The works
The material of the museum of musical documentation Attilio Parelli. Works, manuscripts, scores or much more
In addition to books and music scores, the documentation museum “A. Parelli” is rich in vintage photos: portraits of the composer and his family, but also photos of musicians and singers with whom Parelli had close personal and working relationships: Lina Cavalieri, Luisa Tetrazzini, Carmen Melis, Amedeo Bassi, Carlo Zecchi, Pietro Mascagni.
The photos of the artists, mostly in costume, are often accompanied by dedications that testify to their esteem for the Master.
His works cover all genres: compositions for orchestra, melodrama, ballet, vocal sacred music, lyric for song and piano, chamber music.
Manuscripts of the opening signals (radio jingles) of Rai radio programmes have also been found.
In his piano works he clearly sees the programmatic intent; he is also fascinated by the orchestral transcriptions and the symphonic poem (a genre in which he draws inspiration from literary sources).
In other cases, a vocation to classical and purely instrumental forms emerges, as in the numerous quartet movements, in the singular choice of the title Tema con variazioni for a vocal composition.
Parelli loved to decline his compositions for different instrumental organics: Pifferata di Natale (a Christmas song inspired by the tradition) is available in an orchestral and in a piano version; Alba nascente (english title The Happy Morning waits) for song and piano, and for violin and piano, Odorava l’april for song and piano, and for an instrumental group consisting in a string quartet, clarinet and piano.
The collection even contains songs belonged to his wife and apprentice, Isolina, and music scores sold with the magazines of that times, which show the music trends in that period: opera arias, operettas, waltzes and Viennese polkas.
The calligraphy of Master Parelli was really accurated (his manuscripts are recognizable for the elegant shape of the treble clef) and together with 112 original manuscripts, in the Parelli museum there is also a collection of printed music.
His works have been published by italian and foreign editors Ricordi, Carish, Schirmer, Schmidl, Puccio, Bixio.
During his career he wrote under various pseudonyms as Parelli or Maramocio.
His name is also linked to that of the sopranos (Alice Zeppilli, Marie Cavan), tenors (John Mc Cormack) of world fame, as well as to singers in vogue at that time, now almost forgotten.
His friend, collaborator and librettist was Enrico Comitti, poet of Rome whom Parelli met during his studies at the Accademia of Santa Cecilia.
