Italy Music

Italy Music

The music of Italy is known all over the world. There is not a single country and not a single continent where they would hear nothing about it. Italy is considered the cradle of musical art, the country that gave the world the greatest genre - the opera. In this article we will share with you some interesting information from the history of the musical culture of this sunny state.

Is there a limit to perfection?

One of the main symbols of Italy is considered the Milan Opera Theater "La Scala". Why did he win such recognition and love of the whole world? Everything is far from simple - the theater is perfect in everything. A stunningly beautiful building, designed in a simple style, magnificent acoustics, a carefully thought-out arrangement of seats in a luxuriously decorated auditorium, always talented performing and acting staff, brilliant conductors and even more brilliant music ... And the most important thing is that the theater is built in perfect for such a room location. And all because during the excavation of the territory for its construction, the builders discovered a huge piece of marble, on which the most famous actor of ancient Rome was carved - Mim Pilad. Such a find was considered to be a real sign from above, confirming the correctness of the choice of place - well, how else, if he was personally pointed out by one of the greatest tragedians of antiquity?

Victims of beautiful singing

And this sunny country is considered the birthplace of bel canto - a virtuoso and elegant style of singing, which conquered the whole world, a style without which the baroque music of Italy is inconceivable. And really, how can you remain indifferent, if all the singers of this style are almost perfectly fluent? Unusually wide vocal range, affecting very high sounds, brilliant coloratura, difficult passages and simply unimaginable duration of breathing. All anything, but possessed this art, mainly men.

For learning the art of beautiful singing, gifted little boys were selected and sent to special educational institutions. There, for several years, young singers were taught vocal every day. If a child had outstanding singing abilities, he was subjected to castration so that after the so-called “breaking” of the voice, the quality of his singing did not change. From these children grew up singers with phenomenal voices. One of the most famous neuter singers is Carlo Throws (Farinelli).

But where did such a “fashion” go to conduct these terrible operations with children? From there, from where, as they say, did not wait. Neuter singers were trained, starting from the 3rd century, for singing at services in the church. Catholic singing was strictly forbidden for women to participate, and high voices were necessary. Belcanto art flourished in the second half of the 17th century.

When the surname obliges

One of the most common names among the creators of art of the end of the XV-XVI centuries - Allegri. Maybe no one would have paid attention to it if it were not for the direct affinity of this word with the musical term. Allegro in music is used to denote the tempo, the nature of a piece of music, and even its parts. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that among the creators of the declared epoch, several composers carried this name. But we turn to only one, the most famous.

Gregorio Allegri devoted most of his life to working in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where he devoted himself entirely to church music. His most famous work is called Miserere. The title of the essay is given by the first word of its text - “Miserere” in Latin means “Have mercy”. He is considered the benchmark of his time, the greatest masterpiece of Italian music. And, maybe, this creation with time would have been forgotten in musical history, if it were not for one thing. The Vatican strictly forbade copying it and carrying it out of the church, and in case of violation of the decree threatened with excommunication. So it was until one day this work was heard by V. A. Mozart. Arriving home, he recorded it from memory. So the work of Allegri saw the world, and the 14-year-old genius was never punished.

Of course, in Italian early music a lot of interesting things can be told about. This is the largest and most valuable layer of world culture that influenced the musical art of the whole world. She played a special role for our country. Italians not only introduced Russians to the genre of opera, but also taught Russian composers to compose it. But this is a completely different, but no less interesting story.