The Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory ( Italian : Conservatorio Niccolò Piccinni ) was founded by the violinist and music critic Giovanni Capaldi in 1925, with headquarters in Villa Bucciero, Bari , Italy. It was the fourteenth music school to arise in Italy. First created as a music education high school ("Liceo Musicale"), in 1937 it was converted into a conservatory , and was named in honor of eighteenth-century Italian composer Niccolò Piccinni .
155-398: 41°06′57.44″N 16°51′26.42″E / 41.1159556°N 16.8573389°E / 41.1159556; 16.8573389 This Italian school-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about the music of Italy is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Music of Italy In Italy , music has traditionally been one of
310-525: A harp tradition, which has a historical base in Abruzzi , Lazio and Calabria . Calabria, alone, has 30 traditional musical instruments, some of which have strongly archaic characteristics and are largely extinct elsewhere in Italy. It is home to the four- or five-stringed guitar called the chitarra battente , and a three-stringed, bowed fiddle called the lira , which is also found in similar forms in
465-443: A horn section , a string orchestra , and a variety of " classical " solo instruments (for example, flute, piccolo, and so on). Disco songs were arranged and composed by experienced arrangers and orchestrators , and record producers added their creative touches to the overall sound using multitrack recording techniques and effects units . Recording complex arrangements with such a large number of instruments and sections required
620-443: A Dance Floor , Random Access Memories , Future Nostalgia , and Kylie Minogue 's album itself titled Disco . Modern day artists like Dua Lipa , Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic have continued the genre's popularity, bringing it to a whole new younger generation. The term "disco" is shorthand for the word discothèque , a French word for "library of phonograph records" derived from "bibliothèque". The word "discotheque" had
775-486: A beat (which in 4/4 time is 4 beats per measure). Disco is further characterized by a 16th note division of the quarter notes (as shown in the second drum pattern in the picture above, after a typical rock drum pattern). The orchestral sound usually known as "disco sound" relies heavily on string sections and horns playing linear phrases, in unison with the soaring, often reverberated vocals or playing instrumental fills, while electric pianos and chicken-scratch guitars create
930-552: A broad spectrum of opera and instrumental classical music and popular music drawn from both native and imported sources. Instruments associated with classical music, including the piano and violin, were invented in Italy. Italy's most famous composers include the Renaissance Palestrina , Monteverdi , and Gesualdo ; the Baroque Scarlatti , and Vivaldi ; the classical Paganini , and Rossini ; and
1085-410: 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 ..." Italian classical music had resisted
1240-418: A characteristic "national style". Most folk music is localized, and unique to a small region or city. 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)
1395-492: 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. 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
1550-573: 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,
1705-551: A diverse array of regional styles, instruments and dances. 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 Canzone Napoletana —the Neapolitan Song, and the cantautori singer-songwriter traditions are also popular domestic styles that form an important part of
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#17327807881231860-551: A group of accompanying musicians who were among the most dextrous, knowledgeable, and brilliant in all of popular music (Motown bassists have long been the envy of white rock bassists) and 7) a trebly style of mixing that relied heavily on electronic limiting and equalizing (boosting the high range frequencies) to give the overall product a distinctive sound, particularly effective for broadcast over AM radio." Motown had many hits with disco elements by acts like Eddie Kendricks (" Keep on Truckin' " in 1973, " Boogie Down " in 1974). At
2015-441: A key influence in the development of electronic dance music , house music , hip hop , new wave , dance-punk , and post-disco . The style has had several revivals since the 1990s , and the influence of disco remains strong across American and European pop music. A revival has been underway since the early 2010s , coming to great popularity in the early 2020s . Albums that have contributed to this revival include Confessions on
2170-465: A key part of the disco club experience. The Loft party host David Mancuso introduced the technologies of tweeter arrays (clusters of small loudspeakers, which emit high-end frequencies, positioned above the floor) and bass reinforcements (additional sets of subwoofers positioned at ground level) at the start of the 1970s to boost the treble and bass at opportune moments, and by the end of the decade sound engineers such as Richard Long had multiplied
2325-501: A local village. These civic bands ( banda communale ) used instruments to perform operatic arias, with trombones or fluegelhorns for male vocal parts and cornets for female parts. Regional music in the 19th century also became popular throughout Italy. Notable among these local traditions was the Canzone Napoletana —the Neapolitan Song. Although there are anonymous, documented songs from Naples from many centuries ago,
2480-508: A lyric song called a strambotto . Other couples dances are collectively referred to as saltarello . There are, however, also solo dances; most typical of these are the "flag dances" of various regions of Italy, in which the dancer passes a town flag or pennant around the neck, through the legs, behind the back, often tossing it high in the air and catching it. These dances can also be done in groups of solo dancers acting in unison or by coordinating flag passing between dancers. Northern Italy
2635-714: A major trend in popular music in the United States following the infamous Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and it continued to sharply decline in popularity in the U.S. during the early 1980s ; however, it remained popular in Italy and some European countries throughout the 1980s, and during this time also started becoming trendy in places elsewhere including India and the Middle East , where aspects of disco were blended with regional folk styles such as ghazals and belly dancing . Disco would eventually become
2790-406: A merengue, are commonplace. The quaver pattern is often supported by other instruments such as the rhythm guitar and may be implied rather than explicitly present. Songs often use syncopation , which is the accenting of unexpected beats. In general, the difference between disco, or any dance song, and a rock or pop song is that in dance music the bass drum hits four to the floor , at least once
2945-428: A non-phallic full body eroticism. Through a range of percussion instruments, a willingness to play with rhythm, and the endless repeating of phrases without cutting the listener off, disco achieved this full-body eroticism by restoring eroticism to the whole body for both sexes. This allowed for the potential expression of sexualities not defined by the cock/penis, and the erotic pleasure of bodies that are not defined by
