Music for TV Dramas by Luciano Chailly

Among Luciano Chailly’s multiple activities – composing, writing, and organizing concert events – writing music for television scripts played a quite central role. Appointed as RAI’s music consultant in 1951 (and head of the music service at the Central Programming Department in 1962), Chailly made his debut on the newly established state TV channel as the author of the soundtrack for the Dostoevsky adaptation Delitto e Castigo, directed by Franco Enriquez and starring Giorgio Albertazzi (broadcasted on the Programma nazionale beginning 12 March 1954). This was followed by music for other successful television shows, including well known examples such as the 1959 drama L’Idiota, again based on Dostoevsky, and Mastro don Gesualdo in 1964, based on Verga, both directed by Giacomo Vaccari. This article delves into the specific features of Chailly’s writing by tracing the genealogy of the musical scores for L’Idiota and Mastro don Gesualdo. The research draws on documents and correspondence uncovered thanks to archival research the Fondo ‘Luciano Chailly’ in the Trento Provincial Archives to reconstruct the composer’s process and use of pre-existing musical materials. On one hand, the article highlights some stylistic traits typical of Chailly’s compositional style such as melodies that are ‘freely atonal’ but always built around clear poles of attraction, insistent rhythms, and original orchestral ensembles; on the other hand, it examines particular expedients – timbral effects and brief, just hinted-at motifs – that Chailly used in his efforts to formulate a “musical specificity” tailored to the new television genre of scripted dramas that was gaining ground in those years.