by InTrieste
The music of Bruno Morpurgo, a Jewish composer who died during World War I, will return to public ears on Thursday evening at the Synagogue of Trieste. The concert, scheduled for Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. and open to the public free of charge, will feature the world premiere of Morpurgo’s Sinfonia Op. 19, alongside his Symphony in C minor.
The works will be performed by the ABIMÀ Orchestra and the Civica Orchestra di Fiati “G. Verdi,” under the direction of Davide Casali. Morpurgo’s nephew, Helmut Morpurgo, will attend — a symbolic presence, as it was his preservation of the composer’s handwritten scores in Vienna that made this rediscovery possible.
Morpurgo, a prolific early-20th-century composer, produced chamber music, symphonic works and lieder before his life was cut short in Gorizia during the war. Though he studied with some of Europe’s most influential musical figures — including Robert Fuchs, whose pupils ranged from Mahler to Sibelius and Korngold, and studied at the University of Vienna under Anton Bruckner — Morpurgo’s music vanished from public consciousness for more than a century.
A regional cultural project allowed for the digitization of his manuscripts and the recording of his works for the first time. The new materials will be housed at the Carlo and Vera Wagner Museum of the Jewish Community of Trieste, which is also collaborating on the initiative. A book detailing Morpurgo’s life — written by Maestro Casali and historian Gloria Pilastro — will accompany the release of the recording.
“Through painstaking research and the generosity of Helmut Morpurgo, we were able to digitize and edit the original manuscripts so they can finally be performed and studied,” pianist Pierpaolo Levi, who collaborated on the recordings with violinist Elia Vigolo, said in a statement. “This project has brought to light an important composer of the last century who had remained unknown until now.”
Additional works by Morpurgo are currently being prepared and are expected to be made available in the near future.
Casali, who heads the association Musica Libera, noted that the initiative is supported by the Friuli Venezia Giulia region through a cultural history and ethnography grant, allowing the group to produce a second recording of previously unperformed works.
The concert is organized by Musica Libera and the Viktor Ullmann Festival in partnership with the Jewish Community of Trieste and its museum, with support from the Friuli Venezia Giulia regional government.
