|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
||
Brian Alegant Receives NEH Grant to Research the 12-Tone Music of Luigi Dallapiccola
Alegant has written computer
programs that will help him analyze Dallapiccola's
distinctive music-writing
style.
PHOTOGRAPH BY HOLLY MATYAS
JANUARY 26, 1999--Brian Alegant, associate professor of music theory, has received a grant of $30,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to examine the organizing principles of Luigi Dallapiccola's 12-tone music. Alegant aims to unveil the salient characteristics and techniques of Dallapiccola's works and provide the first in-depth study of the compositional language and harmonic logic of the composer, who lived between 1904 and 1975.
According to Schott Musik International, "Dallapiccola was the leading Italian twentieth-century composer between Puccini and Berio, and one of the most original receivers and refiners of the twelve-note method."
Most musicologists who examine 12-tone music view the rows of notes as one-dimensional entities, says Alegant. But this methodology has been "only partially successful in determining the procedures and structural relationships in Dallapiccola's music," he says.
"I propose an alternative approach that features a new theory of two-dimensional configurations. The theory provides a framework with which to model the melodic and harmonic dimensions of his music, and offers important insights into a previously impenetrable repertoire."
Besides contributing to the understanding of Dallapiccola's music in particular, Alegant says, his project will contribute to the understanding of 12-tone music in general. The project's completion will "bridge the gap between music theory and performance; render accessible contemporary music; and give theorists, historians, and performers insights into the music of one of this century's important artists."
Alegant will be on research status in 1999-2000 to carry out his scholarship and prepare manuscripts for publication, and in the summer of 2000 he will travel to Florence to study the composer's sketches and manuscripts, test his hypothesis on Dallapiccola's working methods, and further refine his theoretical framework. He expects to continue thinking and writing about his subject through 2002, when his work should result in a book for an audience of theorists, musicologists, composers, upper-level undergraduates, and graduate students studying 20th-century music.
Please send comments, questions, and suggestions about Oberlin Online news and feature articles to Linda.Grashoff@oberlin.edu.
