The Importance of Being Earnest

Composed in the spirit of Aldo Palazzeschi’s quote «Let me have my fun!», this chamber opera, with a libretto taken from Oscar Wilde’s celebrated play, boasts numerous distinctive features. Written in just five months, despite being more than two and a half hours long, for an ensemble that is unique in operatic production, it surprises and delights from the first listen, thanks to a melodic fabric in which thematic materials of both cultured and popular origin – whose sources the composer indicates in the score – are artfully interwoven with unexpected and often humorous frequency. Whether a fragment or a full citation, each element is established as a leading motif along with Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s own themes in a continuous game of cross-references in which the satire of the Wilde’s play is conveyed through a witty mashup of musical ‘samples’ from different authors and contexts, all united by the same (re)creative intent. In this way, the composer’s divertissement thus becomes the listener’s.

This volume contains the piano reduction of the work edited by Giovanni Del Vecchio, who is also the author of the introductory text in which he analyzes the source materials and their use throughout the work.

Edizioni Curci, in collaborazione con il Cidim, Comitato nazionale italiano musica, è orgogliosa di presentare la Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Collection, la prima collana editoriale dedicata al compositore fiorentino (1895-1968), diventato negli Stati Uniti il “maestro dei maestri”. Il curatore è Angelo Gilardino (1941), compositore e studioso che gode della piena fiducia degli eredi di Castelnuovo-Tedesco. La collana prevede la pubblicazione di tutte le composizioni ancora inedite conservate presso la Library of Congress di Washington, conformemente ai manoscritti originali. Ogni volume è redatto in italiano e inglese.

Edizioni Curci, in association with Cidim, Comitato nazionale italiano musica (Italian National Music Committee), is proud to present The Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Collection, the first series ever published entirely dedicated to the composer from Florence (1895-1968) who settled in the United States, where he became known as “the Maestros’ Maestro”. The collection is edited by Angelo Gilardino, composer and scholar, who enjoys the full confidence of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s estate. The collection will present all of the musician’s as yet unpublished works, which are housed at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, according to the original manuscripts. Each volume has both Italian and English commentaries.