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L’Approdo musicale

(Turin; Rome, 1958-1967)

Prepared by Elvidio Surian
Online only (2023)

The periodical L’Approdo musicale. Rivista trimestrale di musica [RIPM code APM] was published in Turin by Edizioni Radio Italiana from January 1958 to 1967—with a single interruption in 1962—and printed throughout in a full-page format; each single issue consists of a variable number of pages. From 1961 to 1967, APM was published annually with a changed subtitle: Quaderni di Musica.

The founder and sole editor of L’Approdo musicale was Alberto Mantelli (1909-1967), a music critic and vice director of RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana) responsible for programming radio broadcasts of symphonic and chamber music. The editorial board is composed of notable exponents of Italian musical life: Vittorio Gui, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Guido Pannain, Goffredo Petrassi and Gian Luca Tocchi.

The journal deals primarily with topics, composers and musical events related to RAI’s radio broadcasts. It is structured as follows:

1) The opening pages of each issue consist of an ample critical essay, as large as 200 to 300 pages,  dedicated to a prominent composer active in the first half of the twentieth century. Each essay examines in depth the composer’s biography, music, and includes a list of works, bibliography, as well as a rich iconographic apparatus, including facsimiles of letters, music autographs, and portraits. Those featured include:

Alfredo Casella (1958, n. 1), Maurice Ravel (1958, n. 2), Paul Hindemith (1958, n. 3), George Gershwin (1958, n, 4), Richard Strauss (1959, 5), Giacomo Puccini (1959, n. 6), Claude Debussy (1959, n. 7-8), Gian Francesco Malipiero (1960, n. 9), Leoš Janáček (1960, n. 10), Franz Joseph Haydn (1960, n. 11), Georg Friedrich Händel (1960, n. 12), Sergei Prokofiev (1961, n. 13), Johann Sebastian Bach (1961, n. 14-15), Gustav Mahler (1963, n. 16-17), the composers of Les Six (1965, n. 19-20), Ildebrando Pizzetti (1966, n. 21-22), Fausto Torrefranca (1966, n. 23), and Anton Bruckner (1967, n. 24).

2) Following the long essay is the rubric “Vita musicale radiofonica” which contains reviews of broadcasts transmitted by the RAI directly from concert halls, operatic theaters, and those on the Terzo Programma  (RAI Radio 3). Reviews of musical records and books also appear.

Of note is issue 18 (1964), entirely devoted to music education in Italy where it invites the Ministry of Education to make obligatory the teaching of music history in the Scuole Medie.

This RIPM Index was produced from copies held by the Sibley Library of the Eastman School of Music.

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