Roberto Lupi

Roberto Lupi (28 November 1908 – 17 April 1971) was an Italian composer, conductor, and music theorist. Born in Milan and trained at the conservatory there, he began his conducting career in 1937. His compositions of experimental music included large-scale works for chorus and orchestra, chamber music, and stage works. However, Lupi's most widely heard piece was his Armonie del pianeta Saturno for oboe (or, sometimes, trumpet), harp and strings which was played each night from 1954 to 1986 at the close of RAI television transmissions. He held the chair in composition at the Florence Conservatory from 1941 until his death and published three books on music theory, the last of them posthumously. From the 1950s, his theoretical approach and his compositions, especially his stage works, were strongly influenced by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner.

Stage works Orfeo, choreographed cantata to a libretto based on Book IV of Virgil's Georgics, choreography by Janine Charrat. Premiere: La Fenice, Venice, 19 September 1951 La nuova Euridice, opera (mistero melodrammatico) in three acts to a libretto by Maria Della Quercia (Eva Bagni). Premiere: Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo, 3 October 1957 La danza di Salomè, opera in one act set to an anonymous 14th-century text. Premiere: Teatro della Pergola, Florence, 11 May 1960 Persefone, opera in one act to a libretto by Maria Della Quercia (Eva Bagni) based on the myth of Persephone, choreography by Giulio Chazalettes. Premiere: Teatro Comunale, Florence, 9 January 1970

Music theory Armonia di gravitazione. Rome: De Santis,1946 Ars bene movendi. Milan: Carish, 1969 Il libro segreto di un musicista. Florence: Nardini, 1972