Chigiana Journal of Musicological Studies

Prefazione

2026-01-23T18:35:07+00:00

Il Centenario dell’inizio delle attività concertistiche chigiane in Siena (1923–2023) è stato l’occasione per una riflessione profonda sulla missione dell’Accademia Musicale Chigiana e sul suo ruolo nella storia e nel presente della musica. Non si è trattato di una semplice celebrazione. È stato piuttosto un punto di snodo tra passato, presente e futuro, un momento di rilancio e di visione, di consapevolezza e di apertura. Questo volume della rivista «Chigiana. Journal of Musicological Studies», interamente dedicato alle fonti storiche dell’Accademia e alle ricerche che esse hanno generato e possono ancora generare, si colloca pienamente in questa prospettiva.

Introduzione

2026-01-23T18:41:24+00:00

La chiave di lettura di questo numero di «Chigiana» è sottesa. Non sta nell’uniformità dei contenuti, non è in un esplicito argomento-quadro, non si trova in un solo oggetto variamente declinato da molti autori.
Il segno di questo volume è nella ricchezza e nella complessità dell’Archivio e della Biblioteca dell’Accademia Chigiana intesi come fertile terreno di valorizzazione; sta nella descrizione del progetto elaborato e in corso di realizzazione su quel corpus straordinario di documenti; è nel suggerimento delle potenziali ricerche da quelle fonti derivabili e negli studi già ora da lì provenienti. E che qui sono, appunto, presentati.

Dal buio alla luce

2026-01-23T18:27:03+00:00

This essay offers an update to a previous contribution published in the first volume of the third series of Chigiana. Journal of Musicological Studies (49, 2019, pp. 367–382). As well as revisiting the contents and internal structure of both the Archive and the Library, and recalling the preliminary steps already undertaken — such as the declaration of cultural interest, which forms the basis for state protection — the article details the actions carried out thus far. These initiatives mark the beginning of a complex process of cataloguing and enhancing the value of this extraordinary archival and bibliographic heritage. Looking ahead, the successful completion of this work will require the engagement of a broad network of public and private stakeholders. Through a formal memorandum of understanding, each partner could contribute according to their resources and capacities to the shared goal of restoring the Chigiana’s collections to their rightful place as a primary source for musicological research.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

Elsa e Ottorino: i Respighi a Palazzo Chigi Saracini, fra riscoperta del passato e invenzione del futuro

2026-01-23T18:55:24+00:00

Ottorino and Elsa Respighi found in Count Guido Chigi Saracini not only a visionary patron and a discerning music enthusiast, but also a true friend. The couple were frequent guests at the Count’s residence and regular attendees of the concerts held at the Accademia Chigiana. Even after Ottorino died in 1936, the bond between Elsa and the Count endured with warmth and continuity.
During the Second World War, it was to Count Chigi that Elsa entrusted all of her husband’s autograph manuscripts to protect them from the risk of looting or destruction. After the war, the Count encouraged Elsa to resume her compositional work, and she, in turn, gifted him several of Respighi’s manuscripts, along with some of her own compositions.
In addition to reconstructing the continuity of this relationship in detail, the present study focuses on a series of works composed by Respighi around 1930, specically conceived for the Concert Hall of Palazzo Chigi Saracini: Lauda per la Natività del Signore, Suite della tabacchiera, and the orchestral transcription of the recitative E se un giorno tornasse. The history of this last piece is closely linked to the figures of Bianca Chigi (the Count’s wife), Luisa Baccara, and Gabriele d’Annunzio.
These works feature a reduced, almost chamber-sized orchestration, reflecting a stylistic turn Respighi had embraced in the late 1920s. This artistic shift ran counter to prevailing market demands, favoring the sonic impact of large orchestral forces and also marked a departure from Respighi’s earlier, more expansive symphonic works.
This essay demonstrates how Respighi’s interest in chamber forms, in unconventional ensembles, in the rediscovery of early music, and the interplay with the visual arts was fully aligned with Count Chigi’s cultural vision and with the atmosphere Respighi encountered during his time at the Accademia Chigiana.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

La riscoperta della musica antica nelle Settimane Musicali Senesi

2026-01-25T11:47:58+00:00

The edition of Quarta Settimana Musicale Senese was dedicated to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, a composer still relatively little known then. In keeping with the broader project of rediscovering and promoting Italy’s musical heritage - initiated by the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in 1939 - the festival offered a comprehensive and multifaceted portrait of the composer. Among the works presented was Il Flaminio (1735), a commedeja pe’ mmuseca with a libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico, staged in a new version revised by the composer Virgilio Mortari.
Through a comparative analysis of the original score and Mortari’s revision, this paper examines the compositional and dramaturgical choices, placing them within the broader twentieth-century debate on recovering and reimagining early repertoires. The findings show that Mortari’s goal was not to produce a philological reconstruction, but rather a reworking intended to enhance accessibility: an approach grounded in a dialogic relationship between the work, its performers, and the audience - one that shaped many experiences of musical “reinvention” in the first half of the twentieth century.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

