The music of Italy ranges across a broad spectrum of opera and instrumental classical music, the traditional styles of the country's different regions, and a body of popular music drawn from both native and imported sources. Music has traditionally been one of the cultural markers of Italian national and ethnic identity and holds an important position in society and in politics. Italian innovation in musical scales, harmony, notation, and theater enabled the development of opera in the late 16th century, and much of modern European classical music, such as the symphony and concerto. // Art Music Art music is a somewhat broader term than classical music and may be defined for the purposes of this article as establishment music (either religious or secular) that is composed for pubic or private performance. ... Italian opera can be divided into three periods, the Baroque, the Romantic and the modern. ... // Italian pop stars have included Lucio Dalla, Renato Zero, Adriano Celentano, Gianni Morandi, Fabio Concato, Pupo, Mina, Eros Ramazzotti, Umberto Tozzi, Andrea Bocelli, Ornella Vanoni, Vasco Rossi, Luca Carboni, Francesco De Gregori, Fabrizio De André, Francesco Guccini, Giorgio Gaber, Gianni Togni, Laura Pausini, Claudio Baglioni, Angelo Branduardi, Michele Zarrillo, Riccardo... Italy is a European country, and has had a long relationship with rock and roll, a style of music which spread to the country by the early 1960s from the United States. ... There was a dynamic Italian hardcore punk scene in the 1980s . ... Italian hip hop started in the early 1990s. ... Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. ... Italian jazz. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The modern state of Italy did not come into being until 1861, though the roots of music on the Italian peninsula can be traced back to the music of Ancient Rome. ... Time line for Music of Italy Dates for musical periods such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc. ... Italian music awards There are a great number of music competitions that offer prizes for performance and composition in both classical and popular music. ... FIMI Federazione dellindustria musicale italiana (Federation of the Italian music industry) is an umbella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italian. ... Italian music festivals Below is a list of major music festivals in Italy with links to the appropriate external websites: Arena di Verona Outdoor opera during the summer months in the Roman amphitheater in Verona. ... The Festival della canzone italiana (in english: Festival of the Italian song) is a popular Italian song contest running since 1951 and held annually in the city of Sanremo. ... Live concert in IV Novembre Square The Umbria Jazz Festival is one of the most important venues for Jazz in Europe and has been held annually since 1973, usually in July, in the city of Perugia, Italy. ... The annual Festival of Ravello is a popular music venue in Italy. ... Cathedral of Santa Maria dellAssunta in Spoleto The Festival dei due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds) is an annual summer festival in the city of Spoleto, Italy. ... The Festivalbar is an Italian singing competition that takes place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Milan; the first time it was held was in 1964. ... Music media in Italy There is an abundance of print, on-line and broadcast media in Italy that cover all kinds of music. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogising the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognised either by a countrys government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ... Goffredo Mameli, author of the text of the Italian national anthem Michele Novaro, composer of the music Il Canto degli Italiani (The Song of the Italians) is the Italian national anthem. ... The development of music in the Aosta Valley region of Italy, similar to nearby Piedmont, has much to do with the presence of medieval monasteries that preserved important musical manuscripts from the Middle Ages and also served as conduits of information and influence from areas to the north. ... At first glance, the Music of Abruzzo seems less defined than other regional music in Italy. ... The music of Basilicata is sparse at the moment. ... The Music of Calabria Like other regions in southern Italy, Calabria for many centuries was an integral part of the kingdom of Naples, and, as with other regions, the musical life tended to be overshadowed by the important activities in the capital city to the north--the conservatories there, the... Music of Campania The capital city of the Campania region of Italy is Naples; there is a separate article dealing with the Music of Naples. ... The Music of Emilia-Romagna has the reputation of being one of the richest in Europe; there are six music conservatories alone in the region, and the sheer number of other musical venues and activities is astounding. ... While Florence, itself, needs no introduction as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, the music of Florence may, in fact, need such an introduction. ... The musical fortunes of Friuli-Venezia Giulia are closely tied to its political fortunes over the course of centuries, all having to do with proximity to the great maritime Republic of Venice as well as to the Austro-Hungarian empire and the vicissitudes of being a heavily contested area during... (For music outside of the city and province of Genoa in the Liguria region of Italy, see Music of Liguria. ... (Latium (Lazio) is a region in central Italy that includes the city and province of Rome. ... The Music of Liguria flourished in the 19th century for a number of reasons. ... This article is about the Music of Lombardy outside of the city and province of Milan. ... The music of the Marche has been shaped by the fact that the entire region is a collection of small centers of population. ... This article is about music in and of the city and province of Milan. ... While it is one of the smalles regions of Italy, the Music of Molise is active. ... Naples has played an important and vibrant role over the centuries not just in the music of Italy, but in the general history of western European musical traditions. ... The Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) has played an important role in the development of music, in general, in Italy, due to the presence of medieval monasteries in that area, institutions that were great preservers of mansucripts in the Middle Ages as well as being geographically well located to connect to... The Music of Puglia has had some glorious history as well as some very hard times. ... The Music of Rome is intensely active. ... Probably the most culturally distinct of all the regions in Italy, Sardinia is an islated island known for the tenores polyphonic chant, sacred songs called gozos and launeddas, a type of bagpipes. ... Sicily has an almost unparalleled history of cultural diversity. ... The Music of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol reflects the multilingual and multiethnic make-up of the region. ... (This article is about the Music of Tuscany outside of the city and province of Florence. ... If there were a way to measure music per capita the Music of Umbria would rank very high. ... The music of Veneto has much to offer. ... (This article is about music in and of the city of Venice. ... Below is a list of major Italian opera houses with appropriate external links to their websites: Bologna Teatro Comunale Catania Teatro Bellini Florence Teatro la Pergola Genova Teatro Carlo Felice Florence La Scala Naples Teatro San Carlo Parma Teatro Regio di Parma Palermo Teatro Massimo Rome Teatro dellOpera Torino... Below is an alphabetical list, by city, of those music conservatories in Italy that maintain webpages. ... There is also an article on Italian musical terms used in English. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... This article is about Western art music from 1000 AD to the 2000s . ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Politics of Italy takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ... In music, a scale is a set of musical notes that provides material for part or all of a musical work. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity, and therefore chords, actual or implied, in music. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... [[Media:Example. ...

