Ildebrando Pizzetti Biography

Among the most respected Italian composers of his generation, Pizzetti has in recent years suffered some neglect, in due, in part, to his natural conservatism in an age of experiment. He was, however, versatile and prolific, ambitious in opera, with interesting additions to choral and vocal repertoire, as to chamber music.

Operas

Pizzetti wrote over twenty operas, collaborating in earlier years with D'Annunzio, with whom he wrote the opera Fedra (Phaedra). His Assassinio nella catedrale (Murder in the Cathedral) treats a translation T.S.Eliot's play, while his last opera, Clitennestra (Clytemnestra), with a libretto by the composer, was staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1965.