Storie delle musiche

2026-01-25T13:00:41+00:00

Within the Chigiana, the Settimana Musicale Senese has stood out as a festival with a musicological trend, for its rediscovery of composers, scores, and genres hitherto neglected. This came to a peak in the years when Mario Fabbri was artistic director (1963–1969). Unpublished and memorable opportunities for concerts and studies were devoted to composers such as Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Giacomo Antonio Perti, and George Frideric Handel. This pioneering spirit encouraged the return of their music to concert seasons and the increase of specialized bibliography. It is advisable, however, to return to an old question still buried under a respectful conspiracy of silence. Fabbri published some sensational documents in order to restore the history of the scores he had chosen, but the original manuscripts have never been identified, and the information contained therein wavers before modern historical and musicological knowledge. Are these unscrupulous fakes, created on purpose? If so, then it is interesting to emphasize a phenomenon which germinated in those years and has produced more than ever today, throughout the world, a vast quantity of tasty but insidious fruits: offering early music, in fact, finds a guarantee in the tale that each score brings with itself, even at the cost of inventing it.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

Le prime scuole violinistiche dell’Accademia Musicale Chigiana

2026-01-25T13:07:10+00:00

Founded in 1932 on the initiative of Count Guido Chigi Saracini, the “Master School of Music” in Siena quickly established itself as a highly innovative institution for advanced musical training within the Italian context of the time. Among its most prominent areas of activity was the violin school, directed by Arrigo Serato and supported by Piero Baglioni and his son Vittorio, a conductor and composer. This contribution offers a critical reconstruction of the pedagogical dynamics, artistic networks, and interpretive models that took shape within the Chigiana violin community, from Serato’s tenure (1932–1948) to the courses held by Franco Gulli in the late 1960s. Through an analysis of teaching practices and the repertoire performed, the study highlights how these experiences gradually
extended beyond the local context, significantly shaping key aspects of the international violin scene during the second half of the twentieth century. The essay concludes by reflecting on how this artistic and pedagogical legacy continues to inform the present-day identity of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

Musica e musicisti francesi all’Accademia Musicale Chigiana

2026-01-25T13:17:34+00:00

This essay presents the results of research aimed at investigating the presence and activity of French musicians at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana from 1923, the year of the inaugural Micat in Vertice concert season, to 1965, the year of the death of Count Guido Chigi Saracini. The investigation reveals a signicant presence of French repertoire (including works by Couperin, Debussy, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Fauré) in both the Micat in Vertice programmes and the concerts associated with the Accademia’s summer courses, which were launched in 1932. Particular focus is given to the correspondence between the Count and renowned French musicians and educators active in Siena, including Nadia Boulanger, Alfred Cortot, Madeleine Grey, Yvonne Astruc, Jacques Thibaud, and André Navarra. Drawing on extensive archival materials preserved in the Accademia’s library, the analysis reconstructs the artistic and cultural networks that helped shape the institution’s international prole.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

Dalla poetica del microfono al mockup

2026-01-25T13:29:08+00:00

Since their establishment in the late 1940s, the film music courses have been a landmark of the educational offerings of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana. Over the decades, their approach has changed according to the sensibility of the teachers involved and based on the technological transformations that have provided new creative tools to operate in the cinematic production system.
Mainly based on paper and digital documentation, this study reconstructs the structure of the courses, the resources made available to students, the underlying theoretical assumptions, and the educational goals pursued, with particular attention to the historical moment of transition from the 1990s to the 2000s. A more ethnographically oriented research complements the investigation, based on interviews with students from recent editions of the Film Scoring Intensive Program, offering valuable insights into the profound change in the contemporary professional landscape and the resulting shift in the compositional paradigms.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro

Un modello di direzione artistica collegiale

2026-01-25T13:47:33+00:00

This article examines the artistic direction of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana from Alfredo Casellas tenure (1939–1947) to Mario Fabbris appointment in 1963. Contrary to common perception, the formal role of the artistic director was primarily limited to programming the Settimana Musicale Senese, while most of the Academys key artistic and cultural decisions were shaped by a wide circle of trusted collaborators of Count Guido Chigi Saracini. From Casellas years onward, a model of collegiate artistic leadership emerged, in which figures such as Sebastiano Arturo Luciani, Virgilio Mortari, Antonio Bruers, Vito Frazzi, Giorgio Federico Ghedini, Olga Rudge, Francesco Cilea, Guglielmo Barblan, Adelmo Damerini, Franco Schlitzer, Federico Mompellio, Guido Turchi, Alfredo Bonaccorsi, Gino Roncaglia, Giulio Confalonieri, and Vittorio Baglioni formed a stable entourage that guided and shaped the Academys artistic choices for approximately thirty years. Occasional appointments of other artistic directors, including Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Antonio Guarnieri, and Alceo Galliera, played a marginal role compared with this established collegial structure, which consistently assisted the Count in dening the Academys cultural orientation and artistic decisions.

https://www.lim.it/it/chigiana/6951-chigiana-iii-6-liv-9788855434492.html#/2-tipo_prodotto-libro