Italian Futurism And Music – “Musica Futurista” by Umberto Boccioni

The first graphic representation of Italian Futurism and Music dates back to 1912. The cover of the book “Musica Futurista” by Francesco Balilla Pratella, designed by Umberto Boccioni, testifies to the creative enthusiasm of an unforgettable artistic season.

Francesco Balilla Pratella was the composer on whom Filippo Tommaso Marinetti relied in the early period of Futurism. Pratella was, in fact, the author of most of the theoretical manifestos of musical Futurism: Manifesto of Futurist Musicians (11 October 1910), Futurist Music, technical Manifesto (11 March 1911), and The Destruction of the Scheme (18 July 1912).

In those manifestos, Pratella enunciated theoretical principles such as harmonic polyphony (overcoming of harmony by conceiving the melody harmonically), enharmony (intonation of intervals lower than a semitone or the frequent use of the glissando), the destruction of the scheme (overcoming the definition of even rhythm and odd time for a distribution in binary and ternary rhythms which in turn can be combined in a composite measure of time).

Unfortunately, Pratella himself applied very little of such theoretical statements in his compositions and, in his memoirs, claimed that Stravinsky would be a more suited composer to Italian Futurism and music than he.

In any case, the publisher Bongiovanni of Bologna collected the three posters of Pratella together with the score of his “Futurist Music” in a volume published in 1912. The legendary futurist painter and sculptor Umberto Boccioni created an extraordinary design for the book cover.

And it is precisely that extraordinary cover we have reproduced with the utmost care on this garment.

Italian Futurism And Music: A High-Quality Garment Print to Order with First Class DTG Printers

We print this decor to order onto high-quality garments using first class Direct to Garment (DTG) printers.

• 100% ring-spun cotton
• 4.5 oz/yd² (153 g/m²)
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
• Quarter-turned to avoid crease down the center
• Blank products sourced from Bangladesh, Honduras, Haiti, Mexico, or Nicaragua