Canzone Napoletana, sometimes referred to as
Neapolitan song, is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the
Neapolitan languageNeapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples, Campania . On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, and expressed in familiar genres such as the lover's complaint or the
serenadeIn music, a serenade is, in its most general sense, a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. There are three general categories of serenade in music history....
. It consists of a large body of composed popular music—such songs as
O sole mio,
Torna a Surriento"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song said to have been composed in 1902 by Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, Giambattista. The song was copyrighted officially in 1905; it has since become wildly popular, and has been sung by performers as diverse as Beniamino Gigli, Elvis Presley,...
,
Funiculì, Funiculà"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880. It was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius, which was destroyed by the eruption of 1944. It was sung for the first...
,
Santa LuciaSanta Lucia is a traditional Neapolitan song. It was transcribed by Teodoro Cottrau and published by the Cottrau firm, as a "barcarolla", at Naples in 1849. Cottrau translated it from Napuletano into Italian during the first stage of the Risorgimento, the first Neapolitan song to be given Italian...
and others.
The Neapolitan song became a formal institution in the 1830s due to an annual song-writing competition for the annual Festival of
PiedigrottaPiedigrotta Literally, "at the foot of the grotto". A section of the Mergellina quarter of Naples, Italy, so-called for the presence of the Church of the Madonna of Piedigrotta near the entrance to an ancient Roman tunnel...
, dedicated to the Madonna of Piedigrotta, a well-known church in the
MergellinaMergellina is a section of the city of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. It is at the west end of the seaside road, via Caracciolo, one mile away from the main port of Naples. Historically, it was a small fishing village and port and was quite distinct from Naples, itself...
area of Naples.
Canzone Napoletana, sometimes referred to as
Neapolitan song, is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the
Neapolitan languageNeapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples, Campania . On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, and expressed in familiar genres such as the lover's complaint or the
serenadeIn music, a serenade is, in its most general sense, a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. There are three general categories of serenade in music history....
. It consists of a large body of composed popular music—such songs as
O sole mio,
Torna a Surriento"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song said to have been composed in 1902 by Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, Giambattista. The song was copyrighted officially in 1905; it has since become wildly popular, and has been sung by performers as diverse as Beniamino Gigli, Elvis Presley,...
,
Funiculì, Funiculà"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880. It was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius, which was destroyed by the eruption of 1944. It was sung for the first...
,
Santa LuciaSanta Lucia is a traditional Neapolitan song. It was transcribed by Teodoro Cottrau and published by the Cottrau firm, as a "barcarolla", at Naples in 1849. Cottrau translated it from Napuletano into Italian during the first stage of the Risorgimento, the first Neapolitan song to be given Italian...
and others.
The Neapolitan song became a formal institution in the 1830s due to an annual song-writing competition for the annual Festival of
PiedigrottaPiedigrotta Literally, "at the foot of the grotto". A section of the Mergellina quarter of Naples, Italy, so-called for the presence of the Church of the Madonna of Piedigrotta near the entrance to an ancient Roman tunnel...
, dedicated to the Madonna of Piedigrotta, a well-known church in the
MergellinaMergellina is a section of the city of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. It is at the west end of the seaside road, via Caracciolo, one mile away from the main port of Naples. Historically, it was a small fishing village and port and was quite distinct from Naples, itself...
area of Naples. The winner of the first festival was a song entitled
Te voglio bene assaie; it was composed by the prominent opera composer,
Gaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti's most famous work is Lucia di Lammermoor , and arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore...
. The festival ran regularly until 1950, when it was abandoned. A subsequent Festival of Neapolitan Song on Italian state radio enjoyed some success in the 1950s but was eventually abandoned as well.
The period since 1950 has produced such songs as
Malafemmena by
TotòAntonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis Di Bisanzio Gagliardi, called Totò , was an eminent and celebrated Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter...
and
Carmela by Sergio Bruni. Although separated by some decades from the earlier classics of this genre, they have now become Neapolitan "classics" in their own right.
History
Many of the Neapolitan songs are world-famous because they were taken abroad by
emigrantsThe term Italian diaspora refers to the large-scale migration of Italians away from Italy in the period roughly beginning with the unification of Italy in 1861 and ending with the Italian economic miracle in the 1960s....
from Naples and southern Italy roughly between 1880 and 1920. The music was also popularized abroad by performers such as
Enrico CarusoEnrico Caruso was an Italian tenor who sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America...
, who took to singing the popular music of his native city as encores at the
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine....
in New York in the early 1900s. Caruso is therefore responsible for the fact that operatic tenors since then have been required to know these songs. This has led to such recent phenomena as
The Three TenorsThe Three Tenors is a name given to the Spanish singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and the Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti who sang in concert under this banner during the 1990s and early 2000s. The trio began their collaboration with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla, in...
- three opera singers performing, at least in part, popular songs from Naples. One of them,
Plácido DomingoJosé Plácido Domingo Embil , better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor...
, has recorded a full CD (
Italia ti amo) of traditional and some more modern Neapolitan and Italian songs. Important performers of Neapolitan songs in the last few decades include Roberto Murolo, Sergio Bruni,
Giuseppe di StefanoGiuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. He was also known for his long-term performance and recording association and brief romantic episode with the soprano Maria Callas.-Biography:Giuseppe Di Stefano was born in Motta...
,
Renato CarosoneRenato Carosone was among the greatest figures of Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called canzone napoletana, Naples' song tradition.-Beginnings:...