Instrumental and vocal classical music is an iconic part of Italian identity, spanning experimental art music and international fusions to symphonic music and opera. Opera is integral to Italian musical culture, and has become a major segment of popular music. The Neapolitan song, canzone Napoletana, and the cantautori singer-songwriter traditions are also popular domestic styles that form an important part of the Italian music industry, alongside imported genres like jazz, rock and hip hop. Italian folk music is an important part of the country's musical heritage, and spans a diverse array of regional styles, instruments and dances. Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ... Canzone napoletana, or Neapolitan song, is what most people think of when they think of Neapolitan music. ... Cantautori (Italian plural. ... The term singer-songwriter refers to performers who both write and sing their own material. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Rock is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars, and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles, however saxophones have been omitted from newer subgenres of rock music since the 90s. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ...

Characteristics

Like other elements of Italian culture, Italian music is generally eclectic. No parochial protectionist movement has ever attempted to keep Italian music pure and free from foreign influence, except briefly under the Fascist regime of the 1920s and 30s.^[1] As a result, Italian music has kept elements of the many peoples that have dominated or influenced the country, including Germanic tribes, Arabs, Greeks, French and Spanish. The country's historical contributions to music are also an important part of national pride. The relatively recent history of Italy includes the development of an opera tradition that has spread throughout the world; prior to the development of Italian identity or a unified Italian state, the Italian peninsula contributed to important innovations in music including the development of musical notation and Gregorian chant. The culture of Italy can be found in the Roman ruins remaining in much of the country, the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church, the spirit of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the architecture. ... Forms of German-language music include Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), Krautrock, Hamburger Schule, Volksmusik, German hip hop, Schlager and multiple varieties of folk music. ... Arabic music includes several genres and styles of music ranging from Arab classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

Immigrant populations from around the Mediterranean, especially Greece, the Balkans and North Africa, have established large communities in the southern peninsula over the last thousand years.^[2] As a result, folk music on Sicily and the southern Italian mainland display features typical of elsewhere in the Mediterranean. These include an excessive nasality in the voice and an extremely ornamental approach to pitch.^[3] Lomax's description of southern Italian singing is widely cited: "A voice as pinched and strangulated and high-pitched as any in Europe. The singing expression is one of true agony, the throat is distended and flushed with strain, the brow knotted with a painful expression. Many tunes are long and highly ornamented in Oriental style."^[4] Melody has typically been important in most Italian musical forms, even at the expense of lyrics and harmonic complexity. This is true in opera, popular music and even, to some extent, in modern text-centered styles such as Italian hip hop and the music of the cantautori singer-songwriters.^[5] In music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to the overall melodic (or harmonic) line, but serve to decorate or ornament that line. ... Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ... Lyrics are the words in songs. ... Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity, and therefore chords, actual or implied, in music. ... Italian hip hop started in the early 1990s. ... Cantautori (Italian plural. ...