3100-597: A number of composers gained international reputations in the early 21st century. Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. 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. These traditions reflect Italy's geographic position in southern Europe and in
3255-411: A product of the "unprivileged classes". The revivalist scene thus became associated with the opposition, and became a vehicle for "protest against free-market capitalism". 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. Italy has long been
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#17327807881233410-460: A prominent Moog synthesizer on the beat, was one of the first disco tracks to use the synthesizer. The rhythm is laid down by prominent, syncopated basslines (with heavy use of broken octaves , that is, octaves with the notes sounded one after the other) played on the bass guitar and by drummers using a drum kit , African/ Latin percussion , and electronic drums such as Simmons and Roland drum modules . In Philly dance and Salsoul disco,
3565-495: A relationship to a penis. The sexual liberation expressed through the rhythm of disco is further represented in the club spaces that disco grew within. In Peter Shapiro 's Modulations: A History of Electronic Music : Throbbing Words on Sound , he discusses eroticism through the technology disco utilizes to create its audacious sound. The music, Shapiro states, is adjunct to "the pleasure-is-politics ethos of post- Stonewall culture." He explains how "mechano-eroticism", which links
3720-768: A rich variety of types of expression". With the growing industrialization that accelerated during the 20th and 21st 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. Music and politics have been intertwined for centuries in Italy. Just as many works of art in
3875-416: A spinning or shepherd's staff with permanently attached seed rattles with ritual fertility significance. The Neapolitan rattle is the triccaballacca , made out of several mallets in a wooden frame. Tambourines ( tamburini , tamburello ), as are various kinds of drums, such as the friction drum putipù . The tamburello , while appearing very similar to the contemporary western tambourine,
4030-407: A state where it was no longer "Italian". 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
4185-399: A stronger effect. According to Peter Braunstein , the "massive quantities of drugs ingested in discothèques produced the next cultural phenomenon of the disco era: rampant promiscuity and public sex . While the dance floor was the central arena of seduction , actual sex usually took place in the nether regions of the disco: bathroom stalls, exit stairwells , and so on. In other cases
4340-480: A team that included a conductor , copyists , record producers, and mixing engineers . Mixing engineers had an important role in the disco production process because disco songs used as many as 64 tracks of vocals and instruments. Mixing engineers and record producers, under the direction of arrangers, compiled these tracks into a fluid composition of verses, bridges, and refrains, complete with builds and breaks . Mixing engineers and record producers helped to develop
4495-636: A variety of folk flutes. These include duct, globular and transverse flutes, as well as various variations of the pan flute . Double flutes are most common in Campania, Calabria and Sicily. A ceramic pitcher called the quartara is also used as a wind instrument, by blowing across an opening in the narrow bottle neck; it is found in eastern Sicily and Campania. Single- ( ciaramella ) and double-reed ( piffero ) pipes are commonly played in groups of two or three. Several folk bagpipes are well-known, including central Italy's zampogna ; dialect names for
4650-618: A venue were mostly a French invention, imported to the United States with the opening of Le Club , a members-only restaurant and nightclub located at 416 East 55th Street in Manhattan , by French expatriate Olivier Coquelin , on New Year's Eve 1960. Disco music as a genre started as a mixture of music from venues popular among African-Americans , Hispanic and Latino Americans , gay Americans , and Italian Americans in New York City (especially Brooklyn ) and Philadelphia during
4805-498: A young reporter, who happened to be covering the opening of the club, impulsively took control of the record player and introduced the records that he chose to play. Klaus Quirini later claimed to thus have been the world's first nightclub DJ. During the 1960s, discotheque dancing became a European trend that was enthusiastically picked up by the American press. At this time, when the discotheque culture from Europe became popular in
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4960-774: 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
5115-595: Is achieved by lightly pressing the guitar strings against the fretboard and then quickly releasing them just enough to get a slightly muted poker [sound] while constantly strumming very close to the bridge." Other backing keyboard instruments include the piano , electric organ (during early years), string synthesizers , and electromechanical keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes electric piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, and Hohner Clavinet . Donna Summer 's 1977 song " I Feel Love ", produced by Giorgio Moroder with
5270-401: Is actually played with a much more articulate and sophisticated technique (influenced by Middle Eastern playing), giving it a wide range of sounds. The mouth-harp , scacciapensieri or care-chaser , is a distinctive instrument, found only in northern Italy and Sicily. String instruments vary widely depending on locality, with no nationally prominent representative. Viggiano is home to
5425-464: Is also home to the monferrina , an accompanied dance that was incorporated in Western art music by the composer Muzio Clementi . Academic interest in the study of dance from the perspectives of sociology and anthropology has traditionally been neglected in Italy but is currently showing renewed life at the university and post-graduate level. The earliest Italian popular music was the opera of
5580-538: 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. New organizations arose to promote Italian music, such as
5735-520: Is also the homeland of important interpreters, such as Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli , Quartetto Italiano , I Musici , Salvatore Accardo , Maurizio Pollini , Uto Ughi , Aldo Ciccolini , Severino Gazzelloni , Arturo Toscanini , Mario Brunello , Ferruccio Busoni , Claudio Abbado , Ruggero Chiesa , Bruno Canino , Carlo Maria Giulini , Oscar Ghiglia and Riccardo Muti . Italian contributions to ballet are less known and appreciated than in other areas of classical music. Italy, particularly Milan ,
5890-480: Is always written and performed in Neapolitan , the regional minority language of Campania . Neapolitan songs typically use simple harmonies, and are structured in two sections, a refrain and narrative verses, often in contrasting relative or parallel major and minor keys. In non-musical terms, this means that many Neapolitan songs can sound joyful one minute and melancholy the next. The music of Francesco Tosti
6045-514: Is an integral part of folk traditions in Italy. Some of the dances are ancient and, to a certain extent, persist today. There are magico-ritual dances of propitiation as well as harvest dances, including the "sea-harvest" dances of fishing communities in Calabria and the wine harvest dances in Tuscany. Famous dances include the southern tarantella ; perhaps the most iconic of Italian dances,
