Dallapiccola, Luigi [key], 1904–75, Italian composer, b. Pazan, Istria (now in Croatia). Dallapiccola was in a detention camp during World War I; because his wife was Jewish, he suffered persecution under Mussolini. He was the first Italian composer of atonal music, and after 1940 he increasingly used the twelve-tone system (see serial music). His interest in vocal music is revealed in his operas The Prisoner (1949) and Odysseus (1968); the oratorio Job (1950); and the Christmas Concerto (1956) for soprano and orchestra. He also wrote instrumental concertos, ballets, and orchestral works.
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