Social identity

Italy was not unified politically until the 19th century. The drive towards unification led to efforts to create a sense of Italian identity, famously described by the Italian statesman Massimo d’Azeglio: “We have created Italy; now we have to create Italians.”^[6] Abroad, Italian culture and society are often stereotyped, associating all Italian music with certain styles. For example, some years ago the Mayor of Venice banned gondoliers from singing Neapolitan songs for the tourists, most of whom requested "‘O sole mio" and other songs typical only of Naples but widely regarded abroad as characteristic of all Italian music.^[7] Francesco Hayez: Massimo dAzeglio 1860 Massimo Taparelli, marquis dAzeglio (Turin, October 24, 1798 - January 15, 1866), was an Italian statesman, novelist and painter. ... Naples has played an important and vibrant role over the centuries not just in the music of Italy, but in the general history of western European musical traditions. ... O sole mio is a universally famous Italian romantic folk song. ...

Allegiance to music is integrally woven into the social identity of Italians but no single style has been considered a characteristic "national style". Most folk musics are localized, and unique to a small region or city.^[8][9] Italy's classical legacy, however, is an important point of the country's identity, particularly opera; traditional operatic pieces remain a popular part of music and an integral component of national identity. The musical output of Italy remains characterized by "great diversity and creative independence (with) a rich variety of types of expression".^[9]

With the growing industrialization that accelerated during the 20th century, Italian society gradually moved from an agricultural base to an urban and industrial center. This change weakened traditional culture in many parts of society; a similar process occurred in other European countries, but unlike them, Italy had no major initiative to preserve traditional musics. Immigration from North Africa, Asia, and other European countries led to further diversification of Italian music. Traditional music came to exist only in small pockets, especially as part of dedicated campaigns to retain local musical identities:^[8])

Politics

Music and politics have been intertwined for centuries in Italy. Just as many works of art in the Italian Renaissance were commissioned by royalty and the Roman Catholic Church, much music was likewise composed on the basis of such commissions—incidental court music, music for coronations, for the birth of a royal heir, royal marches, and other occasions. Composers who strayed ran certain risks. Among the best known of such cases was the Neapolitan composer Domenico Cimarosa, who composed the Republican hymn for the short-lived Neapolitan Republic of 1799. When the republic fell, he was tried for treason along with other revolutionaries. Cimarosa was not executed by the restored monarchy, but he was exiled.^[10] This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... Domenico Cimarosa (December 17, 1749-January 11, 1801), Italian opera composer, was born at Aversa, in the kingdom of Naples. ... The Parthenopaean Republic formed a brief interlude in the history of the Kingdom of Naples, the result of activities of France in the aftermath of Jacobinism to export revolution . Origins of the Republic On the outbreak of the French Revolution King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Queen Maria Carolina did...

Music also played a role in the unification of the peninsula. During this period, some leaders attempted to use music to forge a unifying cultural identity. One example is the chorus "Va Pensiero" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco. The opera is about ancient Babylon, but the chorus contains the phrase "O mia Patria", ostensibly about the struggle of the Israelites, but also a thinly veiled reference to the destiny of a not-yet-united Italy; the entire chorus became the unofficial anthem of the Risorgimento, the drive to unify Italy in the 19th century. Even Verdi's name was a synonym for Italian unity because "Verdi" could be read as an acronym for Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia, Victor Emanuel King of Italy, the Savoy monarch who eventually became Victor Emanuel II, the first king of united Italy. Thus, "Viva Verdi" was a rallying cry for patriots and often appeared in graffiti in Milan and other cities in what was then part of Austro-Hungarian territory. Verdi had problems with censorship before the unification of Italy. His opera Un ballo in maschera was originally entitled Gustavo III and was presented to the San Carlo opera in Naples, the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in the late 1850s. The Neapolitan censors objected to the realistic plot about the assassination of Gustav III, King of Sweden, in the 1790s. Even after the plot was changed, the Neapolitan censors still rejected it.^[11] “Verdi” redirects here. ... Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the biblical story and the play by Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu. ... Italian unification, also known as Risorgimento (resurrection), was a historical process by which the Kingdom of Sardinia (ruled by the Savoy dynasty with Turin as its capital) gradually conquered the Italian peninsula, including the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Duchy of Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy... Flag of Savoy This article is about the historical region of Savoy. ... King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy Victor Emmanuel II (Italian: Vittorio Emanuele II; March 14, 1820—January 9, 1878) was the King of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia from 1849–1861, and King of Italy from 1861 until his death in 1878. ... Type Anti-tank Nationality Joint France/Germany Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA, Bharat Dynamics (under license) Date of design 70s Production period since 1972 Service duration since 1972 Operators 41 countries Variants MILAN 1, MILAN 2, MILAN 2T, MILAN 3, MILAN... Austria-Hungary, also known as the Dual monarchy (or: the k. ... Un ballo in maschera, or A Masked Ball, is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. ... The San Carlo is a famous opera house in Naples, Italy. ... Location of the city of Naples (red dot) within Italy. ... The Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the new name that the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV of Naples gave to his domain (including Southern Italy and Sicily) after the end of the Napoleonic Era and the full restoration of his power in 1816. ... Gustav III, King of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends, etc. ... Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a representative democracy based on a parliamentary system. ...

