Three previously unavailable works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco are now published by Edizioni Curci in collaboration with CIDIM (Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica): Three Shakespeare Duets for soprano, tenor and piano; the Second String Quartet, and Suite 508 for viola and piano.
- Three Shakespeare Duets for soprano, tenor and piano, Opus 97 (1937) can be considered an appendix to the earlier, larger cycle for voice and piano, The Passionate Pilgrim: 33 Shakespeare Songs, Opus 24. Although belonging to the genre of vocal chamber music, the work has a decidedly theatrical nature.
- Second String Quartet, Opus 139 (1948) reflects, with stirring immediacy, the contradictory emotions of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco who, upon returning for the first time to Italy after having emigrated to the United States in 1939, sees his beloved Florence and the Tuscan countryside. Finding them changed, the composer evokes his mixed feelings through this perfect fusion of melody, harmony, and counterpoint.
- Suite 508 for viola and piano, Opus 170/21 (1960) is a suite for violin and piano in which the composer, using a system of correspondences between musical notes and the English alphabet, creates seven pieces based on dance rhythms, full of verve, elegance, humor and lyricism. The individual movements are dedicated to seven colleagues at Michigan State University, where Castelnuovo-Tedesco had been Distinguished Visiting Professor in 1959.
All three works join the Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Collection at Edizioni Curci, edited by the composer and scholar Angelo Gilardino. The Collection presents Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s unpublished works, which are housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and are published in accordance with the original manuscripts.