Franco Donatoni’s pre-composition sketches in the Paola Maurizi Collection at the Perugia Conservatory Library: whereabouts of a gift and notes on its content

Abstract

Paola Maurizi – Maria Grazia Sità

Franco Donatoni’s pre-composition sketches in the Paola Maurizi Collection at the Perugia Conservatory Library: whereabouts of a gift and notes on its content.

This essay discusses some thirty manuscript sheets related to six pieces that Franco Donatoni composed between 1979 and 1981. The composer himself gave them to musicologist Paola Maurizi in 1983; she, in turn, donated them to the Perugia Conservatory Library in 2014. Here they sit inside the Paola Maurizi Collection. Part 1 (by Paola Maurizi) introduces Donatoni’s life and musical personality, describes the whereabouts of the gift, and discusses the material related to a piece entitled The Heart’s Eye. Part 2 (by Maria Grazia Sità) deals with drafts of Marches, Nidi, Le ruisseau sur l'escalier, The Last Evening, and Tema. Donatoni’s sketches are preciously few, as he tended to trash them after completing a piece. Hence this collection is of paramount importance, for it allows a deeper study of the composer’s work.