Bollettino dei musicisti

For the Italian language version of this introduction, please see the PDF link above.

The Bollettino dei musicisti [RIPM code BDM] was published in Rome from April 1934 to June 1943 by La Speranza printing house, Via Firenze 30, with varying monthly and bimonthly periodicity; there are a few quarterly issues in the years 1937 and 1939, and the periodical becomes exclusively monthly in the years 1942 and 1943. The monthly issues of December 1936 and January 1943 could not be located. The 10 volumes have irregular pagination and each comprises from about 100 to about 250 pages. In parallel with the normal indication of periodicity, each issue shows in Roman numerals the computation of the year according to the so-called “Fascist Era,” the beginning of which (Year I) coincides with October 29, 1922, the day after the Fascist government seized power with the March on Rome. In January 1937 the periodical changed its name to Il Musicista [IMC]. This text treats both Bollettino dei musicisti and Il Musicista.

The BDM was created at the behest of the National Fascist Musicians' Union (Sindacato Nazionale Fascista dei Musicisti). The intentions of the periodical are described in the opening greeting of the Commissioner of the National Fascist Confederation of Professional Musicians and Artists, Giuliano Balbino, at the opening of the first issue: to keep members abreast of the various union problems and to update them on current musical issues, while also inviting all artists to collaborate. Thus this periodical is an essential document — a political tool — of the Syndicate's thought and action, a direct emanation of the Fascist regime in the field of music.

The director of the BDM was Giuseppe Mulé; the editorial board was composed of Alfredo Casella, Luigi Colacicchi, Mario Corti, Mario Labroca, Renzo Massarani and Antonio Veretti; and the editor-in-chief was Giorgio Nataletti. Of Sicilian origin and educated at the “Vincenzo Bellini” Conservatory of Music in Palermo, of which he was director from 1922 to 1925, Mulé later moved to the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome from 1925 to 1945. Mulé was a conductor and composer, active in the ranks of the Fascist Regime and held the position of national secretary of the National Fascist Musicians Union. Mulé, together with nine other influential men in the musical world, signed the Manifesto[1] (1932) seeking to accredit Fascist music under the banner of the Italic tradition, as opposed to the foreign-favored one.

Of the editorial board, Luigi Colacicchi, born in Agnani (Rome) in 1900, studied music composition first in Genoa and Rome, then at Columbia University in New York. On his return to Italy, after meeting Fausto Torrefranca, he embarked on a career as a music critic, collaborating with various Italian newspapers such as Il Popolo di Roma, Il Messaggero and with Italian and foreign music magazines such as La Rassegna musicale and La Revue musicale. From 1940 to 1970 he taught History of Music at the National Academy of Dance in Rome. He was honored with the gold medal for merits in the field of education, culture and art. Mario Corti, Director of the National Fascist Musicians Union, was a violinist and composer originally from Guastalla (Reggio Emilia). A violin teacher first in Parma then at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome, he had an intense concert activity devoted mainly to contemporary Italian repertoire. In the 1930s he was artistic director of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana and from 1936 to 1946 of the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Venice, where, from 1940 to 1946, he served as superintendent at the Teatro La Fenice. Alfredo Casella was co-founder (with Gian Francesco Malipiero and Gabriele D'Annunzio) of the Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche, the Italian section of the International Society of Contemporary Music. A composer, pianist, and conductor born in Turin in 1883, Casella was a great promoter of contemporary music. He labored in the Italian organization of the festivals of Siena (1925) and Venice (1928) with the aim of encouraging the knowledge and dissemination of music by foreign composers that was viewed with aversion by almost all Italian critics. Mario Labroca was born in Rome in 1896 and studied composition with O. Respighi and G. F. Malipiero in Parma. During the years of the Mussolini government he was a music critic for such newspapers as L'Idea nazionale, Il Tevere, Il Lavoro fascista, Scenario, and La Rassegna musicale. He collaborated with Casella, Malipiero, and D'Annunzio on the Corporazione delle nuove musiche, working for the diffusion of contemporary music in Italy. A lover of theater, in 1936 he became superintendent of the Teatro Comunale in Florence, organizing the various editions of the Maggio musicale fiorentino until 1944. Renzo Massarani, of Jewish origin, was born in Mantua in 1898 and studied harmony with E. Bossi. He worked as a music critic for the newspaper Il Tevere and was employed by SIAE (Società Italiana Autori ed Editori). From 1928 to 1938 he was forced to leave Italy to emigrate to Brazil following the regime's anti-Semitic measures that banned his music and caused the destruction of many of his compositions. He returned to Europe after World War II to participate as a music critic in festivals and as a commissioner in composition competitions. Antonio Veretti was born in Verona in 1900. He studied piano and harmony at the Liceo musicale in Bologna with Guglielmo Mattioli and Franco Alfano. He was among the leading exponents of the so-called “Generazione di mezzo” picking up the legacy of the “Generazione dell’Ottanta” of Pizzetti and Casella. In 1933 he founded the music academy of the Gioventù italiana del littorio in Rome at the Foro Mussolini, where he was a teacher until 1943. Giorgio Nataletti was born in Rome in 1907 and graduated in composition from the Pesaro Conservatory. From 1926 he was technical director for folk parts at the Opera nazionale dopolavoro in Rome. He devoted himself to the study of musical folklore by performing transcriptions and collecting documentation; he also edited various radio broadcasts devoted to folk music. On behalf of the National Fascist Musicians Union, in 1934 he collected and printed the volume Trenta Ninne nanne popolari italiane (Thirty Italian Folk Lullabies).

