In Memoriam Salvatore Martirano (1927-1995)

Salvatore Martirano, composer, teacher, and friend, died on the night of November 17, 1995 from complications due to ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Throughout this difficult illness, he never lost his fantastic, unfettered musical imagination, his generous spirit, or his ironic sense of humor.

We know that many of you knew Sal and that even more of you knew his music. We at Symbolic Sound are personally grateful for the sincere interest that he took in our work and grateful for the fun times that we had in working with him on several projects. We learned a lot from you, Sal!

Sal spent the final months of his life working with Larry Austin to produce a CD retrospective of his work in electronic music.

Prior to his illness, Sal was working on a composition for baritone voice (processed through Kyma) and symphony orchestra that was based on the ending to Dante's Paradiso. His interpretation of the text was that, at the end of the pilgrim's search for truth or for the impossible (squaring the circle), he discovers that it is love that causes the movements of the sun and of the other stars:

Qual e' 'l geometra che tutto s'affige
  per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova,
  pensando, quel principio ond'elli indige,
tal era io a quella vista nova:
  veder volea come si convenne
  l'imago al cerchio e come vi s'indova;
ma non eran da cio' le proprie penne:
  se non che la mia mente fu percossa
  da un fulgore in che sua voglia venne.
A l'alta fantasia qui manco' possa;
  ma gia' volgeva il mio disio e il velle,
  si come rota ch'igualmente e' mossa,
l'amore che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
Thank you , Sal. We will miss you.

Carla Scaletti & Kurt J. Hebel

John Martirano has assembled a website in honor of his father at
Salvatore Martirano