HomeDo not missCultureThe Neapolitan song, the beating heart of the Italian musical tradition

The Neapolitan song, the beating heart of the Italian musical tradition

the Neapolitan song in Italian musical culture

La Naple's music Classical was born at the beginning of the eighteenth century going to develop until the end of the forties of the twentieth, creating timeless masterpieces and becoming an excellence of Italian music. This musical genre has been so important that some of the most important singers in the world have chosen to interpret them, managing to propagate this extraordinary music in a massive way.

Although there are some very important and committed texts, not all experts are unanimous in defining this kind of music because according to some it is popular music, with all due respect for this genre, while others tend to include it in the cultured one, also given his infinite oral tradition.

Neapolitan music has six hundred years of history

The origins of this musical genre must be indicated with the birth of the Parthenopean University, established in the thirteenth century by Frederick II of Swabia, going to unite the poetry with the choral invocations of housewives who are turned to the sun. We must keep in mind however that, with the Neapolitan villanella, there is a decisive step forward.

It was born as a popular, but able to conquer in a short time the educated class thanks to its refinement of content and the fact of being accompanied by a thick music. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the villanella gives way to the tarantella, but the evolution of music is due to the nineteenth century and the birth of shops and record companies, because it was thanks to the latter that today we talk about music Neapolitan.

Neapolitan music has produced some excellent songs but one of the most beautiful is: "'O surdato' nnamurato"

'O surdato' nnamurato is one of the most important songs of the music in the shadow of Vesuvius, because it has achieved a great success becoming also a film. This song was written by Aniello Califano and put into music by Enrico Cannio in the 1915. The date of birth of this song is special, precisely because it speaks of a soldier leaving for the First World War

Funiculì Funiculà was a song written in honor of the funicular

Funiculì Funiculà was written by the journalist Giuseppe Turco and set to music by Luigi Denza, creating a timeless masterpiece to advertise the first funicular to Vesuvius in 1880.

'O sole mio is the most famous Neapolitan song in the world

O 'sole mio is probably the most loved song ever, created in 1898 by Giovanni Capurro and set to music by Eduardo di Capua, so much so that some of the most important musicians in the world have sung it or made their own version such as the very famous It's Now or Never by Elvis Presley.

Tammurriata nera is a particularly important Neapolitan song

In the black tammurriata we go to talk about the children of war, or those born during the US occupation of Naples. The song was born by EA Mario in the 1945 when there was a confusion for the birth of a colored child by a Neapolitan. This song is particular because it goes to talk about an event that was not so rare in the end.

Core 'Ngrato is the first example of a Neapolitan song from the USA

Core 'Ngrato, written in 1911, is a very particular song because it was written by the Calabrian Alessandro Sisca, under the pseudonym of Riccardo Cordiferro, who emigrated to New York. The song was set to music by Salvatore Cardillo and once it arrived in Naples the success was exceptional. His text speaks of an unrequited love of a certain Catherine.