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Ever since antiquity, music transcription has been the intrinsic way of visual representation of sound, sometimes in detail and sometimes in the form of a guide. Throughout time, the visual capture of music has been the only way to store and preserve it over time, but also the exclusive means of reproducing it. In any case, visual transfer should be considered as an auxiliary tool, since oral dissemination and storage in the memory of artists have been the most timeless techniques for the diffusion of music through time and space. During Europe's so-called "classical" musical period, with its most powerful centers of production, such as today's Austria, Germany, France and Italy, and especially in its path towards Romanticism, music transcription, that is, the musical score, was considered by some composers as the very embodiment of their work.
Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, as the primary tool for the substantialization of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, were not disseminated, and did not function on the basis of their transcription. This offered to the music product sales centers an additional tool to expand their action network: non-scholar musics acquired a convenient way of circulating them, enhancing their popularity, even in places very far from those of their original creation. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction rearranged relationships and disrupted the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography was now a fact, for most of the 20th century.
As far as non-scholar music is concerned, commercial printed musical scores were publications of the musical texts of songs or instrumental pieces (for the publishing activity in Greece see Lerch-Kalavrytinos, 2003: 4-5). For the needs of musical scores, the songs were arranged mainly (but not only) for piano or for piano and voice, generally without complex performance requirements. Multi-instrumental or technically demanding orchestrations were systematically avoided. The lyrics were printed below the notes of the melodic development of the singing parts and, sometimes, their translations into other languages. For the most part, the musical scores were two or four pages long, and came with a themed front and back cover.
This four-page musical score includes the song "I Napolitana" from the revue "Panathinaia 1908" in text - lyrics by Bampis Anninos and Giorgos Tsokopoulos and music by Theofrastos Sakellaridis. The revue premiered on June 30, 1908 at the "Nea Skini" theater. In the performances, it was sung by Angela Gavriilidou, who "excellently imitates Salome and the Neapolitan of the Tarantella" (see Panathinaia magazine, vol. 187-188, July 15-31, 1908, p. 221). We should note that one more Neapolitan song, adapted by Theofrastos Sakellaridis, is included in the revue "Panathinaia 1908". This is "Nea gynaika" (arrangement of the song "Birbantella"), which was performed on stage by Marika Kotopouli.
The title of the song and the revue (Ek tou theatrikou ergou Ta Nea Panathinaia), "Tarantella", "Mousiki ek tou italikou" (Music form the Italian) and the publishing house are written on the monochrome cover. The monochrome back cover includes an advertisement of the publishing house for musical scores.
The musical text of the song consists of a musical score with a a three-staff system (two for piano and one for singing) accompanied by the lyrics in Neapolitan. The code "Γ. 1042 Φ." is written at the bottom of the pages of the music text.
The song is an adaptation of the Neapolitan song "Don Ciccillo!", set to music by Salvatore Gambardella (Naples, November 18, 1871 – Naples, December 29, 1913) and lyrics by Aniello Califano (Sorrento, January 19, 1870 – Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino, February, 20 1919).
The musical score is included in the edition "La tavola rotonda Piedigrotta : anno 11 n. 37-38" (see here on pages 12-13) published in Naples in 1901 by the F. Bideri & Co publication house. "Piedigrotta", which is written in the publication, refers to one of the most famous and oldest religious festivals that took place in Naples. During the festival, a music competition took place, which, in the 19th century, turned into a dynamic festival. This festival took the form of a commercial mechanism which played a key role in shaping and promoting Neapolitan song.
The song was recorded in Setptember 1902 in Milan by Raffaele de Rosa ("Don Ciccillo", Zonophone 10747 - 10747).
Ever since antiquity, music transcription has been the intrinsic way of visual representation of sound, sometimes in detail and sometimes in the form of a guide. Throughout time, the visual capture of music has been the only way to store and preserve it over time, but also the exclusive means of reproducing it. In any case, visual transfer should be considered as an auxiliary tool, since oral dissemination and storage in the memory of artists have been the most timeless techniques for the diffusion of music through time and space. During Europe's so-called "classical" musical period, with its most powerful centers of production, such as today's Austria, Germany, France and Italy, and especially in its path towards Romanticism, music transcription, that is, the musical score, was considered by some composers as the very embodiment of their work.
Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, as the primary tool for the substantialization of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, were not disseminated, and did not function on the basis of their transcription. This offered to the music product sales centers an additional tool to expand their action network: non-scholar musics acquired a convenient way of circulating them, enhancing their popularity, even in places very far from those of their original creation. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction rearranged relationships and disrupted the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography was now a fact, for most of the 20th century.
As far as non-scholar music is concerned, commercial printed musical scores were publications of the musical texts of songs or instrumental pieces (for the publishing activity in Greece see Lerch-Kalavrytinos, 2003: 4-5). For the needs of musical scores, the songs were arranged mainly (but not only) for piano or for piano and voice, generally without complex performance requirements. Multi-instrumental or technically demanding orchestrations were systematically avoided. The lyrics were printed below the notes of the melodic development of the singing parts and, sometimes, their translations into other languages. For the most part, the musical scores were two or four pages long, and came with a themed front and back cover.
This four-page musical score includes the song "I Napolitana" from the revue "Panathinaia 1908" in text - lyrics by Bampis Anninos and Giorgos Tsokopoulos and music by Theofrastos Sakellaridis. The revue premiered on June 30, 1908 at the "Nea Skini" theater. In the performances, it was sung by Angela Gavriilidou, who "excellently imitates Salome and the Neapolitan of the Tarantella" (see Panathinaia magazine, vol. 187-188, July 15-31, 1908, p. 221). We should note that one more Neapolitan song, adapted by Theofrastos Sakellaridis, is included in the revue "Panathinaia 1908". This is "Nea gynaika" (arrangement of the song "Birbantella"), which was performed on stage by Marika Kotopouli.
The title of the song and the revue (Ek tou theatrikou ergou Ta Nea Panathinaia), "Tarantella", "Mousiki ek tou italikou" (Music form the Italian) and the publishing house are written on the monochrome cover. The monochrome back cover includes an advertisement of the publishing house for musical scores.
The musical text of the song consists of a musical score with a a three-staff system (two for piano and one for singing) accompanied by the lyrics in Neapolitan. The code "Γ. 1042 Φ." is written at the bottom of the pages of the music text.
The song is an adaptation of the Neapolitan song "Don Ciccillo!", set to music by Salvatore Gambardella (Naples, November 18, 1871 – Naples, December 29, 1913) and lyrics by Aniello Califano (Sorrento, January 19, 1870 – Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino, February, 20 1919).
The musical score is included in the edition "La tavola rotonda Piedigrotta : anno 11 n. 37-38" (see here on pages 12-13) published in Naples in 1901 by the F. Bideri & Co publication house. "Piedigrotta", which is written in the publication, refers to one of the most famous and oldest religious festivals that took place in Naples. During the festival, a music competition took place, which, in the 19th century, turned into a dynamic festival. This festival took the form of a commercial mechanism which played a key role in shaping and promoting Neapolitan song.
The song was recorded in Setptember 1902 in Milan by Raffaele de Rosa ("Don Ciccillo", Zonophone 10747 - 10747).
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