Clementi, Aldo

Clementi, Aldo, prominent Italian composer and pedagogue; b. Catania, May 25, 1925. He began training in piano at age 13 and in composition at age 16 in Catania. He pursued piano studies with Giovanna Ferro at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome (diploma, 1946), and then attended Scarpini’s master class at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (1947). From 1945 to 1952 he also studied composition with Alfred Sangiorgi in Catania and Bolzano, who introduced him to 12–tone writing. Following further composition studies with Petrassi at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia (1952–54; diploma, 1954), he attended the summer courses in new music at Darmstadt (1955–62) and was active at the Studio di Fonologia in Milan (1956–62). From 1971 to 1992 he taught theory at the Univ. of Bologna. Among his honors were first prize in the ISCM competition in 1963 for his Sette scene for Chamber Orch. and the Abbiati Prize in 1992 for his opera Interludi: Musica per il Mitro di Eco e Narciso . Clementi is one of the leading avant–garde composers of Europe. As such, he sees his main task as that of creating works which fulfill his vision of contemporary music as a vehicle for the dissolution of music as we know it.