Later, in the Fascist era of the 1920s and 30s, government censorship and interference with music occurred, though not on a systematic basis. Prominent examples include the notorious anti-modernist manifesto of 1932^[12] and Mussolini's banning of G.F. Malipiero's opera La favola del figlio cambiato after one performance in 1934.^[13] The music media often criticized music that was perceived as either politically radical or insufficiently Italian.^[9] General print media, such as the Enciclopedia Moderna Italiana, tended to treat traditionally favored composers such as Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni with the same brevity as composers and musicians that were not as favored—modernists such as Alfredo Casella and Ferruccio Busoni; that is, encyclopedia entries of the era were mere lists of career milestones such as compositions and teaching positions held. Even the conductor Arturo Toscanini, an avowed opponent of Fascism,^[14] gets the same neutral and distant treatment with no mention at all of his "anti-regime" stance.^[15] Perhaps the best-known episode of music colliding with politics involves Toscanini. He had been forced out of the musical directorship at La Scala in Milan in 1929 because he refused to begin every performance with the fascist song, Giovinezza. For this insult to the regime, he was attacked and beaten on the street outside the Bologne opera after a performance in 1931.^[16] During the Fascist era, political pressure stymied the development of classical music, although censorship was not as systematic as in Nazi Germany. A series of "racial Laws" was passed in 1938, thus denying to Jewish composers and musicians membership in professional and artistic associations.^[17] Although there was not a massive flight of Italian Jews from Italy during this period (compared to the situation in Germany)^[18] composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, an Italian Jew, was one of those who emigrated. Some non-Jewish foes of the regime also emigrated—Toscanini, for one.^[1][19] Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. ... Pietro Mascagni (Livorno December 7, 1863 – Rome August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the 20th century. ... Alfredo Casella (Turin, July 25, 1883, Rome, March 5, 1947) was an Italian composer. ... Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, music teacher and conductor. ... Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian musician. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, by night. ... Type Anti-tank Nationality Joint France/Germany Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA, Bharat Dynamics (under license) Date of design 70s Production period since 1972 Service duration since 1972 Operators 41 countries Variants MILAN 1, MILAN 2, MILAN 2T, MILAN 3, MILAN... Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (April 3, 1895 – March 16, 1968) was an Italian Jewish composer. ...

More recently, in the later part of the 20th century, especially in the 1970s and beyond, music became further enmeshed in Italian politics.^[19] A roots revival stimulated interest in folk traditions, led by writers, collectors and traditional performers.^[9] The political right in Italy viewed this roots revival with disdain, as a product of the "unprivileged classes".^[20] The revivalist scene thus became associated with the opposition, and became a vehicle for "protest against free-market capitalism".^[9] Similarly, the avant-garde classical music scene has, since the 1970s, been associated with and promoted by the Italian Communist Party, a change that can be traced back to the 1968 student revolts and protests.^[8] A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. ... The Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) or Italian Communist Party emerged as Partito Comunista dItalia or Communist Party of Italy from a secession by the Leninist comunisti puri tendency from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) during that bodys congress on 21 January 1921 at Livorno. ...

Classical music

Main article: Italian classical music

Italy has long been a center for European classical music, and by the beginning of the 20th century, Italian classical music had forged a distinct national sound that was decidedly Romantic and melodic. As typified by the operas of Verdi, it was music in which "...The vocal lines always dominate the tonal complex and are never overshadowed by the instrumental accompaniments..."^[21] Italian classical music had resisted the "German harmonic juggernaut"^[22]—that is, the dense harmonies of Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. Italian music also had little in common with the French reaction to that German music—the impressionism of Claude Debussy, for example, in which melodic development is largely abandoned for the creation of mood and atmosphere through the sounds of individual chords.^[23] // Art Music Art music is a somewhat broader term than classical music and may be defined for the purposes of this article as establishment music (either religious or secular) that is composed for pubic or private performance. ... Giacomo Puccini - Preludio Sinfonico. ... Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. ... The Fulda Symphonic Orchestra (German: Fuldaer Symphonisches Orchester) is an orchestra based in Fulda, Germany. ... Image File history File links Cambini_-_Quintet1-mov2. ... Giuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini (February 13?, 1746 - 1825?) Italian composer and violinist. ... Caruso-AveMaria. ... For the song Caruso by Lucio Dalla, see Caruso (song). ... La Donna E Mobile Rigoletto. ... “Verdi” redirects here. ... Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome) Rigoletto is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. ... Corelli-Trio Sonata 11-3. ... For other uses, see Baroque (disambiguation). ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or music dramas as they were later called). ... “Mahler” redirects here. ... This article is about the German composer of tone-poems and operas. ... Claude Debussy, photo by Félix Nadar, 1908. ...