6200-429: Is generally eclectic, but unique from other nations' music. 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
6355-479: 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 Gian Francesco Malipiero called "the starting point of the renaissance of non-operatic Italian music." Several early composers from this era, such as Leone Sinigaglia , used native folk traditions. The early 20th century
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6510-531: Is little perception of a common Italian folk tradition, and the country's folk music never became a national symbol. Folk music is sometimes divided into several spheres of geographic influence, a classification system of three regions, southern, central and northern, proposed by Alan Lomax in 1956 and often repeated. Additionally, Curt Sachs proposed the existence of two quite distinct kinds of folk music in Europe: continental and Mediterranean. Others have placed
6665-422: 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. Folk musicians use the dialect of their own regional tradition; this rejection of the standard Italian language in folk song is nearly universal. There
6820-454: Is played for dancing, typically equipped with a large dance floor, an elaborate system of flashing coloured lights, and a powerful amplified sound system. " Its earliest example is use as the name of a particular venue in 1952, and other examples date from 1960 onwards. The entry is annotated as "Now somewhat dated". It defines Disco as "A genre of strongly rhythmical pop music mainly intended for dancing in nightclubs and particularly popular in
6975-448: The organetto , an accordion most closely associated with the saltarello ; the diatonic button organetto is most common in central Italy, while chromatic accordions prevail in the north. Many municipalities are home to brass bands , which perform with roots revival groups; these ensembles are based around the clarinet , accordion, violin and small drums, adorned with bells. Italy's wind instruments include most prominently
7130-457: The tarantella is in 6/8 time, and is part of a folk ritual intended to cure the poison caused by tarantula bites. Popular Tuscan dances ritually act out the hunting of the hare, or display blades in weapon dances that simulate or recall the moves of combat, or use the weapons as stylized instruments of the dance itself. For example, in a few villages in northern Italy, swords are replaced by wooden half-hoops embroidered with green, similar to
7285-528: The maggio celebration. Professional female singers perform dirges similar in style to those elsewhere in Europe. Yodeling exists in northern Italy, though it is most commonly associated with the folk musics of other Alpine nations. The Italian Carnival is associated with several song types, especially the Carnival of Bagolino , Brescia . Choirs and brass bands are a part of the mid-Lenten holiday, while
7440-483: 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
7595-623: 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. 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
7750-531: The Step By Step disco dance TV show was launched with the sponsorship support of the Coca-Cola company. Produced in the same studio that Don Cornelius used for the nationally syndicated dance/music television show, Soul Train , Step by Step' s audience grew and the show became a success. The dynamic dance duo of Robin and Reggie led the show. The pair spent the week teaching disco dancing to dancers in
7905-583: The Venice Festival of Contemporary Music and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino . Guido M. Gatti 's founding of the periodical Il Pianoforte and then La rassegna 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. Italy
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#17327807881238060-529: The begging song tradition extends through many holidays throughout the year. Instrumentation is an integral part of all facets of Italian folk music. There are several instruments that retain older forms even while newer models have become widespread elsewhere in Europe. Many Italian instruments are tied to certain rituals or occasions, such as the zampogna bagpipe, typically heard only at Christmas. Italian folk instruments can be divided into string , wind and percussion categories. Common instruments include
8215-552: The hippies informed proto-disco music like MFSB 's album Love Is the Message . Partly through the success of Jimi Hendrix , psychedelic elements that were popular in rock music of the late 1960s found their way into soul and early funk music and formed the subgenre psychedelic soul . Examples can be found in the music of the Chambers Brothers , George Clinton with his Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Sly and
8370-591: The music of Crete and Southeastern Europe . A one-stringed, bowed fiddle called the torototela , is common in the northeast of the country. The largely German-speaking area of South Tyrol is known for the zither , and the ghironda ( hurdy-gurdy ) is found in Emilia , Piedmont and Lombardy . Existing, rooted and widespread traditions confirm the production of ephemeral and toy instruments made of bark, reed (arundo donax), leaves, fibers and stems, as it emerges, for example, from Fabio Lombardi 's research. Dance
8525-490: The recording studio . Larry Levan, for example, was a prolific record producer as well as a DJ. Because record sales were often dependent on dance floor play by DJs in the nightclubs, DJs were also influential in the development and popularization of certain types of disco music being produced for record labels. In the early years, dancers in discos danced in a "hang loose" or "freestyle" approach. At first, many dancers improvised their own dance styles and dance steps. Later in
8680-491: The "German harmonic juggernaut" —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. European classical music changed greatly in
8835-468: The "disco sound" by creating a distinctive-sounding, sophisticated disco mix . Early records were the "standard" three-minute version until Tom Moulton came up with a way to make songs longer so that he could take a crowd of dancers at a club to another level and keep them dancing longer. He found that it was impossible to make the 45-RPM vinyl singles of the time longer, as they could usually hold no more than five minutes of good-quality music. With
8990-546: The 1830s through an annual songwriting competition for the yearly Piedigrotta festival, dedicated to the Madonna of Piedigrotta , a well-known church in the Mergellina area of Naples. The music is identified with Naples, but is famous abroad, having been exported on the great waves of emigration from Naples and southern Italy roughly between 1880 and 1920. Language is an extremely important element of Neapolitan song, which
9145-491: The 1960s with musicians like Fabrizio De André , Paolo Conte , Giorgio Gaber , Umberto Bindi , Gino Paoli and Luigi Tenco . Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines , string sections , brass and horns , electric piano , synthesizers , and electric rhythm guitars . Discothèques as
9300-531: The 1960s, the Motown record label developed its own approach, described as having "1) simply structured songs with sophisticated melodies and chord changes, 2) a relentless four-beat drum pattern, 3) a gospel use of background voices, vaguely derived from the style of the Impressions , 4) a regular and sophisticated use of both horns and strings, 5) lead singers who were half way between pop and gospel music, 6)
