Composers

1913 He was admitted at the Schola Cantorum of San Salvatore in Lauro where he remained until the age of fifteen.
1925 He began to study harmony with the guidance of the maestro Vincenzo di Donato.
1928 He passed the admission exam at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia where he studied composition with A. Bustini and organ with F. Germani.
1932 He finished his studies of composition. His fragment La Partita per orchestra won a national and an international competition. In June 1933 Casella conducts this composition at the SIMC Festival in Amsterdam.
1934 He finished the Concerto (1°) for orchestra and begins to compose the Salmo IX.
1935 Casella conducted the Partita in Moscow and Leningrad. Petrassi attended the orchestra conduction course held by Bernardino Molinari at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. In September he conducted the fragments Introduzione e Allegro for violin and 11 instruments at the 13th SIMC Festival in Prague.
1937 He was charged of the supervision of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; he will stop three years later. He began to compose Magnificat.
1939 He got the teaching post of composition at the Conservatory di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
1941 He conducted in September at the Festival in Venice the première of Coro dei Morti. Bernardino Molinari conducted in Rome the première of Magnificat.
1942 He composed La Follia d'Orlando and Gli Inni Sacri.
1944 He began to compose Il Cordovano from an intermezzo by Cervantes translated by E. Montale.
1946 The suite of the balletto Ritratto di Don Chisciotte was shown at the musical Festival in Venice.
1947 In April, La Follia d'Orlando was staged at La Scala.; in November the ballets des Champs Elysées staged in Paris the Ritratto di Don Chisciotte.
1949 The theatre La Scala staged the première of Il Cordovano.
1950 Fist performance at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome of Morte dell'Aria.
1951 Mario Rossi conducted the première of Noche Oscura at the International Festival in Strasbourg. During the summer Petrassi held a composition course at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
1952 He got a commission by Paul Sacher; the work is the Secondo Concerto for orchestra on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Basler Kammerorchester. He went to London in order to conduct his works at BBC.
1953 He made a tournèe in South America conducting a concert at the Colon in Buenos Aires dedicated to his compositions. Hans Rosbaud conducted at the festival in Aix-en-Provence the première of Récréation Concertante, a commission by Südwestrundfunk in Baden Baden.
1954 On the occasion of his 50th birthday many Italian and international reviews published articles dedicated to him. He is appointed president of SIMC; he will stop in 1956.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra gave him the commission of the Quinto Concerto for orchestra which was conducted by Charles Münch and performed during his first journey in USA in 1955.
1956 Second journey in USA; he is invited by the Koussevitzky Foundation and the State Departement to hold a composition course at the Berkshire Music Centre in Tanglewood. He visited the principal cities of USA. Première in Rome of the Quarto Concerto for Rai, Italian television.
1957 Première of the Invenzione Concertata at the Albert Hall in London, written for BBC.
1958 He was appointed member of the Akademie der Künste of Western Berlin. In Venice première of the Quartetto for strings performed by the Quartetto Parrenin.
1959 He made a tour as composer and conductor in Japan. The second version of Il Cordovano was staged at La Scala. In January première of the Serenata at the Tel Aviv Museum.
1960 He was appointed the chair of the specialisation course of composition at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome; he will stop in 1978.
1961 The Trio per archi was performed in Washington for the Library of Congress. Première in Hamburg of the Concerto per flauto e orchestra, a commission of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, conductor Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, soloist Severino Gazzelloni.
Later on, the concert will be conducted by Pierre Boulez in the Hague and Cologne, by Zubin Metha in Münich and by the same author in Manchester and the Festival in Venice in 1966.
1962 In April he presented at the festival in Venice the Propos d'Alain. He dedicated himself more intensively to the conduction. He conducted for the first time at the Berliner Philarmoniker the Magnificat.
1963 He was appointed member of the Académie Royale de Belgique.
1964 On the occasion of his 60th birthday the first Quaderno della Rassegna Musicale about Goffredo Petrassi's work was published.
1965 He conducted with the Berliner Philarmoniker the Quinto Concerto. In March the Settimo Concerto was performed in Bologna on the occasion of an exhibition of music dedicated to the Resistenza.
1966 The Mottetti per la Passione were presented in Siena. The Hopkins Center in Hanover, USA, gave him the commission of the Estri, which will be performed there for the first time in 1967.
1967 Première of the Tre per sette in Siena. Since 1966 to 1968 he taught composition during the summer courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.
1968 At the Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto the Estri were performed with the choreography of Aurel M. Milloss and conducted by Luciano Berio.
1969 In April Gazzelloni performed Souffle at the Festival in Royan. In July première of Beatitudines in Fiuggi.
1970 Première of the Ottetto di Ottoni at the Juillard School in New York.
1972 Carlo Maria Giulini conducted in Chicago the première of the Ottavo Concerto, which was a commission of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Elogio per un ombra and Nunc were performed during the Biennale Festival in Venice.
1975 Piero Bellugi conducted the Settimo Concerto at La Scala. In December première of Orationes Christi at Rai (Italian Radio and Television) in Rome with the conduction of Zdenec Macal. He was appointed member of the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin.
1976 The Università di Bologna appointed him a Honoris Causa Degree. Il Cordovano was performed in April at the Juilliard School in New York and in May Boulez conducted the Settimo Concerto with the New York Philharmonic.
1977 Settimo Concerto was performed again at La Scala with the title La Rivolta di Sisifo with the choreography by A.M. Milloss. Petrassi was appointed honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in New York and academic of the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. Peskò conducted in London the Ottavo Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
1978 The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei appointed him the International Prize "Antonio Feltrinelli" for music. Première of Alias in Siena during the exhibition Settimana Musicale.
Honorary member of the American Academy of arts and Sciences in Boston, member of the Bayerische Akademie in Munich.
1979 In October première of the Grand Septuor for Radio France. In December Peskò finishes the recording of the Concerti per Orchestra (Philarmonia Hungarica, BBC Symphony Orchestra, RAI Symphonic Orchestra in Milano). He was honorary professor at the Music Academy Ferenc Liszt in Budapest. His 75th birthday was celebrated in Rome in presence of the President of the Republic.
1980 The premières of Flou for harp and Violasola were performed in Siena during the Settimana Musicale. Petrassi was appointed in Madrid academic "de bellas artes de San Fernando" on the occasion of the celebration of his 75th birthday.
1981 Poema for strings and trumpets for Rai was performed during the Festival of the Biennale in Venice.
1982 Sestina d'Autunno, for six instruments dedicated to Igor Strawinski, was performed at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.
Laudes Creaturarum, for reciting voice and six instruments, was performed during the Sagra Musicale Umbra in Assisi.
1984 The première of the Inno for twelve brass, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the province of Latina, was performed during the Festival Pontino at the Sermoneta castle.
His 80th birthday was celebrated with symphonic-choral and chamber monographic concerts, thatre performances in many italian cities.
1985 The Prize "Prince Pierre de Monaco" (Principality of Monaco) was conferred on him.
1990 He was appointed a Honoris Causa degree at the University "La Sapienza" in Rome.