European classical music changed greatly in the 20th century. New music abandoned much of the historical, nationally developed schools of harmony and melody in favor of experimental music, atonality, minimalism and electronic music, all of which employ features that have become common to European music in general and not Italy specifically.^[24] These changes have also made classical music less accessible to many people. Important composers of the period include Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, Luigi Dallapiccola, Carlo Jachino, Gian Carlo Menotti, Jacopo Napoli, and Goffredo Petrassi. For experimental rock music, see experimental rock. ... Atonality describes music not conforming to the system of tonal hierarchies, which characterizes the sound of classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. ... For other uses, see Minimalism (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... Luciano Berio (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian composer. ... Grave of Nono in the San Michele Cemetery, Venice. ... Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions. ... Carlo Jachino (1887-1971) Prominent Italian composer of the 20th century. ... Gian Carlo Menotti, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944 Gian Carlo Menotti (July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-born American composer and librettist who wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste. ... Jacopo Napoli (b. ... Goffredo Petrassi (July 16, 1904 – March 3, 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music. ...

Opera

Opera originated in Italy in the late 1500s during the time of the Florentine Camerata. Through the centuries that followed, opera traditions developed in Venice and Naples; the operas of Claudio Monteverdi, Alessandro Scarlatti, and, later, of Gioacchino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti flourished. Opera has remained the musical form most closely linked with Italian music and Italian identity. This was most obvious in the 19th century through the works of Giuseppe Verdi, an icon of Italian culture and pan-Italian unity. Italy retained a Romantic operatic musical tradition in the early 20th century, exemplified by composers of the so-called Giovane Scuola, whose music was anchored in the previous century, including Arrigo Boito, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Pietro Mascagni, and Francesco Cilea. The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Alessandro Scarlatti Alessandro Scarlatti (May 2, 1660 – October 24, 1725) was a Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. ... Portrait Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868)[1] was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (November 3, 1801 – September 23, 1835) was an Italian opera composer. ... Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was a famous Italian opera composer. ... The Giovane Scuola (Young School) were a group of Italian composers (mostly operatic) which included Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano, Cilea, and Perosi. ... Arrigo Boito (February 24, 1842 – June 10, 1918) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his opera libretti and his own opera, Mefistofele. ... Ruggiero Leoncavallo (March 8, 1857 - August 9, 1919) was an Italian opera composer. ... Pietro Mascagni (Livorno December 7, 1863 – Rome August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the 20th century. ... Francesco Cilea, (Palmi, near Reggio Calabria, July 26, 1866 - Varazze, near Savona, November 20, 1950) was an Italian opera composer, whose early success was not sustained, as taste in music changed. ...

After World War I, however, opera declined in comparison to the popular heights of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Causes included the general cultural shift away from Romanticism and the rise of the cinema, which became a major source of entertainment. A third cause is the fact that "internationalism" had brought contemporary Italian opera to a state where it was no longer "Italian".^[8] This was the opinion of at least one prominent Italian musicologist and critic, Fausto Terrefranca, who, in a 1912 pamphlet entitled Giaccomo Puccini and International Opera, accused Puccini of "commercialism" and of having deserted Italian traditions. Traditional Romantic opera remained popular; indeed, the dominant opera publisher in the early 20th century was Casa Ricordi, which focused almost exclusively on popular operas until the 30s, when the company allowed more unusual composers with less mainstream appeal. The rise of relatively new publishers such as Carisch and Suvini Zerboni also helped to fuel the diversification of Italian opera.^[8] Opera remains a major part of Italian culture; renewed interest in opera across the sectors of Italian society began in the 1980s. Respected composers from this era include the well-known Aldo Clementi, and younger peers such as Marco Tutino and Lorenzo Ferrero.^[8] “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Romantics redirects here. ... Fausto Terrefranca (1880-1955) Italian musicologist and critic. ... Casa Ricordi was a wordwide publisher of operas and classical music, founded by Giovanni Ricordi in Milan in 1808. ... Carish Italian music publishing house, founded in Milan in 1887 by the Swiss, G.A. Carish. ... Suvini Zerboni (ESZ) Italian music publishing house founded in 1907 in Milan, taking its name from the theater society of the same name. ... Aldo Clementi (born 1925 in Catania) is an Italian composer. ... Marco Tutino (b. ... Lorenzo Ferrero (b. ...

