Browsing the internet among the sites of the municipalities or on wikipedia you can always find something dedicated to the illustrious characters of certain places. And in Torre Cajetani? Apart from Fra Marcello da Torre, one of the leading figures of music in the second half.
His parents were all from Torre Cajetani , except grandmother Santina who was from Filettino where Mastro Cesare met her, married her and took her "to the top" of the Tower (Torre Cajetani) riding a mule.
Daniele was born in 1921 from a very humble family and immediately everyone understood that he was inclined to music. His father, Nazarene, made the whole family make unheard-of sacrifices to allow him to study. At first he was tutored by the organist Germani and then by many other masters until he became a fundamental and relevant figure for the new Italian and international style music.
However, the sacrifices of his parents were rewarded by the success and by the prestigious musical artistic career that led Daniele to be among the founders of the prestigious Licinio Refice Conservatory of Frosinone in 1972 and to direct it from 1974 to 1989.
Daniele was an excellent pianist, he was compared with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, but he preferred composition and conducting. He had a very shy character and sometimes artistically 'furastico' (or maybe outlandish).
During the International Weeks of New Music, an important international event dedicated to experimental music was held in Palermo from 1960 to 1968, where, under his direction, various composers performed for the first time who later became prominent figures for the music of the second mid-1900s.
We are talking about artists like Guaccero, Bussotti, Cage and Stockhausen.
In addition, he was one of the founding members of the Nuova Consonanza association and was one of the promoters of the birth of the music school of Frosinone, the current conservatory. It is no coincidence that the Conservatory auditorium is named after him.
He was also the author-composer of soundtracks for films such as Beyond Good and Evil, by Liliana Cavani, documentaries and television dramas such as Dante's Life with Giorgio Albertazzi.
To get more information on his roots, I asked his cousin Luciano Scarsella for information, and remembers him in this way:
"I'll tell you an anecdote: we were in the 60s and one summer evening I returned to Rome from Torre Cajetani with my family in my 600 at around midnight to travel in the cool of the evening. On the highway we encountered beastly traffic and at Monteporzio Catone we proceeded at walking pace.
Suddenly in the emergency lane I saw a man walking alone and quickly and I wondered what that madman was doing, he travels at night on foot on the highway.
Observing him better I saw that it was Daniele.
I called him to ask him what had happened to him and if he needed help and he, all pissed off, told me that he had left the car with his wife, got out and preferred to continue on foot! "
Daniele was very sensitive and attached to his origins, his land, his people and villagers.
For this reason, on August 13, 1987, he organized a ‘Torrigiana’ summer, a prestigious classical music concert inside the Teofilatto Castle in honour of Torre and its Citizens.
All admired and silent, our villagers enjoyed this fantastic event, the only one granted by Maestro Paris:
“I remember that in that magical unrepeatable evening, after the endless and passionate applause, I noticed many shining eyes. It was a small miracle ”.
Reading these few lines you are catapulted into a world that hardly exists anymore, made up of great sacrifices to make your dreams or those of your family come true. It was a more difficult world to live in but where dreams guided people's choices.
With this we want to pay tribute to him but also to his family who, with great sacrifices, gave the musical world a prominent figure who has always remained linked to our town.
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