Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition Sinfonia for voices and orchestra) and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.

Biography
Berio was born in Oneglia (now Borgo d'Oneglia, a small village 3 km N of Imperia). He was taught the piano by his father and grandfather who were both organists. During World War II he was conscripted into the army, but on his first day he injured his hand while learning how a gun worked. He spent time in a military hospital, before fleeing to fight in anti-Nazi groups.

Following the war, Berio studied at the Milan Conservatory under Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Giorgio Federico Ghedini. He was unable to continue studying the piano because of his injured hand, so instead concentrated on composition. In 1947 came the first public performance of one of his works, a suite for piano.

Berio made a living at this time accompanying singing classes, and it was in doing this that he met American mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian, whom he married shortly after graduating (they divorced in 1964). Berio would write many pieces exploiting her versatile and unique voice.

In 1951, Berio went to the United States to study with Luigi Dallapiccola at Tanglewood, from whom he gained an interest in serialism. He later attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik at Darmstadt, meeting Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel there. He became interested in electronic music, co-founding the Studio di Fonologia, an electronic music studio in Milan, with Bruno Maderna in 1955. He invited a number of significant composers to work there, among them Henri Pousseur and John Cage. He also produced an electronic music periodical, Incontri Musicali.

In 1960, Berio returned to Tanglewood, this time as Composer in Residence, and in 1962, on an invitation from Darius Milhaud, took a teaching post at Mills College in Oakland, California. In 1965 he began to teach at the Juilliard School, and there he founded the Juilliard Ensemble, a group dedicated to performances of contemporary music. Also in 1965, he again married, this time to the noted philosopher of science Susan Oyama (they divorced in 1971). His students include Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich, Luca Francesconi and, perhaps most surprisingly, Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead.

All this time Berio had been steadily composing and building a reputation, winning the Italian Prize in 1966 for Laborintus II. His reputation was cemented when his Sinfonia was premiered in 1968.

In 1972, Berio returned to Italy. From 1974 to 1980 he acted as director of the electro-acoustic division of IRCAM in Paris, and in 1977 he married for the third time with musicologist Talia Pecker. In 1987 he opened Tempo Reale in Florence, a centre similar in intent to IRCAM.

In 1994 he became Distinguished Composer in Residence at Harvard University, remaining there until 2000. He was also active as a conductor and continued to compose to the end of his life. In 2000, he became Presidente and Sovrintendente at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Luciano Berio died in 2003 in a hospital in Rome.

Berio's music

Berio's electronic work dates for the most part from his time at Milan's Studio di Fonologia. One of the most influential works he produced there was Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1958), based on Cathy Berberian reading from James Joyce's Ulysses. A later work, Visage (1961) sees Berio creating a wordless emotional language by cutting up and rearranging a recording of Cathy Berberian's voice.

In 1968, Berio completed O King a work which exists in two versions: one for voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, the other for eight voices and orchestra. The piece is in memory of Martin Luther King, who had been assassinated shortly before its composition. In it, the voice(s) intones first the vowels, and then the consonants which make up his name, only stringing them together to give his name in full in the final bars.

The orchestral version of O King was, shortly after its completion, integrated into what is perhaps Berio's most famous work, Sinfonia (1968-69), for orchestra and eight amplified voices. The voices are not used in a traditional classical way; they frequently do not sing at all, but speak, whisper and shout words by Claude Lévi-Strauss (whose Le cru et le cuit provides much of the text), Samuel Beckett (from his novel The Unnamable), instructions from the scores of Gustav Mahler and other writings.

In the third movement of the piece Berio takes the third movement from Mahler's Symphony No. 2 and has the orchestra play a slightly cut-up and re-shuffled version of it. At the same time, the voices recite texts from various sources, and the orchestra plays snatches of Claude Debussy's La Mer, Maurice Ravel's La Valse, Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, as well as quotations from Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and many others, creating a dense collage, occasionally to humorous effect; when one of the reciters says "I have a present for you", the orchestra follows immediately with a fragment from Don (French for "gift"), the first movement from Pli selon pli by Pierre Boulez.

The result is a narrative with the usual tension and release of classical music, but using a completely different language. The actual chords and melodies at any one time do not seem as important as the fact that we are hearing such and such a part of Mahler, a particular bit of Alban Berg and certain words by Beckett. Because of this, the movement is seen as one of the first examples of Postmodern music. It has also been described as a deconstruction of Mahler's Second Symphony, just as Visage was a deconstruction of Berberian's voice.

