Dallapiccola's Last Orchestral Piece

Abstract

After the completion of Preghieie—which had its first performance at the University of California, Berkeley, on 10 November 1962 during a festival of nine concerts entirely devoted to his music—Dallapiccola returned to and completed the score of Three questions with two answers, commissioned early in 1960 by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. This request for an orchestral piece coincided with the beginning of work on the score of Ulisse, and the composer thought fit to utilize in the new piece the musical material he was going to exploit fully in the opera. It was, therefore, a sort of test, on a smaller instrumental scale, of the material which was to become the supporting and unifying element in Dallapiccola's magnum opus. Three questions with two answers was performed only once during his life, on 5 February 1963 in New Haven. Dallapiccola never thought it appropriate to publish what turned out to be his last orchestral piece; the score is now available (Milan: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, n. 8155), and had its European première in London on 9 June 1977, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Zóltan Pésko.