Luigi Nono (1924–1990) was a leading Italian composer of electronic, aleatory, and serial music. Nono began his musical studies in 1941 at the Venice Conservatory. He then studied law at the University of Padua, receiving a doctorate there, while at the same time studying with the prominent avant-garde composer Bruno Maderna and the noted conductor Hermann Scherchen. He came to public attention in 1950 with his work Variazioni Canoniche, orchestral variations on a 12-tone theme of Arnold Schoenberg, whose daughter Nuria he married in 1955. He continued to explore avant-garde techniques and lectured widely in Europe and the United States. He also taught at the New Music Summer School at the Kranichsteiner Music Institute in Darmstadt, Germany.

About the work

… sofferte onde serene … (Italian for “serene waves suffered”or “serene waves endured”), ALN 42, is a composition for piano and tape. Composed in 1976, this was one of the pieces Nono wrote for piano when he was involved in a professional collaboration with pianist Maurizio Pollini. The premiere took place at Milan Conservatory on 17 April 1977. This single-movement work lasts fourteen minutes exactly, since tempo markings are very strict and tempo variations based on performance are rare. It consists of a total of 155 bars. The original tape recorded by Nono and still used in concert performances has a duration of thirteen minutes and thirty-nine seconds.