, and Mario Maglione. Murolo is known not only as a singer, but as a scholar and collector of the music; his collection of twelve
LPA gramophone record, commonly known as phonograph record, vinyl record, or simply record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc...
s, released in the 1960s, is an annotated compendium of Neapolitan song dating back to the twelfth century and is the "Bible" for those interested in performing or simply learning more about the music. Representatives of different veins, but nevertheless leading the continuing tradition of song in Neapolitan are the jazz-rock singer-songwriter
Pino DanielePino Daniele is an Italian vocalist, composer, and musician, whose influences cover a wide number of genres, fusing pop, blues, jazz, Italian and Middle eastern music into his own unique brand of world music.-Biography:...
and the folkloric group Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuova_Compagnia_di_Canto_Popolare
An important factor in defining what makes a Neapolitan song is the matter of language. All these songs are written and performed in the
Neapolitan dialectNeapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples, Campania . On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
(Napulitano). The matter of dialect has not prevented a few non-Neapolitans from writing dialect versions of Neapolitan songs. The most famous example of this is "'A Vucchella" by
Gabriele D'AnnunzioGabriele D'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, dramatist, and daredevil...
.
List of songs
- Canzone amalfitana
- Come faccette mammetta
- Dicitencello vuje
- Funiculì, Funiculà
"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880. It was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius, which was destroyed by the eruption of 1944. It was sung for the first...
- Lazarella
- Luna Caprese
- Luna rossa
- Malafemmena
- María, Marí
- Na' sera e' maggio
- O Marenariello
"Marenariello" is a Neapolitan song written in 1893 by Gennaro Ottaviano and Salvatore Gambardella . It has been adapted into the English language hit "I Have But One Heart" and is sang by Andrea Bocelli in his first classical album Viaggio Italiano released in 1997.-Text of the song:Oje né, fa'...
- 'O paese d'o sole
- 'O Sarracino
- 'O Sole Mio
"O sole mio" is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. It has been performed and covered by many artists, including such stalwarts of opera as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Mario Lanza, The Three Tenors, as well as rock/pop artists such as Bryan Adams, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes,...
- 'O surdato 'nnammurato
"O Surdato 'Nnamurato" is one of the most famous songs ever written in the Neapolitan language.The words were written by Aniello Califano in 1915; the music was composed by Enrico Cannio...
- Passione
Passione was an Italian restaurant on Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London, UK and also is an Italian cookbook written by Gennaro Contaldo, a co-owner of the restaurant...
- Reginella
- Rose rosse
- Santa Lucia
Santa Lucia is a traditional Neapolitan song. It was transcribed by Teodoro Cottrau and published by the Cottrau firm, as a "barcarolla", at Naples in 1849. Cottrau translated it from Napuletano into Italian during the first stage of the Risorgimento, the first Neapolitan song to be given Italian...
- Te voglio bene assaje
- Tiempe belle
"Tiempe belle" is a Neapolitan song written by Vincenzo Valente in 1916; the words are by Aniello Califano. It is Valente's most famous composition....
- Torna a Surriento
"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song said to have been composed in 1902 by Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, Giambattista. The song was copyrighted officially in 1905; it has since become wildly popular, and has been sung by performers as diverse as Beniamino Gigli, Elvis Presley,...
- Voce e notte
Recording artists
- Renzo Arbore
Renzo Arbore is an Italian TV host, showman, singer, musician, film actor and director.Arbore became nationally recognised as radio anchor man, together with Gianni Boncompagni, in the late 1960s, with shows such as Bandiera gialla , Per voi giovani , Alto Gradimento , increasingly marked by their...
- Sergio Bruni
- Renato Carosone
Renato Carosone was among the greatest figures of Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called canzone napoletana, Naples' song tradition.-Beginnings:...
- Giuseppe di Stefano
Giuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. He was also known for his long-term performance and recording association and brief romantic episode with the soprano Maria Callas.-Biography:Giuseppe Di Stefano was born in Motta...
- Mario Maglione
- Roberto Murolo
Composers
- Pasquale Mario Costa
- Luigi Denza
Luigi Denza , was an Italian composer.Denza was born at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples. He studied music under Saverio Mercadante and Paolo Serrao at the Naples Conservatory. Later, he moved to London and became a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in 1898. Denza wrote an...
- Eduardo di Capua
Eduardo di Capua was an Italian singer and songwriter.He was born in Naples, Italy in 1865. Together with the poet Giovanni Capurro, di Capua wrote the song "'O Sole Mio", which has since been recorded by many singers, both classical and popular.Eduardo di Capua died in 1917 in Milan,...
- Ernesto De Curtis
Ernesto De Curtis was an Italian composer.Born in Naples, the son of Giuseppe De Curtis and Elisabetta Minnon, he was a great-grandson of composer Saverio Mercadante and the brother of poet Giambattista De Curtis, with whom he wrote the song "Torna a Surriento"...
- E. A. Mario
- Emanuele Nutile
Emanuele Nutile was an Italian writer and composer of Neapolitan songs, remembered especially for "Mamma mia, che vo' sapè", a standard in the Neapolitan repertory that has been recorded by virtually every tenor since Enrico Caruso....
- Raffaele Sacco
Raffaele Sacco was an Italian optician and lyricist.Born in Naples, he was the author of the words to one of the most known Neapolitan songs, "Te voglio bene assaje" , the song that won the first Festival of Neapolitan Sing in 1835....
- Francesco Paolo Tosti
Sir Paolo Tosti was an Italian, later British, composer and music teacher.-Life:Francesco Paolo Tosti received most of his music education in his native Ortona, Italy, as well as the conservatory in Naples. Tosti began his music education at the royal college of San Pietro a Maiella at the age of...