When approaching the history of Italian modern music, it is听important to remember that, for almost two centuries, the first and strongest musical tradition of the country听was opera.
Opera
Opera had romantic and adventurous plots and,听above all,听melodic and catchy arie, musical pieces sang and whistled all over the Italian peninsula. So it is no surprise that at the beginning of the 20th century Italian people, from the humble craftsman to the rich and noble, still听attended opera houses, bought听the first records of the great virtuoso singers, and played and sang opera arie听during family or social gatherings.
Giacomo Puccini, one of the best opera composers of all times, had his first听success听in 1893 with Manon Lescaut,听but found his real voice and inspiration in the first years of the following century. Tosca,听Madame Butterfly,听La Fanciulla del West,听and Turandot听were all written and performed in the 20th century and they bear unmistakable traces of a changing world, both in the plots and settings (more contemporary and realistic) and, above all,听in the melodies and arrangements.
Puccini’s music is extremely modern and clearly influenced by other musical genres such as folk music听and the new rhythms and harmonies coming from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Its听most distinctive听quality is that it is catchy, more so than many modern pop songs, as witnessed by the millions of people who still adore and listen to these operas today.听Stretching the notion a bit, we can say that Puccini is the father of modern Italian popular music, though we can find other sources of influence in the various regional folk musical traditions, especially the Neapolitan, and in musical styles imported from other countries such as the French Caf茅 Chantant听in the 1890s and then the arrival of American rhythm in the 1910s.
The Neapolitan Song
La听 canzone Napoletana, or Neapolitan song, is a distinct musical tradition that became an important part of Italian popular music in the 19th听century, influencing what can be seen as Italian pop music until the end of the 1960s. It kept representing听a sort of iconic image of Italian music abroad throughout the 20th听century. Neapolitan music听is not folk听music because it is听not the result of countless improvisations passed from generation to generation, but it is听indeed “popular” music in that it reflects the melancholy, fatalism, joy, and听myriad听emotions of the Neapolitan character.
Some fragments of such popular motifs听can be traced back several centuries, but what we nowadays refer to as canzone Napoletana dates back to the first musical Festival of Piedigrotta in 1835. It became a beloved musical contest and many musicians (even classical composers) were proud to take part in it.听Its听first winning song was “Te voglio bene assaje”听a tune still enormously popular all over the world. The Golden Age of Neapolitan music听had been between the 19th听and the 20th听centuries听and many of its听best-loved songs such as “‘O sole mio” (1898), “Torna a Surriento” (1904), and “Funicul矛听Funicul脿” (1880) found their way abroad thanks to the millions of emigrants forced to leave their homes in that very period.
Another important factor which contributed to the spread of the Canzone Napoletana in the US was the great Italian tenor听Enrico Caruso.
Caruso was from Naples听and,听while听in America, he recorded for RCA many of these songs, along with his normal opera repertoire. He even used them, very often,听as encores at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This genre brought together the most brilliant personalities of the period, such as poets Salvatore Di Giacomo and Libero Bovio, musicians Di Capua and Mario, and great singers like Elvira Donnarumma and Pasquariello.
Neapolitan song, as you may imagine, is all about love, but its strongest passion is generally committed to celebrating the city, the sun and the sea, or complaining about life’s greatest tragedy of being forced to live far from home. These tunes present the classic two sections structure, narrative verses/refrain, and they are normally characterized by simple harmonies, often contrasting relative or parallel major and minor keys. Simply, many of these songs can sound joyful one minute and melancholy the next.
Imported styles
At the beginning of the 20th century,听foreign musical styles began to have a strong influence on Italian popular music, until the Fascist regime closed the doors to any foreign cultural influence in the late 1930s. Young Italian people danced and sang to the American rhythms of the Shimmy and, later, the听Charleston. At the turn of the 20th century in the middle of the Belle 脡poque, Italian musicians were influenced by the French Caf茅 Chantant, a musical style born in Parisian caf茅s that was听generally lighthearted and听sometimes risqu茅. Too risqu茅 at times for Italy. The Italian version of Caf茅 Chantant was what is often known as “salon music”, a far more reassuring and less bold interpretation of the original. The major performer of this style was Fancesco Tosti, remembered for his light and expressive songs, such as “La Serenata” and “Addio”.
At the turn of the century popular music in Italy was taking its first steps and while it still showed clear signs of na茂vet茅听and provincialism, great upheavals were waiting ahead, namely the First World War and听the difficult period of political and social confusion which followed,听and from which Fascist regime originated. Popular music reflected this turmoil and arrived at a more mature stage abruptly, skipping several intermediate passages.
You can keep on traveling with us along the Italian popular music history and have a closer look听at this controversial period in Italian history by听checking our page on Italian music between the wars.