9455-538: The 1980s, the first star to emerge from Italian hip hop was singer Jovanotti . Italian metal bands include Rhapsody of Fire , Lacuna Coil , Elvenking , Forgotten Tomb , and Fleshgod Apocalypse . Italy contributed to the development of disco and electronic music , with Italo disco, known for its futuristic sound and prominent use of synthesisers and drum machines, one of the earliest electronic dance genres. Producers such as Giorgio Moroder , who won three Academy Awards and four Golden Globes, were influential in
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#17327807881239610-528: The 1980s. Respected composers from this era include the well-known Aldo Clementi , and younger peers such as Marco Tutino and Lorenzo Ferrero . Italy, being one of Catholicism's seminal nations, has a long history of music for the Catholic Church . Until approximately 1800, it was possible to hear Gregorian Chant and Renaissance polyphony , such as the music of Palestrina , Lassus , Anerio , and others. Approximately 1800 to approximately 1900
9765-588: 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
9920-454: The 19th century. Opera has had a lasting effect on Italy's classical and popular music. Opera tunes spread through brass bands and itinerant ensembles. Canzone Napoletana , or Neapolitan song , is a distinct tradition that became a part of popular music in the 19th century, and was an iconic image of Italian music abroad by the end of the 20th century. Imported styles have also become an important part of Italian popular music, beginning with
10075-407: 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. These changes have also made classical music less accessible to many people. Important composers of
10230-650: The English form, with some British ballads existing in exact correspondence with an Italian song. Other Italian ballads are more closely based on French models. Lyric songs are a diverse category that consist of lullabies, serenades and work songs, and are frequently improvised though based on a traditional repertoire. Other Italian folk song traditions are less common than ballads and lyric songs. Strophic, religious laude , sometimes in Latin, are still occasionally performed, and epic songs are also known, especially those of
10385-522: 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 and Mussolini 's banning of G.F. Malipiero's opera La favola del figlio cambiato after one performance in 1934. The music media often criticized music that was perceived as either politically radical or insufficiently Italian. General print media, such as
10540-508: The French Café-chantant in the 1890s and then the arrival of American jazz in the 1910s. Until Italian Fascism became officially "allergic" to foreign influences in the late 1930s, American dance music and musicians were quite popular; jazz great Louis Armstrong toured Italy as late as 1935 to great acclaim. In the 1950s, American styles became more prominent, especially rock. The singer-songwriter cantautori tradition
10695-577: The Gang , and Village People . While performers garnered public attention, record producers working behind the scenes played an important role in developing the genre. By the late 1970s, most major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes, and DJs would mix dance records at clubs such as Studio 54 in Manhattan , a venue popular among celebrities . Nightclub-goers often wore expensive, extravagant outfits, consisting predominantly of loose, flowing pants or dresses for ease of movement while dancing. There
10850-515: The Guinness Book of World Records. He danced for 205 hours, the equivalent of 8½ days. Other dance marathons took place afterward and Roberts held the world record for disco dancing for a short period of time. Some notable professional dance troupes of the 1970s included Pan's People and Hot Gossip . For many dancers, a key source of inspiration for 1970s disco dancing was the film Saturday Night Fever (1977). Further influence came from
11005-516: 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
11160-529: The Italian Renaissance were commissioned by royalty and the 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
11315-545: The Italian music industry. Introduced in the early 1920s, jazz gained a strong foothold in Italy, and remained popular despite xenophobic policies of the Fascists. Italy was represented in the progressive rock and pop movements of the 1970s, with bands such as PFM , Banco del Mutuo Soccorso , Le Orme , Goblin , and Pooh . The same period saw diversification in the cinema of Italy , and Cinecittà films included complex scores by composers including Ennio Morricone . In
11470-464: The Occitanic troubadours are some of the oldest preserved samples of vernacular song, and modern bands like Gai Saber and Lou Dalfin preserve and contemporize Occitan music. The Occitanian culture retains characteristics of the ancient Celtic influence, through the use of six- or seven-hole flutes ( fifre ) or the bagpipes ( piva ). Much of northern Italy shares with areas of Europe further to
11625-458: 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. 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
11780-495: The Romantic Verdi and Puccini . Classical music has a strong hold in Italy, as evidenced by the fame of its opera houses such as La Scala, and performers such as the pianist Maurizio Pollini and tenor Luciano Pavarotti . Italy is known as the birthplace of opera. Italian opera is believed to have been founded in the 17th century. Italian folk music is an important part of the country's musical heritage, and spans
11935-467: The Stonewall riots. As New York state had laws against homosexual behavior in public, including dancing with a member of the same sex, the eroticism of disco served as resistance and an expression of sexual freedom. He uses Donna Summer's singles " Love to Love You Baby " (1975) and " I Feel Love " (1977) as examples of the ever-present relationship between the synthesized bass lines and backgrounds to
12090-446: The United States, several music genres with danceable rhythms rose to popularity and evolved into different sub-genres: rhythm and blues (originated in the 1940s), soul (late 1950s and 1960s), funk (mid-1960s) and go-go (mid-1960s and 1970s; more than "disco", the word "go-go" originally indicated a music club). Musical genres that were primarily performed by African-American musicians would influence much of early disco. Also during
12245-526: The ascent of Don Lorenzo Perosi and his supporter (and future saint), Pope Pius X . The advent of Vatican II , however, nearly obliterated all Latin-language music from the Church, once again substituting it with a more popular style. The dominance of opera in Italian music tends to overshadow the important area of instrumental music. Historically, such music includes the vast array of sacred instrumental music, instrumental concertos, and orchestral music in
12400-416: The background "pad" sound defining the harmony progression . Typically, all of the doubling of parts and use of additional instruments creates a rich " wall of sound ". There are, however, more minimalist flavors of disco with reduced, transparent instrumentation. Harmonically, disco music typically contains major and minor seven chords, which are found more often in jazz than pop music. The "disco sound"
12555-641: The bagpipe vary throughout Italy-- eghet in Bergamo , piva in Lombardy , müsa in Alessandria , Genoa , Pavia and Piacenza , and so forth. Numerous percussion instruments are a part of Italian folk music, including wood blocks, bells , castanets , drums. Several regions have their own distinct form of rattle , including the raganella cog rattle and the Calabrian conocchie ,
