 July 2005; and finally, the premiere of Riccardo III, a work based on Shakespeare’s tragedy of Richard III and with a libretto by Ian Burton, for Vlaamse Opera of Antwerp on 31 July 2005.

In the symphonic he writes field Meandri (2004), an orchestral work commissioned and first performed by the Orchestra Filarmonica of La Scala, conducted by Riccardo Muti. On a commission of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano conducts the premiere of Afterthought (about a Shakespearean tragedy) in Rome on 26 November 2005.

From 2000 to 2005 he was artistic director of the Società Aquilana dei Concerti (2000-2005).

From 2005 (for 2 years ) he was artistic director of Accademia Filarmonica Romana.

2006

His most recent works include the world premiere of Parthenope performed by the Ensemble Dissonanzen conducted by Claudio Lugo (Naples, 14 May 2006). Les Cenci, in a new production by the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and the Théâtre de l’Odéon of Paris, was given for the first time in the original French at the Teatro dei Rozzi in Siena on 8 and 9 July. In October a new orchestral work, Après Josquin, toured South America with the ORT conducted by Gabriele Ferro. The Italian premiere was given at the Teatro Verdi in Florence on 3 November.

He was composer-in-residence of Antwerp Opera for the years 2005-2006

From 2006 he has held a course on music theatre (part of a three-year project) for Aldeburgh Productions, together with playwright Ian Burton.

from 2007

The Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai, conducted by Jukka Pekka Saraste, world premiered Lettera a Francis Bacon at the Rai Nuova Musica Festival on 26 January.

He has received commissions from the Deutsche Oper am Rhein of Düsseldorf  and the Opera National de Nancy et de Lorraine for two operas that will be performed in 2008.

At present he holds the following positions: director of the Biennale Musica of Venice (from 2004) and composer-in-residence of Düsseldorf Opera for the two-year period 2007-2008.

Since December 2006 (until 2010) he has been artistic director of the Arena Foundation of Verona.