Hidden Geographies. Essays on the Music of Camillo Togni [con Christoph Neidhöfer]

Camillo Togni (1922-1993) ranks among the finest composers of the twentieth century, yet to date he has received little scholarly attention in English. Initially associated with the post-war musical avant-garde, Togni ultimately stood apart from it. He was, with Luigi Dallapiccola, one of the earliest Italian composers to adopt twelve-tone technique during World War II, and in the 1950s pioneered compositional methods that extended serial control to numerous musical parameters in highly imaginative and disciplined ways. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, Togni cultivated an intensely expressionist musical style modelled on, but transcending, that of the Second Viennese School. This volume brings together new research on Togni that illuminates how he embraced novel compositional techniques in the service of a musical style different from that of other serial composers. The essays trace the distinctiveness of Togni's instrumental, vocal, and electronic music to the philosophical roots of thinking and discuss his compositional procedures, in 'inward expressiveness' he cherished, the ethical dimension of his work (inspired by Shoenberg, Trakl, and Sartre), and his experience as pianist.