The article raises the issues of the interaction of word and music in the work of the Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino. The forms of verbal-musical synthesis are considered on the example of the cycle L’alibi della parola, created in 1994. The composition is based on texts from different eras: poems by the modern Brazilian poet Augusto de Campos, fragments from the poem Triumphs by Francesco Petrarch and inscriptions on antique ceramics. Their peculiarity is associated with going beyond literature due to the integration of the word with the visual image. Sciarrino arranges the texts into a single “plot” series, revealing semantic connections between them. The composer is also looking for ways to translate visual aspects into the sound plane, resorting to phonetic composition techniques, as well as relying on the new vocal style sillabazione scivolata developed by him. The Italian master’s approach to the problem of the relationship between word and music is determined by the desire to transform tradition. L’alibi della parola is interpreted by the author of the article as a manifestation of neo-madrigalist tendencies in the composer’s work.
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