Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SONG 559
hynm- tunes, known as 'Laudi Spirituali.'
These, in the Middle Ages, were introduced in
the oratorios in order to popularise such performances
; and the connection between these
Laudi with popular dance-songs is obvious.
(See Laudi Spirituali.)
But although we iind within recent years
that the study of the folk-lore of Italy has
received serious attention, materials for a satisfactory
treatment of the canii popolari do not
exist. Much has been written about the words
of traditional songs, and innumerable collections
of popular poetry have been published,^ but no
attempt has been made towards a scientific and
systematic work on the melodies, tracing their
origin and development and various forms.
In the many volumes of the Archivio per lo
Stvdio delle tradizioni popolari, edited by
Giuseppe Ktre and S. Salomone-Marino, and in
G. Pitri's excellent work, Bibliografia delle
tradizioni popolari d'ltalia (Clausen, Turin,
1894), mention is made of the various collections
of canti popolari ; and in the former volumes
there are occasional short articles which refer
to the tunes, and give a few musical examples.
During the latter half of the last century
Kicordi and other publishers have issued large
quantities of modern canti popolari in volumes
entitled 'Canzonette Veneziane,' 'Stornelli Toscani,'
'Canti Lombardi,' 'Napolitani,' 'Siciliani,'
etc., purporting to be local songs belonging
to the several provinces of Italy. But whether
these songs can be accepted as the genuine
productions they profess to be, or whether they
are new compositions, or at any rate new
arrangements of old popular tunes, and whether
they are really sung by the peasants in the form
in which they are here given, is very doubtful. ^
There are exceptions, such as the ' Canti Lombardi,'
the melodies at least of which are
genuine ; also the ' Canti Siciliani,' edited by
Frontini, and the Canti Abruzzesi, ' ' collected
by P. Tosti and G. Finamore. The latter, in
an interesting article ' on the harvest-songs of
this district, draws attention to the solemn,
religious character of the melodies, in contrast
to the words, which are merry love-songs. This
peculiarity Finamore attributes to the great
antiquity of the melodies,* which have remained
unchanged for centuries, though the words have
1 See, for instance, G. Pltrfe's jSiudfidijwcfii'apopo^are (Palermo,
18721 : Rnbieri's Storia deOa poena popolarB italiana (Florence,
1877) : A. D" Ancona'8 La poetia popolm-e iealiana {Leghorn, 1878).
See also Carduccl's CoTttilime e Ballate, Strambntti e Madrigali nei
aec. XIII. e XIV. (Pisa, 1871) and an interesting but unfinished
;
work entitled C(ntz(mi antiche dal popolo italiano, riprodoUe
neemulo le vetxhie gta/mfie a Clt/ra di Mario ilefnghini, Rome.
2 Speaking of Tuscan songs. Miss Busk shows how in these days
of cheap printing and half-educated editing 'the liteiary songs
{I.e. art-songs) have got mixed up with the folk-songs.' As instances,
she quotes' Stella Confidente,"Non mi amara," Ritoma! chet'amo'
which were sungin London drawing-rooms as much aa on the waysides
and in the slums of Italy. Such songs also as Tosti's Vorrei
'
'
morire are constantly heard in the streets. The Foik-tongi of Italy,
p.^Slet aeq.
3 MeHodie popota/ri A&nazeri; ica-nti delta Mietitnra, 6. Finamore;
see ToL 13 of the Archivio per lo audio delle tradixioni
popolari, 1894.
* 'Ohaque acts de la vie de I'agricultore etalt accompagnd de
sacrifice, et on ex^utait lea travaux en r(!citant deshymnessacrds.'
De Coulanges, La Cit6 Antique, p. 184.
altered. The following Canti delta Mietitura
(harvest) are amongst the commonest ; the tonality
of both is curious, the first being pure
Lydian and the second of more or less Phrygian
character. '
Ex. 6.
Largo assai.
Given by G.. Fikamoee.
- tron - a m'a da - d& la flj je.
Aria della notfe.^
g^^"^JfS^gS^^
Some of the songs from the Abruzzi collected
by Tosti are of extreme beauty in form, melody,
and words. Many of the Sicilian and Neapolitan
songs begin with a long-drawn high
note ; they are sung very fast and strongly
accented.
The wealth of canti popolari is prodigious,
and although (as mentioned above) they vary
greatly in the different districts, their general
characteristics are the same. The harmonic
and formal structure is simple. The accompaniment,
which is usually intended for the guitar,
consistsmerely of the tonic and dominant chords,
and rarely modulates into anything except the
nearest related keys.'' Few modal canti popolari
are extant, although the flattened supertonic
which is characteristic of the Sicilian and
Keapolitan folk-songs recalls the Phrygian
mode. 8 The time is more frequently triple
than duple, and this especially applies to the
dance-songs. The largest proportion of folksongs
consists of eight-lined verses of eleven
syllables, and are vari'ously called strambotti,
rispetti,^ dispetti, siciliani, or ottavi. The threelined
verses are called rUornelli, stornelli, jiori
OT fiorette. But it should be added that the
terms canli, canzoni, canzonette, stornelli are
5 From the Vasto district, noted hy L. Anelli. It should be
accompanied by the cornemnse.
s From the Guardiagrelle district, noted by M. Brunl. Finamore
adds that they are sung in turn hy one voice at a time, accompanied
by the chitarra battente, a sort of colaacione. The verses are of
interminable length.
7 A weak and very modem colouring is imparted to the harmony
of the published folk-songs by an excessive use of the chord of the
seventh.
8 It has been remarked that the fiat supertonic may he found In
the canznnette from the comic operaa by Vinci and Leo ; and that
an air from A. Scarlatti's cantata Andate '
o miei sospiri,' marked
alia Siciliana, has the same characteristic, showing that Scarlatti
realised it aa eaaential to the native quality of the melody. (See
E. J. Dent's A. Searlaui, Hit Life a/7ut Works, 1905.)
9 Itisperti are always simg, and as eight lines is the normal
number, the popular mode of speaking either of inventing or singing
them is, dar I'ottava. R. Busk, The Folk-songs of Italy, p. 20.