The Memorial Genre in the Works of Cesare Chiacchiaretta in the Context of Indigenous Traditions of Italian Music

Abstract

The research is devoted to the study of memorial genre in the space of Italian accordion art, based on the traditions of Italian musical culture and the work of the leading Italian accordionist and bandoneonist Cesare Ciacciaretta. A special focus is made on the composer’s work Sunflower Seeds, which is a special musical example that combines the idea of a kind of requiem, a musical memorial, and a philosophical reflection on the themes of loss, despair, hope, and light.The purpose of the article is to form a comprehensive understanding of the memorial tradition in Italian culture, to characterize the creative language of C. Chiacchiarretta and to understand his work Sunflower Seeds as a composition that is not just an aesthetic gesture but a well- established model of the memorial genre, which is not about the memory of the past but about a living dialogue “here and now.” To achieve this goal, a set of methods was used that combined musicological and cultural approaches. Main methods: structural and analytical – to identify formative patterns, intonation drama, and timbre organization of accordion texture; semantic – for studying the symbolism of musical images, interpreting the metaphor of “seed” in the philosophical and cultural dimension; hermeneutic – to interpret the work as a subjective expression of memory and a means of communication with the lost; cultural - to identify the specific features of the Italian tradition of commemorating memory through music, which are echoed in the work of C. Chiacchiarretta.So, the article highlights that memorial music of the twenty-first century is no longer associated exclusively with mourning themes, but it does not cease to be a universal speaker of pain, memory, and hope. The piece “Sunflower Seeds” by C. Chiacchiarretta is a special case in point, demonstrating not only an example of an aesthetic work of art but also a unique cultural monument in the European context.