Franco Casavola

Franco Casavola (13 July 1891, Modugno, near Bari – 7 July 1955, Bari) was a Futurist composer and theorist.

In a letter dated 1 October 1922, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti wrote to inform the composer, theorist and writer Franco Casavola that:

"I've listened to Tankas, Quatrain, Gioielleria Notturna, Leila and Muoio di sete on the piano. They reveal to me a strong and original musical genius. We Futurists would be pleased if you would join our fight against obsolete ideas."

Casavola (who had studied music at the Rome Conservatory) accepted this invitation with alacrity and formally joined the radical Italian art movement. He began to compose new pieces under the influence of earlier manifestoes written by Marinetti and, later, the specific manifestos on Futurist music produced by Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo, variously dated between 1909 and 1914. Early Futurist work by Casavola included: Ranocchi al Chiaro d Luna (Frogs in the Moonlight) by A.G. Bragaglia and La Danza della Scimmie (Dance of the Monkeys) for the Teatro della Sorpresa (Theatre of Surprise).

Between 1924 and 1927, Casavola published a series of original essays and manifestoes, dealing with new theories of music and its relationship with theatre and the visual arts, which are listed below. In 1924, Casavola produced no less than eight essays and one novel, Introduction to Madness. At the Futurist Congress, held in Milan on 23 November 1924, the composer also delivered a lecture entitled 'Visible Syntheses, Chromatic Atmospheres and Scenic-Plastic Versions of Music.'

Courageously, Casavola risked opposing the escalating cultural autarchy imposed by Benito Mussolini's fascist government after it seized power late in 1922. Bravest of all was his defence of jazz, not merely through his written articles, but also his own compositions; many of Casavola's best pieces employed rhythms and styles closely resembling jazz forms.

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