Matthew Jocelyn

Beat by Beat | Early Music
But When In
Naples ...
DAVID PODGORSKI
There’s an anecdote from a book I read once that’s been bothering
me for a while. In the memoir Kitchen Confidential,
the American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain describes the
following altercation he had with one of his Italian chefs at a restaurant
he owned:
“Gianni had taken one look at my chef de cuisine, shaken his head
and warned, ‘Watch out for dees guy. He’ll stobb you inna back,’
making a stabbing gesture as he said it.
“What? What’s his problem? He’s Sicilian?’ I asked jokingly,
knowing Gianni’s preference for all things Northern.
‘Worse,’ said Gianni. ‘He’s from Naples.’”
Bourdain never explained what the problem with being Neapolitan
was at any point in the rest of the book (maybe he never got around
to asking Gianni), and frankly, I’ve never tried to ask anyone whether
they were from Naples, Italy, or anywhere else. Was Bourdain’s chef
a racist? Are Neapolitans intrinsically untrustworthy? And (most
importantly) why would they be intrinsically untrustworthy to
other Italians?
Maybe the chef’s mistrust had to do with the fact that Naples had a
history that pitted it against the rest of the Italian kingdoms for most
of the last millennium: the Kingdom of Naples, comprising the city
of Naples and roughly the southern half of the Italian boot, was ruled
by the (French) King of Anjou from mid-13th to mid-14th century,
the (Spanish) Aragonese from then to the early 16th century, the
Spanish and Habsburg Empires for the next 200 years, and became a
Napoleonic possession from then until 1815. That wasn’t a lot of time
for Southern Italy to develop an independent, let alone pan-Italian
identity, so maybe other Italians (or at least that particular Italian)
are referencing the fact that, politically, Naples was in fact a French,
Spanish, or Austrian province more than it was ever an Italian one.
As a cultural centre, though, Naples in its prime was a fascinating
place. Ethnically Italian with a Spanish influence, its position
smack in the middle of the Meditarranean made it a natural port of
call between the rest of the European continent and the Middle East.
Naples is also largely responsible for giving us a major institution of
both culture and of classical music – the modern conservatory. The
Spanish regime in Naples was one of the first governments to found
conservatories, which it did in Naples – initially church-run institutions
to shelter and educate orphans, they later became the music
schools we know today. In 17th-century Naples, with the new form
of opera quickly becoming popular and a sudden high demand for
trained singers and musicians throughout Italy, conservatories found
themselves part of a feeder system for professional musicians and
singers, as they were both amply funded and made music education a
significant part of a child’s education.
Vesuvius:This month, The Toronto Consort pays tribute to the music
and culture of this Renaissance cosmopolis in their opening concert
of the season, “The Soul of Naples.” The Consort will be performing
this month at Jeanne Lamon Hall at Trinity-St-Paul’s Centre at 8pm
on November 13 and 14. I’ve been looking forward to this concert for
some time. The Consort is teaming up with the Vesuvius Ensemble,
which is the only folk group I’ve ever encountered that specializes
specifially in Renaissance Neapolitan folk music. The group has the
good fortune to be led by a top-rate tenor, Francesco Pellegrino, who
will be directing both Vesuvius and the Consort this time around.
And if you’re a guitar fan, this is definitely the concert for you – this
show features a menagerie of plucked-string instruments, including
baroque guitar, theorbo and lute, as well as the far more obscure
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