edited by Roberto Illiano, Turnhout, Brepols, 2026 (Speculum Musicae, 61).
Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many great musicians served as both composers and conductors, often conducting their own works or those of other composers. In the nineteenth century, it was common for a talented musician to be a skilled performer (often a pianist or violinist), composer and conductor.
Notable figures such as Liszt, Wagner, Mahler and Strauss conducted their own works to promote them and ensure their artistic integrity.
Conducting was seen as a natural extension of musical creation rather than a separate career. However, the role of the conductor-composer changed significantly between these two centuries, reflecting the increasing complexity of music, the expansion of the orchestra, and above all, the emergence of conducting as a highly specialised and autonomous profession. Furthermore, while composer-conductors often took great interpretative liberties in the nineteenth century, an ideal of fidelity to the score slowly developed in the twentieth century.
This was partly because twentieth-century scores required a much higher level of rhythmic precision and clarity of execution, favouring the development of rigorous conducting techniques. In this volume, twenty-four authors dedicate their chapters to the most important composer-conductors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, addressing them from various perspectives, including gesture, orchestral repertoire, reception, legacy, reputation, press criticism and their role in promoting new music.
Roberto Illiano is General Secretary of the Centro Studi Opera omnia Luigi Boccherini and President of the Italian National Edition of Muzio Clementi’s Complete Works. He is General Editor of the series ‘Speculum Musicae’ and ‘Staging and Dramaturgy: Opera and the Performing Arts’ (Brepols Publishers), and has published a variety of writing (edited volumes, articles, editions, and dictionaries entries) on 19th- and 20th-century music, in particular on Luigi Dallapiccola and Italian music under Italian fascism.
