L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano I f you are a musician or an opera fanatic, y o u a r e b o u n d t o know some Italian, a s o u r b e a u t i f u l language is regarded as the language of music across the world. You only need to pick up any score to understand it: piano, pianissimo and forte, a l l e g r o , a n d a n t e a n d maestoso are only some of t h e i n d i c a t i o n s e v e r y musician and singer follows every day, while practicing and performing. Then, of course, there is opera, whose libretti, the "lyrics" of the musical score itself, have always been very much an a l l - I t a l i a n a f f a i r : f r o m Mozart to Handel, they all r e l i e d o n I t a l i a n w h e n i t came to their operas, even if Mozart did often opt for his own language, German, as well. Notable exception to the trend was Wagner, for w h o m t h e u s e o f h i s o w n native idiom was a signifier o f n a t i o n a l p r i d e a n d patriotism. B u t w h y d i d I t a l i a n b e c o m e t h e l a n g u a g e o f music? We need to take a step back in time to understand, m o r e p r e c i s e l y t o t h e glorious time of baroque, between the 17th and the 18th century. These were decades when Italian music dominated the scene thanks to figures such as Corelli, Scarlatti and Vivaldi: their t a l e n t m a d e t h e m a n example to composers across E u r o p e . T h e i r s c o r e s , i n c l u d i n g i n d i c a t i o n s f o r t e m p o a n d p e r f o r m a n c e , became standard because Italians, back then, were that influential: Italian music was w i d e l y f a m o u s a n d p e r f o r m e r s b e c a m e a c c u s t o m e d t o t h e terminology used on scores r e l a t i v e l y q u i c k l y . S o o n enough, composers from e v e r y c o r n e r o f t h e o l d continent would use Italian t o p r o v i d e e s s e n t i a l performing indications to musicians. But there is more, and it h a s a n a m e : o p e r a . T o understand how melodrama b e c a m e t h e d r i v i n g f o r c e behind the success of Italian in the world of music, we must take a journey all the w a y b a c k t o 1 5 9 8 , w h e n Italian composer Jacopo P e r i a n d l i b r e t t i s t O t t a v i a n o R i n u c c i n i ' s f i r s t w o r k , D a p h n e , w a s represented. Shortly after, in 1600, their second effort, Euridyce, graced the stage of Palazzo Pitti, in Florence. It was the first time that the worlds of music and theatre came together this closely, the first time that poetry and m e l o d y m e r g e d s o s e a m l e s s l y . H o w e v e r , i t would take another handful of years for the new trend to truly go viral, as we'd say t o d a y . I n 1 6 0 9 , C l a u d i o Monteverdi fathered the first truly successful opera, L ' O r f e o , b a s e d o n t h e popular classical legend of O r p h e u s a n d E u r y d i c e . W h i l e t h e i d e a o f r e c i t a r c a n t a n d o ( o r p l a y i n g a character while singing) has m e d i e v a l o r i g i n s , Monteverdi's work was the f i r s t t o b r i n g t o s t a g e a dramatic piece where actors were, in fact, singing. It was the beginning of a tradition that was to keep Italy at the forefront of the world's musical panorama for three centuries. Opera became popular in E u r o p e a n d , s o o n , n o n - I t a l i a n c o m p o s e r s b e g a n playing around with the new g e n r e . H o w e v e r , i t w a s always Italian librettists to provide words: they became, i n f a c t , s o e s s e n t i a l t h a t m a n y o f t h e m w o r k e d internationally, moving to o t h e r c o u n t r i e s . I n t h e baroque years of opera, the most famous of them all was Pietro Mestastasio, who s p e n t m o s t o f h i s l i f e i n Vienna and also collaborated w i t h M o z a r t f o r L a Clemenza di Tito. B u t n o t a l l c o u n t r i e s accepted Italian supremacy i n o p e r a e a s i l y , a s i t h a p p e n e d w i t h o u r f i r s t cousin and neighbor France, where a bona fide linguistic diatribe to understand which language -- French or Italian -- was better for music lasted for several decades. Nevertheless, Italian was to become the language of opera. and still is, really, if y o u t h i n k t h a t k n o w i n g Italian is, more often than n o t , a m u s t i n t h e educational curriculum of operatic singers. Among the most common Italian words in music we find piano, cello (short of violoncello) and viola among i n s t r u m e n t s , b u t a l s o a l l voices, soprano, baritono (baritone), contralto, tenore ( t e n o r ) a n d o t h e r , m o r e t e c h n i c a l t e r m s , s u c h a s aria, recitativo or libretto, a l o n g w i t h t h e a l r e a d y mentioned adagio, allegro, moderato, forte, pianissimo, andante and vivace. Y o u ' r e 1 5 y e a r s old, it's 7 in the m o r n i n g a n d time to wake up to go to school: y o u r m o t h e r o p e n s y o u r b e d r o o m d o o r s h o u t i n g "wake up!" If you were in Italy, you'd hear "sveglia!" (sveh-llee- ah), which of course means "wake up," as the example above shows. Sveglia comes f r o m s v e g l i a r e ( t o w a k e u p ) , a v e r b r o o t e d i n t h e Vulgar Latin exvigilare, and i t ' s o n e o f i t s i m p e r a t i v e forms. I t i s a v e r y c o m m o n exclamation, and not only w h e n w e t r y t o w a k e u p someone, because svegliare d o e s n ' t o n l y m e a n t h a t : s v e g l i a r e a l s o s t a n d s f o r awakening to the reality of t h i n g s , l i k e i n d e v i s v e g l i a r t i e a c c e t t a r e l a realtà ("You must open up y o u r e y e s a n d a c c e p t reality") or svegliati, non vedi che ti sta mentendo! ("Wake up! Can't you see he's lying to you!"). Sometimes, we also say sveglia when we want to tell someone to hurry up or stop daydreaming, just as in il t r e n o s t a p a r t e n d o ! Sveglia, sveglia! ("The train is leaving, come on, hurry u p ! ) a n d s v e g l i a , s t o parlando con te! ("Hello! I am talking to you!"). L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , w e s h o u l d n ' t f o r g e t e v e r y I t a l i a n b e d r o o m h a s a sveglia, that is, an alarm clock, on the bedside table, e v e n i f m o s t o f u s t o d a y prefer to use la sveglia del telefonino, the alarm clock on our cell phone. -- Il nostro treno parte presto: ho messo la sveglia alle 5.30 -- Our train leaves early: I s e t t h e a l a r m c l o c k f o r 5.30 - - S v e g l i a t i ! E ' o r a d i alzarsi e andare a scuola! -- Wake up! Time to get up and go to school! -- Te l'ho spiegato cento volte, svegliati! -- I've explained it to you a hundred times. Wake up! LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day: sveglia, it's time to wake up and be smart! Why is Italian the language of music? Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and famous librettist (Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons agreement. Author: Batoni. License: Public Domain © Pleprakaymas | Dreamstime.com

• Cover