Alfonso Barbieri

After the epigones of Verist opera, the composers of the so-called “Generation of the Eighties” (i.e. Casella, Pizzetti, Alfano, Respighi and Malipiero) brought new lymph to the Italian instrumental music of the twentieth century. These composers had a sound academic education; they were open both to the rediscovery of the Italian musical heritage of the past, and to the novelties following each other in the premieres of the Parisian theatres.