A-Ronne (1974) is similarly collaged, but with the focus more squarely on the voice. It was originally written as a radio program for five actors, and reworked in 1975 for eight vocalists and an optional keyboard part. The work is one of a number of collaborations with the poet Edoardo Sanguineti, who for this piece provided a text full of quotations from sources including the Bible, T. S. Eliot and Karl Marx.

Another example of the influence of Sanguineti is the large work Coro, scored for orchestra, solo voices, and a large choir, whose members are paired with instruments of the orchestra. The work extends over roughly an hour, and explores a number of themes within a framework of folk music from a variety of regions; Chile, North America, Africa. Recurrent themes are the expression of love and passion; the pain of being parted from loved ones; death of a wife or husband. A line repeated often is "come and see the blood on the streets", a reference to a poem by Pablo Neruda, written in the context of savage events in Latin America under various military regimes.

List of compositions by Luciano Berio

Toccata for piano (1939)
Preludio a una festa marina for string orchestra (1944)
L'annunciazione for soprano and chamber orchestra (1946)
Due cori popolari for chorus (1946)
Tre lirichi greche for voice and piano (1946)
O bone Jesu for chorus (1946)
Due liriche for voice and orchestra (1947)
Tre canzoni popolari for voice and piano (1947); in 1952 a fourth song is added, changing the title to Quattro canzoni popolari; arrangements of two songs, "Ballo" and "La donna ideale", are incorporated into Folk Songs (1964)
Tre pezzi for three clarinets (1947)
Petite suite for piano (1947); published with compositions by Adolfo Berio and Ernesto Berio as Family Album (1947)
Quintetto for wind quintet (1948)
Trio for string trio (1948)
Ad Hermes for voice and piano (1948)
Suite for piano (1948)
Due pezzi sacri for two sopranos, piano, two harps, timpani and twelve bells (1949)
Magnificat for two sopranos, chorus and orchestra (1949)
Concertino for solo clarinet, solo violin, harp, celesta and strings (1949; revised 1970)
Quartetto for wind quartet (1950)
Tre vocalizzi for voice and piano (1950)
El mar la mar for two sopranos and five instruments (1950); reduction for two sopranos and piano (1953); arrangement for soprano, mezzo-soprano and seven instruments (1969).
Opus no. Zoo for reciter and wind quintet (1951; revised 1971)
Due liriche di Garcia Lorca for bass and orchestra (1951)
Deus meus for voice and three instruments (1951)
Sonatina for wind quartet (1951); withdrawn
Due pezzi for violin and piano (1951)
Study for string quartet (1952)
Quattro canzoni popolari for voice and piano (1952); the Tre canzoni popolari from 1947, with a fourth song added; arrangements of two songs, Ballo and La donna ideale, are incorporated into Folk Songs (1964)
Cinque variazione for piano (1953; revised 1966)
Mimusique No. 1 for tape (1953)
Chamber Music for female voice accompanied bij clarinet, cello, and harp (1953)
Ritratto di citta for tape (1954); in collaboration with Bruno Maderna
Nones for orchestra (1954)
Variazione for chamber orchestra (1955)
Mutazione for tape (1955)
Mimusique No.2 for orchestra (1955)
Quartetto for string quartet (1955)
Allelujah I for five instrumental groups (1956); reworked as Allelujah II (1958)
Variazione "ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" for two basset horns and strings (1956)
Perspectives for tape (1957)
Divertimento for orchestra (1957)
Seranata for flute and fourteen instruments (1957)
Allelujah II for five instrumental groups (1958); reworking of Allelujah I (1956)
Thema - omaggio a Joyce for tape (1958)
Sequenza I for flute (1958)
Tempi concertanti for flute, violin, two piano's and ensemble (1959)
Différences for flute, clarinet, harp, viola, cello and magnetic tape (1959)
Allez Hop - "raconto mimico" for orchestra (1959; revised 1968); incorporates material from Mimusique No.2 (1955)
Quaderni I for orchestra (1959)
Momenti for tape (1960)
Circles for female voice, harp and two percussionists (1960)
Visage for tape (1961)
Quaderni II for orchestra (1961)
Quaderni III for orchestra (1961)
Epifanie for female voice and orchestra (1961; revised 1965); incorporates Quaderni I-III
