mario ruffini

The year 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Luigi Dallapiccola’s death, a time to reflect on significant episodes that enriched his life, works, and the generations of composers he influenced. Luigi Dallapiccola, America, and the Unlocking of Visionary Creativity intends to add a few tassels to two fundamental works by Mario Ruffini: Luigi Dallapiccola e le Arti figurative (Marsilio, 2016) and L’opera di Luigi Dallapiccola: Catalogo ragionato (SZ Sugar, 2025). The latter book, dedicated to the memory of Laura Dallapiccola and translated into English by Elisabetta Zoni (Olschki, 2025), has inaugurated a new era in the field of Dallapiccola Studies.

In this book, Dallapiccola’s life, the authors argue, was marked by a series of creative epiphanies, from his encounter with Laura, his adoption of twelve-tone music serialism, the birth of their daughter Annalibera--which coincided with the fall of fascism--and his career in the United States that included the world premiere of Quaderno musicale di Annalibera (Pittsburgh, 1952). The world premiere of Ulisse, which took place at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on September 29, 1968, under the baton of Lorin Maazel, was an ultimate milestone marking Dallapiccola’s extraordinary career and life.

Mario Ruffini is a musicologist, conductor, and composer.

Franco Sciannameo is College of Fine Arts Distinguished Scholar & Teaching Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University.