L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers,  more September snips with an Italian Connection. Christopher Columbus set sail on his second voyage to America on September 25, 1493. Most of us little Italian American kids can recall learning that Columbus discovered American in 1492, sailing the ocean blue on ships provided by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Queen Isabella, it's said, sold her jewels and bought three ships for Columbus, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Beyond that, we school kids learned little more about either Queen Isabella or King Ferdinand. Belatedly, here is an update.  Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella de Castilla were fanatic about Catholicism and drove the Nasrid sultan from Alhambra, the legendary citadel of Granada. The last Moslem stronghold, Granada was conquered in 1492, the same year Columbus discov- ered America. Fedinand II of Aragon (1452- 1516) was known as the Catholic King of Castille, the King of Sicily and Aragon and also the King of Naples. Isabella, (1451- 1504), Queen of Castille, was known as the Queen of Castilla, before her marriage to Ferdinand. Ferdinand and Isabella were cousins and teenagers when they got married in 1469 (respective ages: 17 and 18). This said, they had to borrow money to pay for their wedding, but they made lots of money after they sent Cristoforo Colombo around the world and the Spaniards began sailing back from the Americas with ships full of gold. Ferdinand and Isabella ruled until 1497. They were fanatic about Catholicism. They formed a spe- cial police force, "La Santa Hermandad" ("The Holy Brotherhood") to punish heretics. In 1478, supported by Pope Sixtus IV, they reintroduced the Inquisition which caused over 10,000 heretics to be burned at the stake and 170,000 Jews to be expelled from Spain.  Ferdinand died at 64 and Isabella at 53. Labor Day Humor: A sign in a shoe repair shop reads: "we will heel you, we will save your sole, we will even dye for you". At an optometrist's office: "If you don't see what you're look- ing for, you've come to the right place." On an electrician's truck: "let us remove your shorts." On a plumber's truck: "don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber." Outside a muffler shop: "no appointment necessary, we hear you coming." *** Brass Bands for the U.S. Marine Corps, instead of Fife and Drums, had many Italian connec- tions. In September of 1805, four- teen Italian musicians disem- barked from the United States frigate, Chesapeake, at the Washington Navy Yard. The musicians had been recruited in Sicily by order of President Thomas Jefferson. The Fife and Drum Band, then in existence, had been judged inadequate by the President, who was desirous of forming a brass band for the United States Marine Corps. Earlier, in a letter addressed to an Italian friend, Jefferson had writ- ten: "if there is a gratification, which I envy any people in this world, it is to your country its music." This desire on the part of a music-loving President marked the beginning of the immigration of Italian musicians to this coun- try, an influx which continuously added to the musical culture of the nation. This small beginning, has stemmed a long line of leaders of various service bands in the United States, with Sicilian Gaetano Caruso as the first of the Marine Band. Early leaders of the Marine Band were, in fact, Italians. Francesco M. Scala was leader of the Marine Band, the chief military band of the United States and the official band of all government functions. Scala had joined the band in Naples in 1840 when the cruiser Brandywine stopped there. Under his direc- tion, the band grew from twelve to twenty five members and gave concerts at the Capitol and on the White House grounds. The band also officiated at the inauguration of President Lincoln and later at his funeral. When the great bandmaster Sousa formed his band to tour the world, Francesco Fanciulli suc- ceeded him as leader of the Marine Band, a position he held from 1892 until 1897. When he organized his own concert band, it soon became the official band of the City of New York. *** Italians were very active con- ducing bands throughout the United States. Lorenzo Papanti conduced the band aboard the U.S. Constitution in 1823. Domenico Ballo, a graduate of the Milan Conservatory was bandmaster at West Point. Antonio Conterno, was Bandmaster of Commodore Perry's Fleet during its expedition to Japan in 1853. His son, Luciano, led the U.S. Navy Band from 1873 to 1894 and, for the following fourteen years, led the 23rd Brooklyn Regiment Band. Prospero Siderio was band- master on Admiral Dewey's ship, the Olympia, during the battle of Manila Bay. Achille LaGuardia, father of the former mayor of New York City, was bandmaster in 1880 of the 11th Regiment of the United States Infantry. Antonio Paganucci was band- master of the United States Navy Band in World War I. Early Colonial Bands, not con- nected with the services, also had Italian Connections. Vincenzo Pelosi, owner of a coffee house in Philadelphia, organized a small orchestra in 1786. The name "orchestra" was a misnomer but practically all groups of the peri- od were so named if they provid- ed music for dances following their concerts. *** California Bands also had Italian influences. A Louis Ferrari was band- master of the United States Artillery Band stationed in San Francisco. He also conducted the Golden Gate Park Band until his retirement in 1894. Carlo H. Casuzza organized his band of forty musicians in 1900. It was the first organized band in San Francisco. Out of one hundred contestants, the Casuzza band was chosen as the official band of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The Italian American bands reached their zenith in the early 1920s. The Immigration Act of 1921 and The Johnson Act of 1924, which drastically restricted immigration from Italy, con- tributed towards the decline. The influence of the bands, however, should not be minimized, because thousands of musicians and advanced students of music were pupils of these teachers and gained their initial musical expe- rience as members of the bands.

• Cover