2007_06_01_archive

A path at the end of the line

[Giacinto] Scelsi was born into an old southern Italian noble

family, inheriting the title Count d'Ayala Valva from his mother.

He was, of course, the end of the line. At the family castle, he

was schooled in 'fencing, chess, and Latin,' or so he said. He

flitted through European aristocratic circles and had his wedding

party at Buckingham Palace. But music was his chief obsession. He

quickly tilted toward the avant-garde, and when he was very young

he attended Luigi Russolo's Futurist noise concerts; his first

major work was called 'Printing Presses.' Later, he became

interested in Schoenberg's twelve-tone method, although he did not

adopt it. He fell in love with Eastern philosophy and made trips to

India and Nepal. After the Second World War, he suffered a

breakdown and stopped composing for a few years. He spent day after

day playing a single note on the piano. The casual observer might

have thought that he had gone mad. He was, in fact, finding his

path.

Alex Ross in a link via Jacob Sudol's outstanding music blog.

at 5:37 PM 0 comments

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* Book Depository: Editor's Corner

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More literary blogs

* Jonathan Swift's Journal to Stella

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* Anatomy of Melancholy

* The Truth About Lies

* Nigel Beale: Nota Bene

* Thomas McGonigle's ABC of Reading

* Vertigo: Collecting WG Sebald

* Un Arbre dans la Ville

* The Wooden Spoon

* The Joyful Knowing

* The Reader Onliine

* In Abstentia Out

* Jacob Russell's Barking Dog

* eNotes Book Blog

* Diderot's Diary

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* Maurice Blanchot

* Thomas Bernhard (German equivalent)

* Gabriel Josipovici

* Peter Handke (German equivalent)

* Princeton Dante Project

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* Charlotte Mandell

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