Luigi Nono (1924-1990) is an Italian
avant-garde composer of classical music who remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century. Nono studied with Malipiero at the Venice Conservatory (1941-5) and with Maderna and Scherchen, both of whom orientated him towards 12-note serialism (he married Schönberg's daughter Nuria in 1955). His avant-garde partisanship was inseparable from a commitment to socialism, twin aspects of a revolt against bourgeois culture: hence his avoidance of normal concert genres in favour of opera and electronic music, his frequent recourse to political texts and his work in bringing music to factories. His works include the operas
Intolleranza 1960 (1961) and
Al gran sole carico d'amore (1975),
The cantata Il canto sospeso (1956), orchestral works and tape pieces. Much of his music of the 1950s and 1960s has a fervent lyricism; later works tended to be more pessimistic (
Ein Gespenst geht um in der Welt, 1971).