Passaggio - "messa in scena" for soprano, chorus and orchestra (1963)
Esposizione for voices and instruments (1963); withdrawn; reworked and incorporated in Laborintus II (1965)
Sequenza II for harp (1963); reused as a solo part in Chemins I (1964)
Traces for soprano, mezzo-soprano, two actors, chorus and orchestra (1963); withdrawn; parts were reworked and incorporated in Opera (1970)
Sincronie for string quartet (1964)
Folk Songs for mezzosoprano and seven instruments (1964); arrangement for mezzosoprano and orchestra (1973)
Chemins I for harp and orchestra (1964); the harp part is Sequenza II (1963)
Wasserklavier for piano (1965); published as the third movement of six encores (1990)
Laborintus II for three female voices, eight actors, one speaker and instruments (1965); incorporates a reworked version of Esposizione (1963)
Rounds for harpsichord (1965); version for piano (1965)
Sequenza III for solo voice (1966)
Sequenza IV for piano (1966)
Gesti for recorder (1966)
Sequenza V for trombone (1966)
Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda for soprano, tenor, baritone, three violas, cello, double bass, harpsichord (1966); arrangement of the opera by Monteverdi
Sequenza VI for viola (1967); reused as a solo part in Chemins II (1967) and Chemins III (1968)
Chemins II for viola and nine instruments (1967); the viola part is Sequenza VI (1967); reused in Chemins III (1968)
O King for mezzosoprano and five instruments (1967); later incorporated into Sinfonia (1968)
Chemins III for viola, nine instruments and orchestra (1968); the viola part is Sequenza VI (1967), the nine instruments play the same parts as in Chemins II (1967)
Sinfonia for eight solo voices and orchestra (1968); incorporates O King (1968); the version that premiered in 1968 was in four movements, a fifth was added in 1969
Questo vuol dire che for three female voices, small chorus, tape and other available resources (1968)
Sequenza VIIa for oboe (1969); arranged as Sequenza VIIb; reused in Chemins IV (1975)
Sequenza VIIb for soprano saxophone (1969); arrangement of Sequenza VIIa (1969)
The Modification and Instrumentation of a Famous Hornpipe as a Merry and Altogether Sincere Homage to Uncle Alfred for flute or oboe, clarinet, percussion, harpsichord, viola, cello (1969); arrangement of music by Henry Purcell
Air for soprano and orchestra (1969); version for piano, violin, viola and cello (1970); movement from Opera (1970)
Chemins IIb for orchestra (1969); reworking of Chemins II (1967); reused in Chemins IIc (1972)
Melodrama for tenor and eight instruments (1970); movement from Opera (1970)
Opera for ten actors, soprano, tenor, baritone, vocal ensemble, orchestra (1970); includes reworked materials from Traces (1963); two movements, Air (1970) and Melodrama (1970) may be performed separately; revised in 1977 to include Agnus (1971) and E vó (1972)
Erdenklavier for piano (1970); published as the fourth movement of Six encores (1990)
Memory for electric piano and harpsichord (1970; revised 1973)
Autre fois: berceuse canonique pour Igor Stravinsky for flute, clarinet and harp (1971)
Ora for soprano, mezzosoprano, flute, cor anglais, chorus and orchestra (1971); withdrawn
Bewegung for orchestra (1971; revised 1984)
Bewegung II for baritone and orchestra (1971); withdrawn
Agnus for two sopranos, three clarinets and electric organ (1971); incorporated into the revised version of Opera (1977)
E vó for soprano and ensemble (1972); incorporated into the revised version of Opera (1977)
Chemins IIc for bass clarinet and orchestra (1972); Chemins IIb (1969) with an added solo part
Après Visage for tape and orchestra (1972); withdrawn
Recital 1 for mezzosoprano and eighteen instruments (1972)
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra (1973)
Linea for two pianos, vibraphone and marimba (1973)
Still for orchestra (1973); withdrawn
Cries of London for six voices (1974)
Eindrücke for orchestra (1974)
Calmo - in memoriam Bruno Maderna for mezzo-soprano and twentytwo instruments (1974)
"points on the curve to find..." for piano and twentytwo instruments (1974); reworked as Echoing Curves (1988)
Per la dolce memoria de quel giorno for tape (1974)
Musica leggera, canone per moto contrario e al rovescio, con un breve intermezzo for flute, viola and cello (1974)
