I Presagi
General Info
Year: 1958 / 1987
Duration: c. 10:20
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Editions Salabert
Cost: Parts - Rental | Score Only - $25.19
Movements
1. Satz I – 2:40
2. Satz II – 4:05
3. Satz III – 4:45
Instrumentation
Full Score
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
C Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Tuba I-II
Timpani
Percussion I-II, including:
- Bass Drum
- Wind Machine (or Electronics)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
I Presagi (omens or portents) was written in 1958, one year before the famous Quattro Pezzi su una nota sola (Four Pieces on a single note) for chamber orchestra.
Without proceeding drastically to a reduction of the musical material, I Presagi gives us a glimpse of what would become Scelsi’s style: “entering the sound” by altering it in all manners through microtonal oscillations (here by means of a quarter of a tone), changing the timbre and dynamics, using vibrato, tremolo, trills, and extended techniques to make it tremble in all possible ways.
I Presagi was premiered almost thirty years after its creation, on May 28, 1987, during the Festival Voix Nouvelles, at the French Abbey of Royaumont, by the Nuovo Ensemble Italiano, under Aldo Brizzi.
- Program Note from WASBE
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Klangforum Wien (Hans Zende, conductor)
- Audio CD: Klangforum Wien (Hans Zende, conductor) - 1999
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Charles Peltz, conductor) - 23 February 2012
- Nuovo Ensemble Italiano (Aldo Brizzi, conductor) - 28 May 1987 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- I Presagi (1958/1987)
- Ko-Lho (1966)
- Rucke di Guck (1957)
- Suite for Flute and Clarinet (1953)
- Uaxuctum (1966)
Resources
- "I PRESAGI for 10 instruments by Giacinto Scelsi (Italy, 1905 – 1988)." WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 24 May 2021). Accessed 13 January 2023
- Scelsi, G. (1987). I Presagi: Per 10 Strumenti [score]. Salabert: Paris, France.