Chamber Music (Berio)

Chamber Music is a composition in three sections for female voice, clarinet, cello and harp by the Italian composer Luciano Berio. It is a setting of three poems from the collection of poetry Chamber Music by James Joyce, whose work was to be a frequent source for Berio. The songs were composed in 1953, and show the influence of Luigi Dallapiccola with whom Berio had studied in 1952 at the Tanglewood Music Center.

About his composition Berio said that,

[a]s often happens to me with important encounters, I reacted to Dallapiccola with four works: Due pezzi, for violin and piano, Cinque variazioni, for piano (based upon the three-note melodic cell—"fratello"[014]—from Il prigioniero), Chamber Music (setting poems by Joyce) and Variazione, for chamber orchestra. With these pieces I entered Dallapiccola's "melodic" world, but they also allowed me to escape from it. (Berio, Dalmonte & Varga 1985, p. 53)

References

• Berio, Luciano; Dalmonte, Rosanna; Varga, Bálint András (1985), Two Interviews, London: Boyars, ISBN 0-7145-2829-3 

Luciano Berio
Stage works	Un re in ascolto Cronaca del luogo
Orchestral works	Nones Rendering
Chamber music	Due pezzi Chamber Music Différences Circles Kol-Od
Instrumental music	Cinque variazioni Sequenza (I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, X, XI, XII)
Vocal music	Folk Songs Sinfonia A-Ronne
Arrangements	The Modification and Instrumentation of a Famous Hornpipe as a Merry and Altogether Sincere Homage to Uncle Alfred Quattro versioni originali della "Ritirata notturna di Madrid" Op. 120, No. 1
Collaborations	A Garland for Dr. K. Requiem of Reconciliation
Other compositions	Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) Epifanie Laborintus II Recital I (for Cathy)
Related articles	List of compositions by Luciano Berio Polystylism Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano Tempo Reale
Portal:Classical music