12710-667: The beginning of another song using the DJ mixer's crossfader. Notable U.S. disco DJs include Francis Grasso of The Sanctuary, David Mancuso of The Loft , Frankie Knuckles of the Chicago Warehouse , Larry Levan of the Paradise Garage , Nicky Siano of The Gallery , Walter Gibbons , Karen Mixon Cook , Jim Burgess , John "Jellybean" Benitez , Richie Kulala of Studio 54 , and Rick Salsalini. Some DJs were also record producers who created and produced disco songs in
12865-529: The best-known Italian pop musicians of the last few decades are Domenico Modugno , Mina , Mia Martini , Adriano Celentano , Claudio Baglioni , Ornella Vanoni , Patty Pravo and, more recently, Zucchero , Mango , Vasco Rossi , Gianna Nannini and international superstar Laura Pausini and Andrea Bocelli . Musicians who compose and sing their own songs are called cantautori (singer-songwriters). Their compositions typically focus on topics of social relevance and are often protest songs : this wave began in
13020-538: The capital area's gay and straight college students in the late '70s. By 1979 there were 15,000-20,000 disco nightclubs in the US, many of them opening in suburban shopping centers, hotels, and restaurants. The 2001 Club franchises were the most prolific chain of disco clubs in the country. Although many other attempts were made to franchise disco clubs, 2001 was the only one to successfully do so in this time frame. Powerful, bass-heavy, hi-fi sound systems were viewed as
13175-588: The centre of the Mediterranean; Celtic , Slavic , Greek , and Byzantine 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 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
13330-456: The centuries that followed, opera traditions developed in Naples and Venice; the operas of Claudio Monteverdi , Alessandro Scarlatti , Giambattista Pergolesi , 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
13485-574: The cha cha ". The pioneer of disco dance instruction was Karen Lustgarten in San Francisco in 1973. Her book The Complete Guide to Disco Dancing (Warner Books 1978) was the first to name, break down and codify popular disco dances as dance forms and distinguish between disco freestyle, partner, and line dances. The book topped the New York Times bestseller list for 13 weeks and was translated into Chinese, German, and French. In Chicago,
13640-557: The chest. Men often wore Pierre Cardin suits, three piece suits with a vest, and double-knit polyester shirt jackets with matching trousers known as the leisure suit . Men's leisure suits were typically form-fitted to some parts of the body, such as the waist and bottom while the lower part of the pants were flared in a bell bottom style, to permit freedom of movement. During the disco era, men engaged in elaborate grooming rituals and spent time choosing fashion clothing, activities that would have been considered "feminine" according to
13795-530: The chorus " Va, pensiero " from Giuseppe Verdi 's opera Nabucco . The opera is about ancient Babylon kingdom, but the chorus contains the phrase " O mia Patria ", ostensibly about the struggle of the Israelites confederation, 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
13950-484: The conductor Arturo Toscanini , an avowed opponent of Fascism, gets the same neutral and distant treatment with no mention at all of his "anti-regime" stance. 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
14105-411: The cultural markers of Italian national cultures and ethnic identity and holds an important position in society and in politics . Italian music innovation – in musical scale , harmony , notation , and theatre – enabled the development of opera and much of modern European classical music – such as the symphony and concerto – ranges across
14260-418: The dance and fashion aspects of the disco club scene, there was also a thriving club drug subculture , particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud, bass-heavy music and the flashing colored lights, such as cocaine (nicknamed "blow"), amyl nitrite (" poppers "), and the "... other quintessential 1970s club drug Quaalude , which suspended motor coordination and gave
14415-413: The dancers wanted, transitioning from one song to another with a DJ mixer and using a microphone to introduce songs and speak to the audiences. Other equipment was added to the basic DJ setup, providing unique sound manipulations, such as reverb , equalization, and echo effects unit . Using this equipment, a DJ could do effects such as cutting out all but the bassline of a song and then slowly mixing in
14570-487: The dancing, sex, and other embodied movements that contributed to the corporeal vibrations within the Sanctuary. It supports the argument that disco music took a role in facilitating this sexual liberation that was experienced in the discotheques. The recent legalization of abortion and the introduction of antibiotics and the pill facilitated a culture shift around sex from one of procreation to pleasure and enjoyment. Thus
14725-439: The development of musical notation and Gregorian chant . Italy has a strong sense of national identity through distinctive culture – a sense of an appreciation of beauty and emotionality, which is strongly evidenced in the music. Cultural, political and social issues are often also expressed through music in Italy. Allegiance to music is integrally woven into the social identity of Italians but no single style has been considered
14880-898: The development of electronic dance music. Italian pop is represented annually with the Sanremo Music Festival , which served as inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest . Gigliola Cinquetti , Toto Cutugno , and Måneskin won Eurovision, in 1964 , 1990 , and 2021 respectively. Singers such as Domenico Modugno , Mina , Andrea Bocelli , Raffaella Carrà , Il Volo , Al Bano , Toto Cutugno , Nek , Umberto Tozzi , Giorgia , Grammy winner Laura Pausini , Eros Ramazzotti , Tiziano Ferro , Måneskin, Mahmood , Ghali have received international acclaim. Italian music has been held up in high esteem in history and many pieces of Italian music are considered high art. More than other elements of Italian culture , music
15035-415: The disco became a kind of 'main course' in a hedonist's menu for a night out." At The Saint nightclub, a high percentage of the gay male dancers and patrons would have sex in the club; they typically had unprotected sex , because in 1980, HIV-AIDS had not yet been identified. At The Saint, "dancers would elope to an unpoliced upstairs balcony to engage in sex." The promiscuity and public sex at discos
15190-571: The disco clubs. The instructional show aired on Saturday mornings and had a strong following. Its viewers would stay up all night on Fridays so they could be on the set the next morning, ready to return to the disco on Saturday night knowing with the latest personalized steps. The producers of the show, John Reid and Greg Roselli, routinely made appearances at disco functions with Robin and Reggie to scout out new dancing talent and promote upcoming events such as "Disco Night at White Sox Park". In Sacramento, California, Disco King Paul Dale Roberts danced for
15345-686: The disco era, popular dance styles were developed, including the "Bump", "Penguin", "Boogaloo", "Watergate", and "Robot". By October 1975 the Hustle reigned. It was highly stylized, sophisticated, and overtly sexual. Variations included the Brooklyn Hustle, New York Hustle , and Latin Hustle . During the disco era, many nightclubs would commonly host disco dance competitions or offer free dance lessons. Some cities had disco dance instructors or dance schools, which taught people how to do popular disco dances such as "touch dancing", "the hustle", and "