a-ronne radio documentary for five actors (1974); concert version for eight voices (1975)
Chemins IV for oboe and eleven string instruments (1975); the oboe part is Sequenza VII (1969); reworked for soprano saxophone and orchestra (2000)
Chants parallèles for tape (1975)
Diario immaginario radio piece (1975)
Sequenza VIII for violin (1975); reused in Corale (1981)
Fa-Si for organ (1975)
Coro for forty voices and instruments (1976); extended 1977
Ritorno degli snovidenia for cello and thirty instruments (1977)
Les mots sont allés... - "recitativo" for cello (1978)
Encore for orchestra (1978; revised 1981)
Scena (1979); incorporated into La vera storia (1981)
Entrata (1980); incorporated into La vera storia (1981)
Chemins V for clarinet and the 4C digital system, developed by Peppino del Giugno (1980)
Sequenza IXa for clarinet (1980); drawn from Chemins V (1980); arranged as Sequenza IXb (1980) and Sequenza IXc (1980)
Sequenza IXb for alto saxophone (1980); arrangement of Sequenza IXa (1980)
Sequenza IXc for bass clarinet (1980); arrangement Sequenza IXa (1980)
Accordo for four groups of twentyseven instruments (1980); the number of players may be multiplied, Berio preferred a total of at least 400 instruments
La vera storia for soprano, mezzosoprano, tenor, baritone, bass, vocal ensemble and orchestra (1981); incorporates Scena (1979) and Entrata (1980)
Corale for violin, two horns and strings (1981); the violin part is Sequenza VIII (1975)
Fanfara for orchestra (1982)
Duo - "teatro immaginario" for baritone, two violins, chorus and orchestra (1982); study for Un re in ascolto (1984)
Lied for clarinet (1983)
Duetti for two violins (1983)
Un re in ascolto - "azione musicale" with libretto by Italo Calvino (1984)
Requies for chamber orchestra (1984)
Voci for viola and orchestra (1984)
Sequenza X for trumpet and piano resonance (1984)
Call for two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba (1985)
Terre chaleureuse for wind quintet (1985)
Luftklavier for piano (1985); published as the fifth movement of Six encores (1990)
Naturale for viola, percussion and recordings of sicilian folk music (1985)
Gute Nacht for trumpet (1986)
Ricorrenze for wind quintet (1987)
Formazione for orchestra (1987)
Echoing Curves for piano and orchestra (1988); reworking of Points on the curve to find... (1974)
Sequenza XI for guitar (1988)
LB.AM.LB.M.W.D.IS.LB for orchestra (1988)
Ofanìm for children's chorus, ensemble, female voice and live electronics (1988; revised 1997)
Canticum novissimi testamenti for four clarinets, saxophone quartet and eight singers(1989)
Festum for orchestra (1989)
Feuerklavier for piano (1989); published as the sixth movement of Six encores (1990)
Continuo for orchestra (1989; revised 1991)
Brin for piano (1990); the first movement of Six encores (1990)
Leaf for piano (1990); the second movement of Six encores (1990)
Six Encores for piano (1990); includes Brin (1990), Leaf (1990), Wasserklavier (1965), Erdenklavier (1969), Luftklavier (1985) and Feuerklavier (1989)
Rendering for orchestra (1990); orchestration of the sketches for Schubert's tenth symphony
Epiphanies for female voice and orchestra (1991)
Chemins V for guitar and chamber orchestra; the guitar part is Sequenza XI (1992)
Notturno for string quartet (1993); reworked for string orchestra (1995)
Rage and Outrage for voices and orchestra (1993); arrangement of songs about the Dreyfus affair
Compass for orchestra (1994)
Re-Call for twenty three instruments (1995)
Hör for Chorus and Orchestra (1995); prologue of Requiem der Versöhnung, a collaborative work by fourteen composers
Sequenza XII for bassoon (1995)
Sequenza XIII - chanson for accordion (1995)
Ekphrasis - continuo II for orchestra (1996)
Récit - chemins VII for alto saxophone and orchestra (1996)
Kol Od - chemins VI for trumpet and ensemble (1996); the trumpet part is sequenza X (1984)
Glosse for string quartet (1997)
Alternatim for clarinet, viola and orchestra (1997)
Korót for eight cellos (1998)
Altra voce for alto flute, mezzo-soprano and live electronics (1999)
SOLO for trombone and orchestra (1999)
Sonata for piano (2001)
E si pusci for chorus (2002)
Sequenza XIV for cello (2002); version for bass (2004)
Stanze for bariton, chorus and orchestra (2003)