Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Stories, Sonnets and Serenades, Heine Lieder • Stories of Joseph

Featuring

Elizabeth Hertzberg
Simonetta Heger
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

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Album & Artwork

This album features world premiere recordings of several works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, a composer born in Florence in 1895.

Performer Biography

Simonetta Heger, the pianist on this recording, was part of the Piano Faculty at the Conservatory of Milan until 2020 and has performed internationally.

Composition History

The Stories of Joseph, Op. 178, was composed in 1955 and dedicated to the memory of Thomas Mann, a writer who, like Castelnuovo-Tedesco, fled Nazism.

Historical Context

Castelnuovo-Tedesco's thriving career was abruptly disrupted in 1938 by anti-Semitic laws in Italy, forcing him to emigrate to the United States in 1939.

Composer Biography

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, though widely recognized for his guitar works, had a much richer and more diverse musical output.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Castelnuovo-Tedesco remained committed to tonal language throughout his career, never venturing into experimental or avant-garde movements.

Composer Biography

La Canzone di Usigliano, based on a poem by Fernando Liuzzi (Castelnuovo-Tedesco's brother-in-law), was rewritten from memory in Beverly Hills after the original was lost when the composer fled Italy.