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Scelsi: Works List


The following list of compositions of Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) was taken originally from a Musike-Konzepte article by Rainer Rehn, with (at this point) extensive corrections and additions by me. It might easily be incomplete, or inaccurate in places where I have no direct experience. Obviously, certain pieces in numerical sequences are absent (e.g. Suite No. 1); whether they are destroyed (which some early pieces certainly were) or simply not listed is unknown. The listing has recently been enhanced by consulting the revised New Grove article, which named six previously unlisted pieces, as well as the Scelsi Foundation.
The entire scheme could probably use a reappraisal at this point, especially in terms of linking recordings to works and the like. I have made few efforts to update this list for the web; it was a pre-web text listing.


A. First Period (1929-1950)

These are the more "conventional" works before Scelsi went through his crisis and radically altered his compositional stance.

Chemin du coeur (for violin and piano) - 1929 ; *
Rotative (Symphonic poem for three pianos, winds and percussion) - 1929
(version for 2 pianos and percussion) - 1938 ; *
40 Preludes (for piano) - 1930-40 ; *
6 Pieces from "Paralipomeni" (for piano) 1930-40 ; *
Dialogo (for cello and piano) - 1932 ; *
Sinfonietta (for orchestra) - 1932 ; *
Tre canti di primavera (for voice and piano) - 1933 ; *
L'amour et le crâne (for voice and piano) - 1933 ; *
Tre canti (for voice and piano) - 1933 ; *
Suite No. 2 "The Twelve Minor Prophets" (for piano) - 1930/34
Toccata (for piano) - 1934 ; *
Poems (for piano) - 1934 ; *
Sonata (for violin and piano) - 1934 ; *
Concertino (for piano and orchestra) - 1934 ; *
Suite No. 5 "Il Circo" (for piano) - 1935 ; *
Trio No. 1 (for violin, cello and piano) - 1936 ; *
Preludio, Ariosa e Fuga (for orchestra) - 1936 ; *
Perdus (for female voice and piano) - 1937 ; *
Four Poems (for piano) - 1936/39
Suite No. 6 "I Capricci di Ty" (for piano) - 1938/39 ; *
Suite No. 7 (for piano) - 1939 ; *
Hispania (Triptych for piano) - 1939 ; *
Sonata No. 2 (for piano) - 1939
Sonata No. 3 (for piano) - 1939
Trio No. 2 (for violin, cello and piano) - 1939 ; *
24 Preludes (for piano) - 1936/40 ; *
Variations (for piano) - 1940 ; *
Variations and Fugue (for piano) - 1940
Sonata No. 4 (for piano) - 1941
Ballata (for cello and piano) - 1943
String Quartet No. 1 - 1944
(version for string orchestra) - 1962/72 ; *
Introduction and Fugue (for string orchestra) - 1945 ; *
La Nascita del Verbo (Cantata for mixed choir and orchestra) - 1946/48
Trio (for vibraphone, marimba and percussion) - 1950


B. Second Period (1952-1959)

These are the works immediately following on the crisis, most of which have a "searching" sort of quality to them, and a more improvisational feel featuring wide motion.

Suite No. 8 "Bot-Ba: Evocation of Tibet with its monasteries on high mountain summits: Tibetan rituals, prayers and dances" (for piano) - 1952
Quattro Illustrazioni "Four illustrations of the metamorphoses of Vishnu" (for piano) - 1953
Cinque incantesimi (for piano) - 1953
Suite No. 9 "Ttai: A succession of episodes which alternatively express time -- or more precisely, time in motion and man as symbolized by cathedrals or monasteries, with the sound of the sacred 'Om'" (for piano) - 1953
Piccola suite (for flute and clarinet) - 1953
Quays (for flute) - 1953
Suite No. 10 "Ka: The word 'ka' has many meanings, but the principal one is 'essence'" (for piano) - 1954
Pwyll (for flute) - 1954
Three studies (for Eb clarinet) - 1954
Preghiera per un ombra [Prayer for a shadow] (for Bb clarinet) - 1954
Divertimento No. 2 (for violin) - 1954 ; *
Yamaon (for bass voice and altosax, baritonesax, contrabasoon, double bass, percussion) - 1954-58
Action Music (for piano) - 1955
Divertimento No. 3 (for violin) - 1955
Divertimento No. 4 (for violin) - 1955 ; *
Coelocanth (for viola) - 1955
Hyxos (for alto flute in G, 2 gongs and cow-bell) - 1955
Suite No. 11 (for piano) - 1956
Four Pieces (for trumpet) - 1956
Three Pieces (for saxophone or bass trumpet) - 1956
Four Pieces (for horn in F) - 1956
Ixor (for reed; Bb clarinet, oboe, saxophone) - 1956
Divertimento No. 5 (for violin) - 1956 ; *
Three Studies (for viola) - 1956 ; *
Three Pieces (for trombone) - 1957
Trilogy "Triphon, Dithome, Ygghur" (for cello) - 1957/65
Rucke di guck (for piccolo and oboe) - 1957
String Trio - 1958
I presagi [The Omens] (for 9 brass instruments and percussion) - 1958
Tre canti popolari (for 4-voice mixed choir) - 1958
Tre canti sacri (for 8-voice mixed choir) - 1958
Kya (for Bb clarinet solo, and seven instruments) - 1959


C. Third Period (1959-1969)

This is Scelsi's most characteristic music, expansive & elegant, following on the landmark exploration of single notes in the Quattro pezzi. Here is the real structural role for timbre with a more minimalist orientation in other areas.

