Videos on pieces played by some of the instruments from Italy:
Zufalo:
Chitarra battente:
Hope you enjoyed them. :D
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
♪ The Musical World In Italy ♪
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. 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 theatre enabled the development of opera in the late 16th century, and much of modern European classical music, such as the symphony and concerto. Instrumental and vocal classical music is an iconic part of Italian identity, spanning experimental art music and international fusions to symphonic music and opera. Italian music has kept elements of the many peoples that have dominated or influenced the country, including Arabs, Greeks, Slavic Peoples, French and Spanish. The country's historical contributions to music are also an important part of national pride. 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.As a result, folk music on Sicily and the southern Italian mainland display features typical of elsewhere in the Mediterranean.Many tunes are long and highly ornamented in Oriental style. 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.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. 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.
The music instruments that are found in Italy:
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. 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 theatre enabled the development of opera in the late 16th century, and much of modern European classical music, such as the symphony and concerto. Instrumental and vocal classical music is an iconic part of Italian identity, spanning experimental art music and international fusions to symphonic music and opera. Italian music has kept elements of the many peoples that have dominated or influenced the country, including Arabs, Greeks, Slavic Peoples, French and Spanish. The country's historical contributions to music are also an important part of national pride. 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.As a result, folk music on Sicily and the southern Italian mainland display features typical of elsewhere in the Mediterranean.Many tunes are long and highly ornamented in Oriental style. 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.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. 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.
The music instruments that are found in Italy:
Under wind instruments:
Ocarina
The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument.While several variations exist, an ocarina is typified by an oval-shaped enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouth tube projecting out from the body. It is often ceramic, but many other materials, such as plastic, wood, glass and metal may also be used.The ocarina is a very old family of instruments, believed to date back some 15,000 years.
How an ocarina works:
1. Air enters through the windway
2. Air strikes the labium, producing sound
3. Air vibrates throughout the inside of the ocarina
4. Covering and uncovering holes lowers and raises the pitch
1. Air enters through the windway
2. Air strikes the labium, producing sound
3. Air vibrates throughout the inside of the ocarina
4. Covering and uncovering holes lowers and raises the pitch
Zufolo
Zufolo is an French fipple flute. First described in the 14th century, it had a rear thumb-hole, two front finger-holes and a conical bar, with a range of over two octaves.
In Sicily, zuffolo refers to a larger flute with a wider mouthpiece and six finger-holes.
Under string instruments:
In Sicily, zuffolo refers to a larger flute with a wider mouthpiece and six finger-holes.
Under string instruments:
Guitars-Chitarra battente
The chitarra battente (Italian: lit. "beating guitar") is a musical instrument, a chordophone of the flute family. At a casual glance, it is similar to the everyday classical guitar, but larger and typically strung with four steel strings. Nowadays it is typical of folk music mainly in Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata, as well as in other areas of southern Italy; in previous centuries was common in most of central and southern Italy.There is great variation in the size of the bouts (the rounded “hourglass” curves of the body of the instrument), kinds of wood, shape of the back, decorations, number of frets, etc. The strings are tuned in what is called a “re-entrant” system; that is, unlike a modern classical guitar, the progression from the bottom string to the top string does not simply go up in pitch, progressively. Here, in the four-string instrument, the third string (from the bottom) is lower than the second. Thus, a typical tuning of the four-string chittara battente, bass to treble, is A-D-B-E, where the third string, the B, is lower than the second string, the D.
The instrument is played without a plectrum, and the fingers achieve a wide of effects through plucking, strumming, beating the strings or the sound board, etc. The chitarra battente is typically used to accompany songs and dancing and is not used as a solo instrument. The most important center of production is in Bisignan in the province of Cosenza.
The instrument is played without a plectrum, and the fingers achieve a wide of effects through plucking, strumming, beating the strings or the sound board, etc. The chitarra battente is typically used to accompany songs and dancing and is not used as a solo instrument. The most important center of production is in Bisignan in the province of Cosenza.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
¯ The musical world in Italy ¯
Italy is well known for their music which classifies under classic.
