Stefano Scodanibbio composed two pieces for solo guitar, Verano de Suerte and Dos abismos, as well as two works for guitar duo, Techne and Quando le montagne si colorano di rosa. To this repertoire we can add a substantial amount of guitar material recorded and used in the Hörspiel (radio drama) One says Mexico, as well as a few passages written for electric guitar in Scene IV, titled “Amores”, of the music theatre work Il cielo sulla terra. This is not a limited repertoire, but rather a corpus that renews the very concept of instrumental technique and musical writing, offering new interpretative challenges.In the first two parts of this study, certain aspects of Scodanibbio’s poetics were outlined in order to understand the aesthetic background of the works written for guitar. We can now ask: what are their defining features? How do they contribute to the development of the classical guitar repertoire in light of the idea of an Instrumental Renaissance?
To address these questions, we propose to analyze the two works for solo guitar, as their material lends itself particularly well to illustrating some of the constants and variables in Scodanibbio’s compositional language within this repertoire. In this way, the analysis of Verano de Suerte and Dos abismos will help us understand how the composer appropriates the instrument, pushing it to the limits of its conventional horizon.
However, an analytical examination of the works for guitar duo, as well as the two pieces in which the guitar (both acoustic and electric) is part of the instrumental ensemble, would offer a more nuanced view of Stefano Scodanibbio’s writing for the guitar.
Verano de Suerte
The work was composed between 1981 and 1982; that is, shortly before or probably concurrently with Techneé (1980–1981) for two guitars. In any case, both pieces were composed in collaboration with the Mexican duo Castañón-Bañuelos, within a context of frequent travels — between January 1981 and April 1982, Scodanibbio visited Mexico City, Guaymas, San Francisco, and Venice. This period also coincides with the composition of the Six Studies (1980–1983), and shortly before writing the Two Brilliant Pieces (1985) for solo double bass.There seems to be a general consensus that Verano de suerte corresponds to a process of transposing the experiment conducted on the double bass. In this sense, the scholar Stefano Campagnolo interprets Scodanibbio’s aesthetics by also mentioning an apparent closeness to world music and pointing out a process of appropriation of compositional models of the time.1 However, this perception requires some clarifications. First of all, it is worth remembering that, during the years when the work was composed, the young double bassist’s interest was focused on “liberating the double bass from conventional sonorities”2 and that his intention was to find a singular voice for the instrument through a “reinvented use of harmonic sounds.”3 Thus, these elements — emancipation, new instrumental voice, and harmonic sounds — guide the search for a new horizon for the double bass without altering its constitutive aspects.4 This quest for emancipation and a new voice could not be simply transposed to the guitar, given the very nature of the two instruments.Furthermore, from an aesthetic point of view, what emerges from the analysis of Verano de suerte is less a closeness to world music (which instead seems present in later works) or a mere process of appropriating compositional models, than a liminal phase of an autonomous creative research. From this phase stands out the intention to place instrumental practice at the forefront, with repercussions on the conception of writing and on the process of formalizing the works.
Sound Material
The core material of Verano de suerte is based on the almost systematic use of the guitar’s natural harmonics. Scodanibbio employs exclusively the first five harmonic partials of each string — with the exception of the fifth string, on which the second harmonic is absent.5 According to the location of the nodes along the string, the corresponding fretboard positions are: III, IV, V, VII, and XII. This results in writing that is ergonomic in terms of instrumental execution.The notation used is the conventional one found in the guitar literature; that is, the diamond-shaped note head indicates the position of the left-hand finger on the fret that produces the harmonic, not the actual sounding pitch (with the exception of the second harmonic). Another element not specified in the notation is that, to obtain the fifth harmonic (position IV), the left-hand finger must be placed slightly before the fret; whereas for the sixth harmonic (position III), it must be positioned slightly after the fret.6
Figure 1: Natural Harmonics in Verano de Suerte.
