Sylvano Bussotti was a gifted child musician and entered the Florence Conservatory in 1940. He left four years later to pursue independent study in composition and was influenced by Deutsch, Metzger, Boulez and Cage, among others. His music participated in and also criticized the decadence of modernism. He used graphic notation in a flamboyant style that was often difficult to perform, in works that were erotic and artificial and often referred to his colorful personal life. La passion selon Sade (1969) and Lorenzaccio (1972) were his main works for theatre. In addition to music he worked in the fields of painting, graphic art, and journalism. Sylvano Bussotti died on September 15, 2021 in Milan, Italy; he was 89 years old. ~ Lynn Vought