Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to study the motivations and requirements of a group of Italian composers, born around 1880, and for this chronological coincidence defined by Massimo Mila, as the composers of « The generation of the eighties» to use the lyrics of ancient Italian poetries for some of their operas. It was a path of investigation taking into account many factors, in particular the interweaving of artistic and literary interests and the cultural historical complexity of the context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Fundamental in the first place was the need to set up chronological indicative terms of the change, in fact of the real breakthrough determined at European level by the general crisis of positivism reflected in various ways in Italy in the form of a strong reaction to Verismo in literature and to Melodrama specifically within the music. One of the first important aspect that we focused on in the present work was the fact that there were composers creating not only pieces made for the theater, but also symphonic and instrumental compositions. We proceeded to emphasize the reaction to melodrama expressed by the two most innovative composers of the Generation of the 80s: Casella, Malipiero and Pizzetti and in the In the third part, a great emphasis was given to two composers, Malipiero and Dallapiccola, who strived strongly for musical renewal, whose fundamental part was the reintroducing of the ancient. In fact, initiating with the analysis of the dynamics of the cultural context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the brink of the Second World War has been reached. In conclusion, it was found that the desire to create something new even in the terms of music and its literary element has been conditioned by many factors, among which the strong willingness to depart from the nineteenth-century melodrama must be mentioned in the first place. The explanation of the revaluation of the texts of ancient Italian poetry by the composers of the early twentieth century is conditioned by numerous factors affected by the social, economic, cultural and historical aspects.