Sacred music

Italy, being one of Catholicism's seminal nations, has a long history of music for the Roman Catholic Church. Until approximately 1800, it was possible to hear Gregorian Chant and Renaissance polyphony, such as the music of Palestrina, Lasso, Anerio, and others. Approximately 1800 to approximately 1900 was a century during which a more popular, operatic, and entertaining type of church music was heard, to the exclusion of the aforementioned chant and polyphony. In the late 1800s, the Cecilian Movement was started by musicians who fought to restore this music. This movement gained impetus not in Italy but in Germany, particularly in Regensburg. The movement reached its apex around 1900 with the ascent of Don Lorenzo Perosi and his supporter (and future saint), Pope Pius X.^[25] The advent of Vatican II, however, nearly obliterated all Latin-language music from the Church, once again substituting it with a more popular style.^[26] Catholic Church redirects here. ... Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. ... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Palestrina (ancient Praeneste) was and is a very ancient city of Latium (modern Lazio) 23 miles (37 km) east of Rome, and was reached by the Via Praenestina (see below). ... Lariat redirects here. ... The brothers Anerio were two notable composers of Italy: Felice Anerio (1560-1614) Giovanni Francesco Anerio (c. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... The young Lorenzo Perosi (photo-postcard late 1890s). ... Regensburg (also Ratisbon, Latin Ratisbona) is a city (population 151. ... Don Perosi with his Sistine Choir (c. ... Pope St. ... The Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ...

Instrumental music

The dominance of opera in Italian music tends to overshadow the important area of instrumental music.^[27] Historically, such music includes the vast array of sacred instrumental music, instrumental concertos, and orchestral music in the works of Andrea Gabrielli, Giovanni Gabrielli, Tomaso Albinoni, Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, Luigi Boccherini, Luigi Cherubini and Domenico Scarlatti. (Even opera composers occasionally worked in other forms—Giuseppe Verdi's String Quartet in E minor, for example. Even Donizetti, whose name is identified with the beginnings of Italian lyric opera, wrote 18 string quartets.) In the early 20th century, instrumental music began growing in importance, a process that started around 1904 with Giuseppe Martucci's Second Symphony, a work that Malipiero called "the starting point of the renascence of non-operatic Italian music."^[28] Several early composers from this era used native folk traditions, such as Leone Sinigaglia. Andrea Gabrieli (c. ... Giovanni Gabrieli (1553–1556? – August 12, 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. ... Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (June 8, 1671, Venice, Italy – January 17, 1751, Venice) was an Italian baroque composer. ... Arcangelo Corelli (February 17, 1653 – January 8, 1713) was an influential Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music. ... “Vivaldi” redirects here. ... Luigi Boccherini Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini (February 19, 1743 – May 28, 1805) was a classical era composer and cellist from Italy, whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. ... Portrait of Luigi Cherubini. ... Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in Spain and Portugal. ... “Verdi” redirects here. ... Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was a famous Italian opera composer. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Giuseppe Martucci (January 6, 1856 Italy near Capua – June 1, 1909 Naples, Italy) was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. ... Leone Sinigaglia (born Turin, 14 August 1868; died Turin, 16 May 1944) was an Italian composer and mountaineer. ...

The early 20th century is also marked by the presence of a group of composers called the generazione dell'ottanta (generation of 1880), including Franco Alfano, Alfredo Casella, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Ildebrando Pizzetti, and Ottorino Respighi. These composers usually concentrated on writing instrumental works, rather than opera. Members of this generation were the dominant figures in Italian music after Puccini's death in 1924.^[8] New organizations arose to promote Italian music, such as the Venice Festival of Contemporary Music and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Guido Gatti's founding of the periodical il Piano and then La ressegna musicale also helped to promote a broader view of music than the political and social climate allowed. Most Italians, however, preferred more traditional pieces and established standards, and only a small audience sought new styles of experimental classical music.^[8] Franco Alfano (March 8, 1875 – October 27, 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist best known for completing Puccinis unfinished opera Turandot in 1926. ... Alfredo Casella (Turin, July 25, 1883, Rome, March 5, 1947) was an Italian composer. ... Gian Francesco Malipiero (March 18, 1882 - August 1, 1973) Italian composer, musicologist and music editor. ... Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880–1968) was an Italian composer of classical music. ... Elsa and Ottorino Respighi in the 1920s Ottorino Respighi (Bologna, July 9, 1879 - Rome, April 18, 1936) was an Italian composer, musicologist, pianist, violist and violinist. ... Venice Festival of Contemporary Music (Complete Italian name: Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea della Biennale di Venezia). ... Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is an annual opera festival which was founded in April 1933 by conductor Vittorio Gui with the aim of presenting contemporary and forgotten operas in visually dramatic productions. ... Guido M. Gatti. ...

