Tecnica della mutazione e tecnica seriale in Vier Briefe (1953) di Bruno Maderna

Abstract

From about 1950 Maderna was interested in seeking serial generative possibilities with the intent of obtaining, in a coherent and organic way, ample musical material which would later be structured in the piece. Thus the Venetian composer created a compositional process, which he himself defined as 'mutation technique' and which he used together with the serial technique. The compositions where he used this process, though not always exactly in the same way, are Improvvisazione n. 1 (1951-52), Studi per il 'Llanto' di F. G. Lorca (1950-52),Improvvisazione n. 2 (1953), Vier Briefe (1953), Flötenkonzert (1954), Serenata n. 2 (1954), Composizione in tre tempi (1954), Quartetto in due tempi (1955), Concerto per pianoforte (1958).
In Vier Briefe the process consists in the proliferation of ample material starting from a series of a few notes (a fragment of the partisan song, Fischia il vento) achieved by moving from one magic square to the next, through the numbers of a matrix which determine the number of movements that every pitch of the series must perform.
Vier Briefe also reveal Maderna's ethical and civil commitment at the beginning of the fifties. The choice of its texts shows that he belonged to a social and ethical group which was very important for his poetics and for the particular historical moment. Vier Briefe should be considered in the context of Italy's politically committed culture of the fifties alongside other art forms, such as literature, drama and neorealistic cinema. Vier Briefe shares with Nono's contemporary production - Epitaph auf G. Lorca of 1952-53 and Canto sospeso of 1956 - the values of antifascism, and the denunciation of violence and oppression, following the path shown to the two Venetian composers by Dallapiccola with Canti di prigionia and Il Prigioniero. The work of Maderna is in turn a signpost to Nono for Canto sospeso, which uses texts drawn from the letters of members of the European Resistance movement who had been sentenced to death. Maderna's human, ethical and political commitment is not only evident in his choice of texts (Lettera del condannato della Resistenza, Kommerzialbrief, Gramsci-Lettera dal carcere), but is also expressed through the use of musical material drawn from the same context: the partisan song. The processes applied to this material are, however, many and such as to render it unrecognizable. The material obtained in this way is then restored, through the texts used, to its original semantic context, thus acquiring an even greater meaning and force of expression.