Bruno Maderna

Bruno Maderna, one of the most influential composers in the 20th century and a formidable conductor, was the oldest of a notable group of Italian composers who began their careers shortly before the Second World War. Many details of this biography are based on his correspondences and reports of his engagements across the world.

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Bruno Maderna, one of the most influential composers in the 20th century, was the oldest of the group of Italian composers born in the 1920s (Berio, Nono, Donatoni…) who began their career shortly before the Second World War and were able to exploit the opportunities offered by the new world that emerged in the post-war years.

Maderna’s story is quite unique. He rose to fame early in life as a child prodigy and his exceptional talent was soon noticed by Gian Francesco Malipiero, who stimulated his interest in ancient music, a passion that remained constant even when the European avant-garde insisted that new music should start from year zero. After a first approach to the “classic” dodecaphony, his musical style tended toward the integral seriality and the “opera aperta”. In the last years he developed a particular interest for the theatre. Satyricon was born in Tanglewood in a short version, and later became a big success all over the world, particular after his death. His work as a conductor made him particularly sensitive to the reaction of the public, leading him to carefully calibrate his approach to composition, without being swayed by fashionable ideals or philosophies. Despite his warm and outgoing nature, Maderna rarely expressed his personal views in writing or in interviews.

Many of the biographical details given here are taken from his correspondence and from reports of his travels and engagements across the world, which took him as far as the United States, but also to Persia, South America and Japan.