Ballet

Italian contributions to ballet are less known and appreciated than in other areas of classical music. Italy, particularly Milan, was the European center of court choreography as early as the 1400s in the form of such things as ritual masked balls. Early choreographers and composers of ballet include Fabrizio Caroso and Cesare Negri. The style of ballet known as the "spectacles all’italiana" imported to France from Italy caught on, and the first ballet performed in France (1581), Ballet comique de la Royn, was composed by an Italian, Baltazarini di Belgioioso,^[29] better known by the French version of his name, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx. Early ballet was accompanied by considerable instrumentation, with the playing of horns, trombones, kettle drums, dulcimers, bagpipes, etc. Although the music has not survived, there is speculation that dancers, themselves, may have played instruments onstage.^[30] Then, in the wake of the French Revolution, Italy again became a center of ballet, largely through the efforts of Salvatore Viganò, a choreographer who worked with some of the most prominent composers of the day. He was made the balletmaster of La Scala in 1812.^[31] The best-known example of Italian ballet from the 19th century is probably Excelsior, with music by Romualdo Marenco and choreography by Luigi Manzotti. It was composed in 1881 and is a lavish tribute to the scientific and industrial progress of the 19th century. It is still performed and was staged as recently as 2002. Type Anti-tank Nationality Joint France/Germany Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA, Bharat Dynamics (under license) Date of design 70s Production period since 1972 Service duration since 1972 Operators 41 countries Variants MILAN 1, MILAN 2, MILAN 2T, MILAN 3, MILAN... Look up Choreography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Fabrizio Caroso (1535-after 1600). ... Cesare Negri (c. ... Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx (d. ... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Viganò, Salvatore (1769-1821) was an Italian choreographer, dancer and composer. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, by night. ... Romualdo Marenco (1841-1907). ... Luigi Manzotti (1835-1905) Renowned Italian choreographer, best remembered for his choreography of the ballet Excelsior (1881), music by Romualdo Marenco. ...

Currently, major Italian opera theaters maintain ballet companies. They exist to provide incidental and ceremonial dancing in many operas, such as Aida or La Traviata. These dance companies usually maintain a separate ballet season and perform the standard repertoire of classical ballet, little of which is Italian. The Italian equivalent of the Russian Bolshoi Ballet and similar companies that exist only to perform ballet, independent of a parent opera theater is La Scala Ballet, which is under the direction of Frèdèric Olivieri. Since 1979 there has existed in Italy a modern dance company, the Aterballetto, based in Reggio Emilia. The company performs worldwide under the leadership of choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti. AIDA is an acronym used in marketing that describes a common list of events that are very often undergone when a person is selling a product or service: A - Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer. ... La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. ... The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow houses the world renowned Bolshoi Ballet, which has been home to some of the worlds greatest ballet dancers, including Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova. ... Aterballetto is an Italian modern dance company founded in 1979 and based in the north eastern Italian city of Reggio Emilia. ... Mauro Bigonzetti (b. ...

Experimental music

Experimental music is a broad, loosely-defined field encompassing musics created by abandoning traditional classical concepts of melody and harmony, and by using the new technology of electronics to create hitherto impossible sounds. In Italy, one of the first to devote his attention to experimental music was Ferruccio Busoni, whose 1907 publication, Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, discussed the use of electrical and other new sounds in future music. He spoke of his dissatisfaction with the constraints of traditional music: Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, music teacher and conductor. ...

“We have divided the octave into twelve equidistant degrees…and have constructed our instruments in such as way that we can never get in above or below or between them…our ears are no longer capable of hearing anything else…yet Nature created an infinite gradation—infinite! Who still knows it nowadays?”^[32]

Similarly, Luigi Russolo, the Italian Futurist painter and composer, wrote of the possibilities of new music in his 1913 manifestoes The Art of Noises and Musica Futurista. He also invented and built instruments such as the intonarumori, mostly percussion, which were used in a precursor to the style known as musique concrète. One of the most influential events in early 20th century music was the return of Alfredo Casella from France in 1915; Casella founded the Società Italiana di Musica Moderna, which promoted several composers in disparate styles, ranging from experimental to traditional. After a dispute over the value of experimental music in 1923, Casella formed the Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche to promote modern experimental music.^[8] Luigi Russolo ca. ... Futurism was a 20th century art movement. ... Musique concrète (French; literally, concrete music), is a style of avant-garde music that relies on natural environmental sounds and other non-musical noises to create music. ... Alfredo Casella (Turin, July 25, 1883, Rome, March 5, 1947) was an Italian composer. ... The Società Italiana di Musica Moderna (Italian: Italian Society for Modern Music), an organization founded in 1917 by Alfredo Casella, Gian Francesco Malipiero, and Gabriele D’Annunzio. ... The Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche (Italian: Corporation for new music]] was founded in 1923 by Alfredo Casella as a successor organization to his early Società Italiana di Musica Moderna (1917). ...

In the 1950s, Luciano Berio experimented with instruments accompanied by electronic sounds on tape. In modern Italy, one important organization that fosters research in avantgarde and electronic music is CEMAT, the Federation of Italian Electroacoustic Music Centers. It was founded in 1996 in Rome and is a member of the CIME, the Confédération Internationale de Musique Electroacoustique. CEMAT promotes the activities of the “Sonora” project, launched jointly by the Department for Performing Arts, Ministry for Cultural Affairs and the Directorate for Cultural Relations, Ministry for Foreign Affairs with the object of promoting and diffusing Italian contemporary music abroad. Luciano Berio (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian composer. ... CEMAT (Italian acronym for Centri musicali attrezzati--lit. ...

