Il modernismo inattuale di Ildebrando Pizzetti

The present article offers a reflection on the historical figure of Ildebrando Pizzetti and the historiographical discourse on his work from the Second World War until today. The study begins by situating the composer in the historical, ideological and cultural context of Italy between the end of the nineteenth- and the first decades of the following century. It then goes on to discussing the most innovative aspects of his musical education (e.g. the study of ancient music), his role in the contemporary Italian musical life, his activity as essayist and, above all, his contribution to national musical modernism. In its central section, the study pays particular attention to the musical theatre of Pizzetti, discussing its main technical-compositional, dramaturgical as well as ideological characteristics. The final part focuses on the critical fortune of his works in the context of the increasingly problematic relationship of the composer with the avant-gardes from the 1930s onwards, and on the effects that this relationship has on the historiographical discourse up to the present day.