15500-519: The effects of these innovations in venues such as the Garage." Typical lighting designs for disco dance floors include multi-colored lights that swirl around or flash to the beat, strobe lights , an illuminated dance floor , and a mirror ball . Disco-era disc jockeys (DJs) would often remix existing songs using reel-to-reel tape machines , and add in percussion breaks, new sections, and new sounds. DJs would select songs and grooves according to what
15655-454: The end of the 1960s, musicians, and audiences from the Black, Italian, and Latino communities adopted several traits from the hippie and psychedelia subcultures. They included using music venues with a loud, overwhelming sound, free-form dancing, trippy lighting, colorful costumes, and the use of hallucinogenic drugs. In addition, the perceived positivity, lack of irony, and earnestness of
15810-441: The entire body rather than the obvious erotic parts of the body. The New York nightclub The Sanctuary under resident DJ Francis Grasso is a prime example of this sexual liberty. In their history of the disc jockey and club culture, Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton describe the Sanctuary as "poured full of newly liberated gay men, then shaken (and stirred) by a weighty concoction of dance music and pharmacoia of pills and potions,
15965-585: The first discotheque and to have been the first club DJ in 1953 in the "Whisky à Go-Go" in Paris. She installed a dance floor with colored lights and two turntables so she could play records without having a gap in the music. In October 1959, the owner of the Scotch Club in Aachen, West Germany chose to install a record player for the opening night instead of hiring a live band. The patrons were unimpressed until
16120-662: The gender stereotypes of the era. Women dancers wore glitter makeup, sequins , or gold lamé clothing that would shimmer under the lights. Bold colors were popular for both genders. Platform shoes and boots for both genders and high heels for women were popular footwear. Necklaces and medallions were a common fashion accessory . Less commonly, some disco dancers wore outlandish costumes, dressed in drag , covered their bodies with gold or silver paint, or wore very skimpy outfits leaving them nearly nude; these uncommon get-ups were more likely to be seen at invitation-only New York City loft parties and disco clubs. In addition to
16275-568: The group and open-voice choral works of the north yield to a stronger Arabic, Greek, and North African-influenced strident monody of the south. In parts of Apulia ( Grecìa Salentina , for example) the Griko dialect is commonly used in song. The Apulian city of Taranto is a home of the tarantella , a rhythmic dance widely performed in southern Italy. Apulian music in general, and Salentine music in particular, has been well researched and documented by ethnomusicologists and by Aramirè . The music of
16430-414: The help of José Rodriguez, his remaster/mastering engineer, he pressed a single on a 10" disc instead of 7". They cut the next single on a 12" disc, the same format as a standard album. Moulton and Rodriguez discovered that these larger records could have much longer songs and remixes. 12" single records , also known as " Maxi singles ", quickly became the standard format for all DJs of the disco genre. By
16585-1017: The island of Sardinia is best known for the polyphonic chanting of the tenores . The sound of the tenores recalls the roots of Gregorian chant, and is similar to but distinctive from the Ligurian trallalero . Typical instruments include the launeddas , a Sardinian triplepipe used in a sophisticated and complex manner. Efisio Melis was a well-known master launeddas player of the 1930s. Italian folk songs include ballads , lyrical songs, lullabies and children's songs, seasonal songs based around holidays such as Christmas, life-cycle songs that celebrate weddings, baptisms and other important events, dance songs, cattle calls and occupational songs, tied to professions such as fishermen, shepherds and soldiers. Ballads ( canti epico-lirici ) and lyric songs ( canti lirico-monostrofici ) are two important categories. Ballads are most common in northern Italy, while lyric songs prevail further south. Ballads are closely tied to
16740-618: The late 1960s to the mid-to-late 1970s. Disco can be seen as a reaction by the 1960s counterculture to both the dominance of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music at the time. Several dance styles were developed during the period of 70s disco's popularity in the United States, including "the Bump ", "the Hustle ", "the Watergate", and "the Busstop". During the 1970s, disco music
16895-474: The late 1970s, Studio 54 in Midtown Manhattan was arguably the best-known nightclub in the world. This club played a major formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general. It was operated by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager and was notorious for the hedonism that went on within: the balconies were known for sexual encounters and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor
17050-893: The late 1970s, most major US cities had thriving disco club scenes. The largest scenes were most notably in New York City but also in Philadelphia , San Francisco , Miami , and Washington, D.C. The scene was centered on discotheques , nightclubs and private loft parties. In the 1970s, notable discos included " Crisco Disco ", "The Sanctuary", "Leviticus", " Studio 54 ", and " Paradise Garage " in New York, "Artemis" in Philadelphia, "Studio One" in Los Angeles, "Dugan's Bistro" in Chicago, and "The Library" in Atlanta. In
17205-434: The late 19th century, with international styles influencing Italian music by the late 1910s; however, the rise of autarchia , the Fascist policy of cultural isolationism in 1922 led to a retreat from international popular music. During this period, popular Italian musicians traveled abroad and learned elements of jazz , Latin American music and other styles. These musics influenced the Italian tradition, which spread around
17360-425: The man who "virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end". 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
17515-569: The mid to late 1970s.", with use from 1975 onwards, describing the origin of the word as a shortened form of discotheque . In the summer of 1964, a short sleeveless dress called the "discotheque dress" was briefly very popular in the United States. The earliest known use for the abbreviated form "disco" described this dress and has been found in The Salt Lake Tribune on July 12, 1964; Playboy magazine used it in September of
17670-799: The music and dance style of such films as Fame (1980), Disco Dancer (1982), Flashdance (1983), and The Last Days of Disco (1998). Interest in disco dancing also helped spawn dance competition TV shows such as Dance Fever (1979). Disco fashions were very trendy in the late 1970s. Discothèque-goers often wore glamorous, expensive, and extravagant fashions for nights out at their local disco club. Some women would wear sheer, flowing dresses, such as Halston dresses, or loose, flared pants. Other women wore tight, revealing, sexy clothes, such as backless halter tops , disco pants , "hot pants", or body-hugging spandex bodywear or "catsuits". Men would wear shiny polyester Qiana shirts with colorful patterns and pointy, extra wide collars, preferably open at
