The vocal chamber style of Luigi Dallapiccola from 1942 to 1964

The following thesis is primarily analytical in nature and deals with four aspects of Dallapiccola's vocal chamber style under the headings: I A Summary of Texture and Orchestration II Formal Considerations III A Study of the Serial Structure IV Text-Setting. Seven song cycles are investigated under each of these areas so that a line of stylistic continuity can be traced from the earliest (1942) through the most recent work studied (1964). The works are: Liriche Greche, Rencesvals, Quattro Liriche di Antonio Machado, Tre Poemi, Goethe-Lieder, Cinque Canti, and Parole di San Paolo. The supposition of continuity is borne out by the examples presented. These show that particularly in the case of formal and serial construction, Dallapiccola chooses a basic pattern or formula (a tri-partite design, a semi-combinatorial series) and creates with it new works with ever-fresh imagination. In his text-setting he is extremely concerned with comprehensibility and expression, for without these he sees little value in the technical means employed. Introducing the topic is a resume of Dallapiccola's musical development up to the time of his adoption of the twelve- tone system. The Conclusion presents evaluations of the composer by various authors, and relates the information given in the body of the thesis to Dallapiccola's personal ideas regarding the function of art.Arts, Faculty ofMusic, School ofGraduat