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Burri at La Scala
by Vittoria Crespi Morbio.
Essay by Vittoria Crespi Morbio, Alberto Burri e il teatro / Alberto Burri and the Theatre.
Appendices: biographical notice; catalogue of the works; chronology of stage designs.
Collection «Performing Artists at La Scala».
Amici della Scala – Umberto Allemandi & C., Turin 2002.
Italian edition, pp.47.
A foremost name in the history of contemporary art, Alberto Burri (Città di Castello, Perugia 1915–Nice 1995) only occasionally worked with the theatre.
His debut in scenography was for the Teatro alla Scala with the sets and costume designs for the ballet Spirituals for orchestra by Morton Gould (choreography by Pistoni, 1963). The biblical themes of the opera (the suffering of Christ, the Pietà of the Virgin, the redemption of the sinner) resound in the abstract rhythms of the choreography and the intense colour contrasts created by Burri: flashes of red and black against the textural backdrop.