17825-406: 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: Similarly, Luigi Russolo ,
17980-503: The north an interest in ballad singing (called canto epico lirico in Italian) and choral singing. Even ballads—usually thought of as a vehicle for a solo voice—may be sung in choirs. In the province of Trento "folk choirs" are the most common form of music making. Noticeable musical differences in the southern type include increased use of interval part singing and a greater variety of folk instruments. The Celtic and Slavic influences on
18135-480: The object of promoting and diffusing Italian contemporary music abroad. 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. The 2004–2005 program at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples is typical of modern Italy: of the eight operas represented, the most recent
18290-474: The off-beat, and a heavy, syncopated bass line. A recording error in the 1975 song " Bad Luck " by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes where Earl Young 's hi-hat was too loud in the recording is said to have established loud hi-hats in disco. Other Latin rhythms such as the rhumba, the samba, and the cha-cha-cha are also found in disco recordings, and Latin polyrhythms , such as a rhumba beat layered over
18445-494: The period include Ottorino Respighi , Ferruccio Busoni , Alfredo Casella , Gian Francesco Malipiero , Franco Alfano , Bruno Maderna , Luciano Berio , Luigi Nono , Sylvano Bussotti , Salvatore Sciarrino , Luigi Dallapiccola , Carlo Jachino , Gian Carlo Menotti , Jacopo Napoli , and Goffredo Petrassi . Opera originated in Italy in the late 16th century during the time of the Florentine Camerata . Through
18600-536: The regime, he was attacked and beaten on the street outside the Bologne opera after a performance in 1931. 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. Although there
18755-529: The result is a festivaly of carnality." The Sanctuary was the "first totally uninhibited gay discotheque in America" and while sex was not allowed on the dancefloor, the dark corners, bathrooms. and hallways of the adjacent buildings were all utilized for orgy-like sexual engagements. By describing the music, drugs, and liberated mentality as a trifecta coming together to create the festival of carnality, Brewster and Broughton are inciting all three as stimuli for
18910-501: The same meaning in English in the 1950s. "Discothèque" became used in French for a type of nightclub in Paris, after they had resorted to playing records during the Nazi occupation in the early 1940s. Some clubs used it as their proper name. In 1960, it was also used to describe a Parisian nightclub in an English magazine. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Discotheque as "A dance hall, nightclub, or similar venue where recorded music
19065-625: The same year to describe Los Angeles nightclubs. Vince Aletti was one of the first to describe disco as a sound or a music genre. He wrote the 13 September 1973 feature article Discotheque Rock '72: Paaaaarty! that appeared in Rolling Stone magazine. The music typically layered soaring, often- reverberated vocals, often doubled by horns, over a background "pad" of electric pianos and "chicken-scratch" rhythm guitars played on an electric guitar . Lead guitar features less frequently in disco than in rock . "The "rooster scratch" sound
19220-401: The sensation that one's arms and legs had turned to ' Jell-O . ' " Quaaludes were so popular at disco clubs that the drug was nicknamed "disco biscuits". Paul Gootenberg states that "[t]he relationship of cocaine to 1970s disco culture cannot be stressed enough..." During the 1970s, the use of cocaine by well-to-do celebrities led to its "glamorization" and to the widely held view that it
19375-452: The simulated sounds of orgasms. Summer's voice echoes in the tracks, and likens them to the drug-fervent, sexually liberated fans of disco who sought to free themselves through disco's "aesthetic of machine sex." Shapiro sees this as an influence that creates sub-genres like hi-NRG and dub -disco, which allowed for eroticism and technology to be further explored through intense synth bass lines and alternative rhythmic techniques that tap into
19530-492: The so-called "garland dances" in northern Europe. There are also dances of love and courting, such as the duru-duru dance in Sardinia. Many of these dances are group activities, the group setting up in rows or circles; some—the love and courting dances—involve couples, either a single couple or more. The tammuriata (performed to the sound of the tambourine) is a couple dance performed in southern Italy and accompanied by
19685-468: The sound was enriched with solo lines and harmony parts played by a variety of orchestral instruments, such as violin , viola , cello , trumpet , saxophone , trombone , flugelhorn , French horn , English horn , oboe , flute , timpani and synth strings , string section or a full string orchestra . Most disco songs have a steady four-on-the-floor beat set by a bass drum, a quaver or semi-quaver hi-hat pattern with an open hissing hi-hat on
19840-653: 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 Theatre Ballet . In 1979, a modern dance company, Aterballetto , was founded in Reggio Emilia by Vittorio Biagi. Experimental music is a broad, loosely defined field encompassing musics created by abandoning traditional classical concepts of melody and harmony, and by using
19995-531: The technology used to create the unique mechanical sound of disco to eroticism, set the genre in a new dimension of reality living outside of naturalism and heterosexuality. Randy Jones and Mark Jacobsen echo this sentiment in BBC Radio's "The Politics of Dancing: How Disco Changed the World," describing the loose, hip-focused dance style as "a new kind of communion" that celebrates the sparks of liberation brought on
20150-595: The term, canzone Napoletana now generally refers to a large body of relatively recent, composed popular music—such songs as " 'O Sole Mio ", "Torna a Surriento", and " Funiculi Funicula ". In the 18th century, many composers, including Alessandro Scarlatti , Leonardo Vinci , and Giovanni Paisiello , contributed to the Neapolitan tradition by using the local language for the texts of some of their comic operas . Later, others—most famously Gaetano Donizetti —composed Neapolitan songs that garnered great renown in Italy and abroad. The Neapolitan song tradition became formalized in
20305-506: The transition zone from the former to the latter roughly in north-central Italy, approximately between Pesaro and La Spezia . The central, northern and southern parts of the peninsula each share certain musical characteristics, and are each distinct from the music of Sardinia . In the Piedmontese valleys and some Ligurian communities of northwestern Italy, the music preserves the strong influence of ancient Occitania . The lyrics of
20460-661: 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. Later, in
20615-483: 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 became balletmaster at La Scala in 1812. 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
20770-456: The works of Andrea Gabrieli , Giovanni Gabrieli , Girolamo Frescobaldi , Giuseppe Garibaldi , Tomaso Albinoni , Arcangelo Corelli , Antonio Vivaldi , Domenico Scarlatti , Luigi Boccherini , Muzio Clementi , Giuseppe Gariboldi , Luigi Cherubini , Giovanni Battista Viotti and Niccolò Paganini . (Even opera composers occasionally worked in other forms— Giuseppe Verdi 's String Quartet in E minor , for example. Even Donizetti , whose name