Classical music in society

Italian classical music grew gradually more experimental and progressive into the mid-20th century, while popular tastes have tended to stick with well established composers and compositions of the past.^[8] The 2004-2005 program at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples is typical of modern Italy: of the eight operas represented, the most recent was Puccini. In symphonic music, of the 26 composers whose music was played, 21 of them were from the 19th century or earlier, composers who use the melodies and harmonies typical of the Romantic era. This focus is common to other European traditions, and is known as postmodernism, a school of thought that draws on earlier harmonic and melodic concepts that pre-date the conceptions of atonality and dissonance.^[33] This focus on popular historical composers has helped to maintain a continued presence of classical music across a broad spectrum of Italian society. When music is part of a public display or gathering, it is often chosen from a very eclectic repertoire that is as likely to include well-known classical music as popular music. The San Carlo is a famous opera house in Naples, Italy. ... Postmodern music is both a musical style and a musical condition. ... Atonality describes music not conforming to the system of tonal hierarchies, which characterizes the sound of classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. ... Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity. ...

A few recent works have become a part of the modern repertoire, including scores and theatrical works by composers such as Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, Franco Donatoni, and Sylvano Bussotti. These composers are not part of a distinct school or tradition, though they do share certain techniques and influences. By the 1970s, avant-garde classical music had become linked to the Italian Communist Party, while a revival of popular interest continued into the next decade, with foundations, festivals and organization created to promote modern music. Near the end of the 20th century, government sponsorship of musical institutions began to decline, and several RAI choirs and city orchestras were closed. Despite this, a number of composers gained international reputations in the early 21st century.^[8] Luciano Berio (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian composer. ... Grave of Nono in the San Michele Cemetery, Venice. ... Franco Donatoni (1927, Verona-17 August 2000) was an Italian composer of art music. ... Sylvano Bussotti (born 1931) is an Italian composer of contemporary music. ... The Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) or Italian Communist Party emerged as Partito Comunista dItalia or Communist Party of Italy from a secession by the Leninist comunisti puri tendency from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) during that bodys congress on 21 January 1921 at Livorno. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Folk music

Main article: Italian folk music

Italian folk music has a deep and complex history.^[34] Because national unification came late to the Italian peninsula, the traditional music of its many hundreds of cultures exhibit no homogeneous national character. Rather, each region and community possesses a unique musical tradition that reflects the history, language, and ethnic composition of that particular locale.^[35] These traditions reflect Italy's geographic position in southern Europe and in the center of the Mediterranean Sea; Arabic, African, Celtic, Persian, Roma, and Slavic influences, as well as rough geography and the historic dominance of small city states, have all combined to allow diverse musical styles to coexist in close proximity. Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. ... Image File history File links SonSoldatoFanteria. ... Image File history File links Napoliebelloestinco. ... Image File history File links LaTabaccheraMia. ... Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. ... Italian unification (called in Italian the Risorgimento, or Resurgence) was the political and social process that unified different states of the Italian peninsula into the single nation of Italy. ... Satellite view of the Peninsula in spring The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Italian: Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the greatest peninsulas of Europe, spanning 1,000 km from the Alps in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Mediterranean redirects here. ... Arabic music includes several genres and styles of music ranging from Arab classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music. ... Africa is a large and diverse continent, consisting of dozens of countries, hundreds of languages and thousands of races, tribes and ethnic groups. ... Celtic music is a term utilized by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic peoples of Northern Europe. ... Moosiqi Asil or Persian music is the traditional and indigenous music of Persia and Persian-speaking countries: musiqi, the science and art of music, and moosiqi, the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983). ... 19th century print of Roma musicians Typically nomadic, the Roma have long acted as wandering entertainers and tradesmen. ... The music of Southeastern Europe or the Balkans is a type of music distinct from others in Europe. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Italian folk styles are very diverse, and include monophonic, polyphonic, and responsorial song, choral, instrumental and vocal music, and other styles. Choral singing and polyphonic song forms are primarily found in northern Italy, while south of Naples, solo singing is more common, and groups usually use unison singing in two or three parts carried by a single performer. Northern ballad-singing is syllabic, with a strict tempo and intelligible lyrics, while southern styles use a rubato tempo, and a strained, tense vocal style.^[36] Folk musicians use the dialect of their own regional tradition; this rejection of the standard Italian language in folk song is nearly universal. There is little perception of a common Italian folk tradition, and the country's folk music never became a national symbol.^[37] In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... A responsory is a type of chant in Christian liturgies that involves one section singing a respond, answered by another section singing a verse, then the respond is sung again by the first section, followed by a different verse from the second, et al. ... This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... Italian ( , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people,[2] primarily in Italy. ...