Giacinto Scelsi
Giacinto Scelsi was born on January 8, 1905 in La Spezia, Italy. The descendent of ancient Southern Italian nobility, he became one of the most important exponents of the musical world of the 20th century even though he was something of a recluse and remained on the fringes of the mainstream musical world throughout his lifetime.
His eminent talent for improvisation was recognized early on. Initially he pursued what seems like a conventional path of training as a composer by studying in Vienna during the thirties with Franz Klein, himself a pupil of Schönberg’s.
However Scelsi very soon distanced himself from the constraints of the established music traditions of the occident. He suffered a personal and spiritual crisis which led to extended travels through Africa and Asia, resulting in a new understanding of music, based on a thorough knowledge of Eastern philosophy and mysticism. During the second half of the century he no longer thought of himself as composer, but more as a kind of medium with mental access to transcendental worlds.
He returned to Rome and continued writing music which sought to explore sound’s innermost essence with the help of microtonal oscillations, a dynamic flow of energy within time and the harmonic interplay of light and shadow. He succeeded in ever new ways and with works of various genres in disclosing magical sound-scapes, focussing the listener’s awareness in ways similar to meditation.
Esoteric sound of this kind defies classical analysis. Rather, it allows for an almost palpable experience of musical forms which have been more or less suppressed in the West throughout the centuries; it facilitates access to a kind of spirituality with which Westerners have yet to be re-acquainted - with the help of immersion in primary sounds, intuition and the experience of the here-and-now.
Giacinto Scelsi died on August 8, 1988, in Rome.
His eminent talent for improvisation was recognized early on. Initially he pursued what seems like a conventional path of training as a composer by studying in Vienna during the thirties with Franz Klein, himself a pupil of Schönberg’s.
However Scelsi very soon distanced himself from the constraints of the established music traditions of the occident. He suffered a personal and spiritual crisis which led to extended travels through Africa and Asia, resulting in a new understanding of music, based on a thorough knowledge of Eastern philosophy and mysticism. During the second half of the century he no longer thought of himself as composer, but more as a kind of medium with mental access to transcendental worlds.
He returned to Rome and continued writing music which sought to explore sound’s innermost essence with the help of microtonal oscillations, a dynamic flow of energy within time and the harmonic interplay of light and shadow. He succeeded in ever new ways and with works of various genres in disclosing magical sound-scapes, focussing the listener’s awareness in ways similar to meditation.
Esoteric sound of this kind defies classical analysis. Rather, it allows for an almost palpable experience of musical forms which have been more or less suppressed in the West throughout the centuries; it facilitates access to a kind of spirituality with which Westerners have yet to be re-acquainted - with the help of immersion in primary sounds, intuition and the experience of the here-and-now.
Giacinto Scelsi died on August 8, 1988, in Rome.