20925-471: 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 . Giacomo Puccini , who was a realist composer, has been described by Encyclopædia Britannica Online as
21080-432: The world and further diversified following liberalization after World War II. Under the isolationist policies of the fascist regime, which rose to power in 1922, Italy developed an insular musical culture. Foreign musics were suppressed while Mussolini's government encouraged nationalism and linguistic and ethnic purity. Popular performers, however, travelled abroad, and brought back new styles and techniques. American jazz
21235-420: Was Casa Ricordi , which focused almost exclusively on popular operas until the 1930s, 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. Opera remains a major part of Italian culture; renewed interest in opera across the sectors of Italian society began in
21390-542: 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 . This focus on popular historical composers has helped to maintain
21545-448: Was a "soft drug". LSD , marijuana , and "speed" (amphetamines) were also popular in disco clubs, and the use of these drugs "...contributed to the hedonistic quality of the dance floor experience." Since disco dances were typically held in liquor licensed - nightclubs and dance clubs , alcoholic drinks were also consumed by dancers; some users intentionally combined alcohol with the consumption of other drugs, such as Quaaludes, for
21700-487: Was a center of court ballet as early as the 15th century, which was influenced by the entertainments common in royal celebrations and aristocratic weddings. Early choreographers and composers of ballet include Fabritio 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 Reine ,
21855-585: 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 19th century, 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
22010-459: Was a major development of the later 1960s, while the Italian rock scene soon diversified into progressive , punk , funk and folk-based styles. Italian opera became immensely popular in the 19th century and was known across even the most rural sections of the country. Most villages had occasional opera productions, and the techniques used in opera influenced rural folk musics. Opera spread through itinerant ensembles and brass bands , focused in
22165-571: Was also a thriving drug subculture in the disco scene, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such as cocaine and quaaludes , the latter being so common in disco subculture that they were nicknamed "disco biscuits". Disco clubs were also associated with promiscuity as a reflection of the sexual revolution of this era in popular history. Films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Thank God It's Friday (1978) contributed to disco's mainstream popularity. Disco declined as
22320-453: Was an important influence on singers such as Alberto Rabagliati , who became known for a swinging style. Elements of harmony and melody from both jazz and blues were used in many popular songs, while rhythms often came from Latin dances like the tango , rumba and beguine . Italian composers incorporated elements from these styles, while Italian music, especially Neapolitan song, became a part of popular music across Latin America. Among
22475-408: Was choreographed by an Italian, Baltazarini di Belgioioso, 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 on stage. Then, in
22630-419: 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. 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
22785-526: Was decorated with an image of the " Man in the Moon " that included an animated cocaine spoon . The " Copacabana ", another New York nightclub dating to the 1940s, had a revival in the late 1970s when it embraced disco; it would become the setting of a Barry Manilow song of the same name . In Washington, D.C. , large disco clubs such as "The Pier" ("Pier 9") and "The Other Side", originally regarded exclusively as " gay bars ", became particularly popular among
22940-412: Was described as having a " pansexual attitude [that] was revolutionary in a country where up until recently it had been illegal for two men to dance together unless there was a woman present; where women were legally obliged to wear at least one recognizable item of female clothing in public; and where men visiting gay bars usually carried bail money with them." Disco was mostly developed from music that
23095-591: Was developed further, mainly by artists from the United States as well as from Europe . Well-known artists included the Bee Gees , ABBA , Donna Summer , Gloria Gaynor , Giorgio Moroder , Baccara , The Jacksons , Michael Jackson , Boney M , Earth Wind & Fire , Rick James , ELO , Average White Band , Chaka Khan , Chic , KC and the Sunshine Band , Thelma Houston , Sister Sledge , Sylvester , The Trammps , Barry White , Diana Ross , Kool &
23250-608: Was fostered a very sex-positive framework around discotheques. Further, in addition to gay sex being illegal in New York state, until 1973 the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as an illness. This law and classification coupled together can be understood to have heavily dissuaded the expression of queerness in public, as such the liberatory dynamics of discotheques can be seen as having provided space for self-realization for queer persons. David Mancuso's club/house party, The Loft ,
23405-404: Was much more costly to produce than many of the other popular music genres from the 1970s. Unlike the simpler, four-piece-band sound of funk , soul music of the late 1960s or the small jazz organ trios , disco music often included a large band, with several chordal instruments (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer), several drum or percussion instruments (drumkit, Latin percussion, electronic drums),
23560-653: Was not a massive flight of Italian Jews from Italy during this period (compared to the situation in Germany) 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. More recently, in the later part of the 20th century, especially in the 1970s and beyond, music became further enmeshed in Italian politics. A roots revival stimulated interest in folk traditions, led by writers, collectors and traditional performers. The political right in Italy viewed this roots revival with disdain, as
23715-473: Was part of a broader trend towards exploring a freer sexual expression in the 1970s, an era that is also associated with " swingers clubs , hot tubs , [and] key parties ." In his paper, "In Defense of Disco" (1979), Richard Dyer claims eroticism as one of the three main characteristics of disco. As opposed to rock music which has a very phallic centered eroticism focusing on the sexual pleasure of men over other persons, Dyer describes disco as featuring
23870-455: Was popular at the turn of the 20th century, and is remembered for his light, expressive songs. His style became very popular during the Belle Époque and is often known as salon music. His most famous works are Serenata , Addio and the popular Neapolitan song, Marechiaro , the lyrics of which are by the prominent Neapolitan dialect poet, Salvatore di Giacomo . Recorded popular music began in
24025-471: Was popular on the dance floor in clubs that started playing records instead of having a live band. The first discotheques mostly played swing music . Later on, uptempo rhythm and blues became popular in American clubs and northern soul and glam rock records in the UK. In the early 1940s, nightclubs in Paris resorted to playing jazz records during the Nazi occupation. Régine Zylberberg claimed to have started
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