An example of music in Italy:
Background information:
Glenn Gould - Bach - Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974, after Alessandro Marcello - Adagio.
From:
Concerto for Solo Keyboard No. 3 in D Minor, BWV 974, after Alessandro Marcello - Oboe Concerto in D Minor.
Recording:
Eaton's Auditorium, Toronto, June 11, 1979
(Much of what is known about ALESSANDRO MARCELLO, comes not from his few compositions, but from his professional career and social activities as a member of Venice's nobility.
Both, he and his more famous brother, BENEDETTO, studied law and were members of the city-state's high council. Alessandro was educated at the Collegio di S. Antonio, then joined the Venetian Arcadian society, the Accademia degli Animosi in 1698, and served the city as a diplomat in the Levant and the Peloponnese in 1700 and 1701.
After returning to Venice, he took on a series of judiciary positions while dabbling in a number of creative endeavors.
He was responsible for paintings found in the family palaces and parish church and, after joining the literary society, the Accademia della Crusca, published eight books of couplets, Ozii giovanili, in 1719. That same year, he was named head of the Accademia degli Animosi, and as such, he did much to expand its collection of musical instruments, many of which are now in Rome's National Museum of Musical Instruments. Marcello's compositional output is small, consisting of not much more than a dozen each of chamber cantatas, violin sonatas, and concertos.
From:
Concerto for Solo Keyboard No. 3 in D Minor, BWV 974, after Alessandro Marcello - Oboe Concerto in D Minor.
Recording:
Eaton's Auditorium, Toronto, June 11, 1979
(Much of what is known about ALESSANDRO MARCELLO, comes not from his few compositions, but from his professional career and social activities as a member of Venice's nobility.
Both, he and his more famous brother, BENEDETTO, studied law and were members of the city-state's high council. Alessandro was educated at the Collegio di S. Antonio, then joined the Venetian Arcadian society, the Accademia degli Animosi in 1698, and served the city as a diplomat in the Levant and the Peloponnese in 1700 and 1701.
After returning to Venice, he took on a series of judiciary positions while dabbling in a number of creative endeavors.
He was responsible for paintings found in the family palaces and parish church and, after joining the literary society, the Accademia della Crusca, published eight books of couplets, Ozii giovanili, in 1719. That same year, he was named head of the Accademia degli Animosi, and as such, he did much to expand its collection of musical instruments, many of which are now in Rome's National Museum of Musical Instruments. Marcello's compositional output is small, consisting of not much more than a dozen each of chamber cantatas, violin sonatas, and concertos.
Most of his works were published under the pseudonym "Eterio Stinfalico," which is one of the reasons why it wasn't known until the mid-twentieth century that JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH's Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 974, was a transcription of Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor, and even so, both the Bach and the Oboe Concerto are still often attributed to Benedetto Marcello.
His cantatas dealt primarily with pastoral subjects and contained topical references, and, befitting his station in society, were clearly intended for Venice's and Rome's best singers, including Farinelli, Checchino, Laura and Virginia Predieri, and Benedetto's student, Faustina Bordoni. His instrumental works reflect a knowledge and understanding of the differences in French, Italian, and German music of the time, including choices of instruments for both the solo and continuo parts and use of ornamentation.
Of all of his works, what is best known is the Adagio from the Oboe Concerto, which has become a staple of wedding music collections. ~ Patsy Morita, All Music Guide)
His cantatas dealt primarily with pastoral subjects and contained topical references, and, befitting his station in society, were clearly intended for Venice's and Rome's best singers, including Farinelli, Checchino, Laura and Virginia Predieri, and Benedetto's student, Faustina Bordoni. His instrumental works reflect a knowledge and understanding of the differences in French, Italian, and German music of the time, including choices of instruments for both the solo and continuo parts and use of ornamentation.
Of all of his works, what is best known is the Adagio from the Oboe Concerto, which has become a staple of wedding music collections. ~ Patsy Morita, All Music Guide)
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