BDM documents the excessive and convoluted complexity of music administration under the Fascist regime. Like other coeval Italian music journals, the BDM is a promoter of announcements of fascist “cures” for the ills of music. First among such solutions is the establishment of an Italian Musicians' Syndicate, under the jurisdiction of the National Theatre Corporation, which would bring together composers, librettists, performers, teachers and educators and whose aims were inspired by the principles of fascist syndicalism. Published in the first issue of the periodical are the texts of the 33 articles of the Royal Decree of 8 February 1934 for the Statute of the National Fascist Musicians' Union and the 35 statutory articles of the Statute of the Interprovincial Fascist Musicians' Union. The names of the Syndicate's officials are among the most prominent in Italian music of the time, such as Alceo Toni, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Riccardo Zandonai, conductors Gino Marinuzzi and Renato Fasano, Franco Alfano, Adriano Lualdi, Bernardino Molinari, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Ettore Desderi, Franco Casavola, Mario Barbieri, Adone Zecchi, Gaspare Scuderi, Franco Vittadini, Giovanni Spezzaferri and many others, 105 in all, all male names, despite the active presence of many good female musicians in Italian musical life.

The BDM in the years from 1934 to 1936 is a veritable bulletin of all the activities of the Musicians' Union: texts of articles of law, statutes, notices of competitions, chronicles of Italian and foreign musical activities, and news concerning marching bands and music teachers. The problem of unemployment of Italian music professionals and the protection of the copyrights of Italian editions are issues of focus for the BDM: see, for example, Ezio Carabella's letter[2] which shows how publisher Alfredo Curci, in his trade in American music for film, is interested in relations with American publishers to the detriment of Italian ones.

Constant are the columns “Musica nella scuola” (“Music in the School”), “Ufficio designazione concertistica” (“Concert Designation Office”), “Attività sindacale” (“Trade Union Activities”), “I nostri musicisti all’estero” (“Our Musicians Abroad”), “Consulenza legale” (“Legal Advice”), and “Piccola posta” i.e. correspondence from readers. With the year 1935 begins a series of articles related to music and the advent of sound film, along with the new column “La didattica nella scuola” (“Education in the School”). February 1942 sees the inauguration of the publication of the Supplement entitled Notiziario sindacale (Trade Union News). Always placed at the opening of the issue, it includes the columns “Notizie varie” (“Miscellaneous News”), “I nostri musicisti all’estero” (“Our Musicians Abroad”), “Musiche nuove” (“New Musics”), “Notizie dai sindacati interprovinciali” (“News from Interprovincial Unions”), “Necrologi” (“Obituaries”) and “Concorsi” (“Competitions”). The fascist motto “Credere – Obbedire – Combattere” (“Believe – obey – fight”) is often present at the beginning of an issue. Often the front pages host commemorative articles about composers of the past such as Guido Guerrini's on Ferruccio Busoni (V, no. 6, June 1938), Ildebrando Pizzetti's on N. Paganini (V, no. 11-12, November-December 1938), Francesco Pastura's celebrating Pacini and Petrella (VI, no. 6, June 1939). In the August 1937 issue Alberto Ghislanzoni gives a summary of the essential points of Adolf Hitler's speech on modern art, given in Munich, in which he defends the values of the Aryan race. In the last issue of this year – 1937 – the typographical look of the periodical is renewed, which now includes a table of contents and articles of higher caliber signed by personalities such as A. Casella, I. Pizzetti, A. Ghislanzoni, F. Torrefranca, A. Della Corte, A. Lualdi, G. D'Annuzio, G. Nataletti, and F. Vatielli that highlight problems related to education, didactics, permanent orchestras, publishing, and opera theater.

Issue 3 of December 1934 is entirely devoted to composer Vincenzo Bellini on the centenary of his death. Issue 7 in 1940 is entirely devoted to composer Pietro Mascagni.

This RIPM Index was made from copies of the magazine preserved at the Civico Museo Teatrale di Trieste and the Library of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

[1]Manifesto dei musicisti italiani per la tradizione dell’arte romantica dell’Ottocento published Dec. 17, 1932 on Corriere della Sera, Il Popolo d’Italia e La Stampa, signed by Alberto Gasco, Guido Guerrini, Giuseppe Mulé, Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, Gennaro Napoli, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Riccardo Zandonai, Guido Zuffellato, Ottorino Respighi, and Alceo Toni.

[2] BDM IV, no. 8 (August 1937), followed by Curci's reply in the next issue.