Quattro pezzi su una nota sola [Four pieces each on a single note] (for chamber orchestra) - 1959
Hô "Five Songs" (for soprano voice) - 1960
Wo-Ma (for bass voice) - 1960
Hurqualia "A Different Realm" (for large orchestra, with amplified instruments) - 1960
String Quartet No. 2 - 1961
Aiôn "Four Episodes in one Day of Brahma" (for orchestra) - 1961
Taiagarù "Five Invocations" (for soprano voice) - 1962
Lilitu (for female voice) - 1962 ; *
Riti "Ritual March" (version for Achilles, for four percussionists) - 1962
(version for Alexander the Great, for tuba, double bass, contrabasoon, electric organ & percussion) - 1963
(version for Carl the Great, for cello and 2 percussionists) - 1967
Khoom "Seven episodes of an unwritten tale of love and death in a distant land" (for soprano voice, horn, string quartet & percussion) - 1962
String Quartet No. 3 - 1963
Hymnos (for large orchestra) - 1963
Chukrum (for string orchestra) - 1963
Olehö (for solo voice or female choir and 2 gongs) - 1963 ; *
Xnoybis "The ability of energy to ascend to the spirit" (for violin) - 1964
String Quartet No. 4 - 1964
version as: Natura renovatur (for 11 strings) - 1967
Yliam (for female choir) - 1964
Duo (for violin and cello) - 1965
(version for violin and double bass) - 1977
Anahit "Lyric Poem on the name of Venus" (for violin and 18 instruments) - 1965
Anagamin "The one who is faced with a choice between going back and refusing to do so" (for 12 strings) - 1965
Ko-Lho (for flute and clarinet) - 1966
Elegia per Ty (for viola and cello) - 1958/66
Ohoi "The Creative Principles" (for 16 strings) - 1966
Uaxuctum "The Legend of the Maya City which destroyed itself for religious reasons" (for 4 vocal soloists, ondes martenot solo, mixed choir and orchestra) - 1966
Elohim (for 10 strings) - 1965/67
Ko-Tha "Three Dances of Shiva" (for guitar) - 1967
(version for double bass) - 1972
(version for six-string cello) - 1978
Manto I, II, III (for viola and female voice) - 1967 ; *
CKCKC (for voice and mandolin) - 1967
Kövirügivogerü (for voice) - 1967 ; *
TKRDG (for 6-voice male choir, electric guitar and 2 percussionists) - 1968
Okanagon "Okanagon is like a rite, or if you will, like grasping the heartbeat of the Earth" (for harp, tamtam & double bass) - 1968
Ogloudoglou (for voice and percussion) - 1969 ; *
Konx-Om-Pax "Three aspects of sound: as the first motion of the immutable, as creative force, as the syllable 'om'" (for mixed choir, and orchestra) - 1969


D. Fourth Period (1970-1976/1988)

This is a time during which Scelsi's music became more severe and ascetic, so that many of these works are very short. They can also be more melodic in some sense, and represent something of a return to the improvisational style of the Second Period, but from within the new timbral perspective.

20 Canti del Capricorno (for soprano) - 1962-72
Three Latin Prayers "Ave Maria, Pater noster, Alleluia" (for voice or choir) - 1970
Le grand sanctuaire "Il est grand temps" & "Même si je voyais" (2 pieces; for tenor voice) - 1970
Antifona "on the name of Jesus" (for male choir) - 1970
Nuits "C'est bien la nuit" & "Le Réveil profond" (2 pieces; for double bass) - 1972/1977
Pranam I "In memory of the tragic losses of Jani and Sia Christou" (for soprano voice, 12 instruments & tape) - 1972
L'ame ailee (for violin) - 1973
L'ame ouverte (for violin) - 1973
Arc-en-ciel (for two violins) - 1973
Sauh I & II "Liturgy" (for two female voices) - 1973
Sauh III & IV (for four female voices) - 1973
Pranam II (for nine instruments) - 1973
Voyages "Il allait seul" & "Le fleuve magique" (2 pieces; for cello) - 1974
Et maintenant c'est à vous de jouer (for cello and double bass) - 1974
Manto "per quattro" (for voice, flute, trombone and cello) - 1974
In Nomine Lucis (2 pieces; for electric organ) - 1974
Aitsi (for electronically prepared piano) - 1974
(version as String Quartet No. 5) - 1985
Pfhat "A flash... and the sky opened!" (for mixed choir and large orchestra) - 1974
To the master (for cello and piano) - 1974
Litanie (for 2 females voices) - 1975 ; *
Dharana (for cello and double bass) - 1975
Kshara (for two doubles basses) - 1975
Maknongan (for low-voice instrument: double bass, contrabasoon, etc.) - 1976
Krishna and Rada "Improvisation with Carin Levine" (for flute and piano) - 1986
Mantram (for double bass) - 1987
Un Adieu (for piano) - 1978/88
Some late works (1980s) by Scelsi have generally not been cataloged, although they seem to appear in the personal repertoires of some musicians. In many cases they are direct improvisatory collaborations with performers who worked with Scelsi, or in other cases transcriptions. I have hesitated to list them, although they do need to be cataloged at some point.

Finally, note that some works may have been conceived in one period but notated in another, sometimes undergoing some changes.

I have translated sub-titles in quotes, and a few titles in brackets. A "*" indicates that the piece has not appeared on recording to my knowledge. As can be seen, almost all of Scelsi's later output has been recorded.

Todd M. McComb