An Italian composer. He was the first in Italy to adopt the twelve-tone technique. His father, who was the principal of a middle school for Italians in Pisino (then part of Austria-Hungary), showed interest in new music and had his son learn piano at the age of six. His childhood experience of moving to Graz under pressure from the Austrian government instilled in Dallapiccola a spirit of rebellion against authority. Graz, an old musical city, had an opera house, allowing him to encounter the works of Mozart, Strauss and Wagner. When World War I ended, the family returned to Pisino. From there, Dallapiccola commuted to Trieste to study piano and harmony. He also studied at the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, later serving as a professor of piano at the same institution.

His piano works, created by a composer who was also an active pianist, unfold in accordance with the principles of keyboard instrument tuning. Dallapiccola, who lacked a tangible "homeland," sought interaction with painters, poets, and philosophers, and from other arts such as painting, sculpture, film, and theater, he found themes for his own compositions, including human dignity, freedom, and the terror associated with captivity. He most highly respected the human voice as a medium for musical expression, and in addition to the Bible, various languages such as Latin, Spanish, Old French, Italian, and German were used as his texts.