By adding to the twenty-nine previously mentioned harmonic components nine ‘artificial’ harmonics7, Scodanibbio would have employed a total of thirty-eight harmonics in terms of position, though not necessarily in pitch, since some actual sounds are repeated.
Figure 2: Artificial harmonics in Verano de Suerte.
From this preliminary material, two types of vertical components are constructed, whose nature is driven more by timbral research than by functional considerations:
a. Intervals with variable registers that combine harmonic sound and natural sound:
Figure 3: Mixed intervallic material in Verano de suerte.
b. Timbre-chords of three or more formants using the same principle:
Figure 4: Chords with mixed sounds in Verano de Suerte.
These timbre-chords are written either as arpeggios or in block form.8 When in arpeggio, this is indicated by an arrow — curved or straight — specifying the particular type of attack (see Figure 6). As we will see later, starting from these basic elements, Scodanibbio composes a series of trajectories with ascending or descending direction, exhibiting qualitative increase or decrease.
In fact, the composer employs a large variety of technical resources to work with the basic harmonic sounds: harmonics without attack, left-hand trills, tapping (on one or two strings), arpeggios following an ascending or descending directional pattern, vibrato, Bartók-style staccato, glissandi of real notes combined with harmonics, and so on. In other words, the arsenal of extended techniques is extensive in quantity, but each is limited to a specific function determined by its context, within a broad exploration of harmonic sounds.
Underlying melodic line
If there is an aspect related to the double bass, it can be found in the melodic register underlying the development of the timbral material. A bass line weaves through the timbre-chords, forming a sort of fragmented melodic profile that emphasizes the lyrical character of the first part of the work, at least up to page 3.
Figure 5: Underlying melodic contour in Verano de Suerte.
In the previous image, the blue dashed line indicates a sequence of discrete points that follow a logic of ascent, intermittent rest or stability, and descent. Supported by dynamic markings, a displaced lyrical singing is clearly perceived. The rests thus serve two functions: shorter rests articulate the synergy of the subsequent gestures, while longer rests — extended by a tenuto — delimit the phrases constituting the melody. In this way, the ascent, rest, and descent of the upper line composed of harmonic sounds create a delicate counterpoint with a melody reduced to a minimum.
The characteristic feature of this section (from the beginning up to the indication “brillante,” page 3) is the free conjunction of materials articulated through agogic tendencies occasionally based on the principle of trajectory. What predominates is the occurrence of events that seem staggered but actually follow a clear melodic axis. The agogic indications9 combine with the causal interplay of events constructed from the components described earlier, adding dynamic contrasts that bring the whole closer to improvisation.
The melodic design gradually dissolves until it disappears during the following two sections of the work, thus allowing its introductory function to be determined.
[to be continued…]
- 1. Lorenzo Biguzzi, Turning Page : musique contemporaine pour guitare, Stradivarius, 2024. ↩︎
- 2. Scodanibbio et al., op. cit. (note 1), p. 76. ↩︎
- 3. Ibid. ↩︎
- 4. Ibid., p. 268. ↩︎
- 5. The first harmonic partial is not taken into account, as it corresponds to the open string’s natural sound. ↩︎
- 6. For a reference to the position of harmonics on the guitar fingerboard, see: JOSEL and TSAO (eds.), op. cit. (note 35), p. 103. ↩︎
- 7. That is, those harmonics obtained by shortening the string length through pressing it against a fret. ↩︎
- 8. This approach will be central in the development of the guitar material used in the third part of the radio drama One Says Mexico, where Scodanibbio exploits timbre-chords with dissonant harmonic components (beatings) and slightly staggered attacks, decorating the texture with some isolated low notes, following a logic that recalls the delay (echo) effect. ↩︎
- 9. Specifically: poco più mosso, rallentando – a tempo, poco ritardando – a tempo, meno – poco più mosso, molto ritardando – a tempo, poco ritardando – a tempo, rubato and stringendo, rallentando – a tempo, poco allargando, più mosso, appena, rubato, molto allargando, tempo animando, attacca, accelerando, a tempo. ↩︎
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