81 Italian Music Facts: Tradition, Composers, History And More

The history of Italian musical culture dates back to ancient Rome.

Most of the words in music are written in Italian as they can virtually convey anything the musician is required to know. The rules of music notations were written in Italian.

The most famous Italian music is vocal Italian classical music and instrumental music. The most special Italian songs are 'Storia d’Amoe', 'La Canzone del Sole', 'La Cura', 'Banane e Lampone', 'La Guerra di Piero', and others. Italy also has experimental music. The political division of the country also influences Italian music. Italian music is majorly melodic. Read on for some interesting facts about Italian music and renowned Italian musicians. Afterward, also check Indonesian music facts and Irish music facts.

Fun Facts About Italian Music

Some fun facts about Italian music are revealed in this section:

• Italian culture includes opera, instrumental music, and Italian folk music.
• Opera originated in Italy during the 16th century.
• In the early days, ballet included horns, trombones, kettle drums, dulcimers, and bagpipes.
• Italian fishermen, shepherds, and soldiers often have their own songs.
• Italian music includes folk songs, ballads, lyrical songs, lullabies, and other songs.
• Traditional musical instruments are accordion, flutes, bagpipes, quartara, and many others.
• Italian music is also inspired by German tribal music, Arabic music, Greek music, French music, and Spanish music.
• The center of European classical is considered to be Italy.
• During the 20th century, Italian music was majorly based on romantic and melodic music.
• Some of the famous Italian musicians are Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, Saverio Francenso Mercadante, Alfredo Catalani, Umberto Giordano, and many others.

Italian Music By Type

There are various music genres in Italy. Below are some of the types of Italian music:

• Italian Opera is known the world over and the opera tradition originated in Italy in 1600. Some of the popular opera composers are Handel, Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, and various others.
• Pop music is considered classical music in Italy. Some Italian singer-songwriters in the pop music industry include Domenico Modugno, Adrano Celentano, Mina, Mia Martini, Toto Cutugno, Celentano, and others.
• Italian rock originated in the early 60s in the United States. It includes hardcore rock, new wave rock, and progressive rock. Hardcore rock was popular during the 80s.
• Italo disco originated in Italy in the late 70s. It includes electronic drums, drum machines, synthesizers, and vocoders.
• Some Italo disco music includes Girls on Me, Robot Is Systematics, Spacer Woman, and others.
• Italo House is also known as Italian or Italian house. It originated in Italy in the 80s. It mainly uses the chords of the electronic piano.
• Some of Italo's house's most popular records include 'JJ Tribute', 'Think About', 'Last Rhythm', and 'Keep Warm'.
• Eurodance gained popularity in Italy in the 90s and 2000s. It was popularized with the release of 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)'. It is mostly played in nightclubs and dance radio stations.
• Some popular Eurodance Musicians in Italy are Eiffel 65, Prezioso, and Gabry Ponte.
• Italian folk music varies between different regions. It is a mixture of Celtic music, Slavic music, Arabic music, Greek music, Spanish music, and Byzantine music.
• Some Italian folk songs are 'Quel mazzolin di fiori', 'La madunnina', 'Dormi', 'La bergera', 'Romagna mia', The Carnival of Venice', 'Chitarra romana', 'O Mari', 'Vigna', 'Ciuri ciuri', and many others.
• Italian hip hop originated in the 80s. It spread through posse cuts in Italy.
• Some early hip-hop songs are 'AK-47', 'Got Damn', 'Do Beat', 'Let’s Get Dizzy', and others.
• There are various hip-hop artists in Italy including Emis Killa, Clementino, Fedez, Baby K, Rocco Hunt, Salmo, MadMan, and others.
• Italian jazz was believed to have originated during World War I in 1919.
• The musicians popular for jazz music are Gorni Kramer, Giorgio gaslini, Lelio Luttazzi, Franco Cerri, and others.
• There are various jazz pubs and jazz house bands in Italy.
• The Jazz Festival is organized in Italy every year.
• Italy also has a jazz journal known as Musica Jazz.

Facts About Italian Music Composers

Some facts about Italian music composers are mentioned down below:

• Gioachino Rossini was considered a superb composer of overtures from the start of his career.
• Verdi began the project 'The Messa per Rossini' a few days after Rossini’s death.
• Einaudi won the Grolla d’oro in 1996 for best soundtrack.
• The first solo album of Einaudi was released in 1996 and was known as 'Le Onde'.
• 'Le Onde' was inspired by a novel written by Virginia Wolfe known as 'The Waves'.
• Einaudi performed at the annual iTunes Festival that was held on 17 September 2013.
• Verdi and Wagner, two of the most popular Italian composers of the 19th century, resented each other and never met.
• Verdi's funeral was the largest public assembly event in the history of Italy.
• Claudio Monteverdi is among the very few composers from the 17th century whose music is still performed today.

Facts About Traditional Italian Music

Below are a few facts about traditional music:

Traditional Italian music is influenced according to the political division of the country.

In North Italy, traditional music is inspired by Celtic and Slavic music.

In southern Italy, traditional music is influenced by ancient Greek and Arabic music.

The classification of traditional Italian music was done in 1956 by Alan Lomax.

The traditional music of Sardinia Island is a polyphonic chanting of tenors that is different from the rest of Italy.

The Centro Nazionale di Studi di Musica was formed in 1948 to study various musical styles in Italy.

The Centro Nazionale di Studi di Musica is a part of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

The folk revival in Italy grew during the 60s.

Some of the most popular Italian folk revival bands are La Lionetta, Baraban, Callicanto, Re Niliu, Tre Martelli, and others.

Some popular Italian folk songs are 'Quel mazzolin di fiori', 'La Madunnina', 'Dormi', 'Bel Bambin', 'The Carnival of Venice', 'La Bergera', 'O Mari', 'Vigna', and others.

The History Of Italian Music

A snippet of history of Italian music is given below:

• Italian music has its roots in French, Spanish, Celtic, and German music.
• There was more diversity in Italian music when people immigrated from Asia, Africa, and Europe during the Industrial Age.
• The Italian opera originated in Italy during the 16th century.
• Some of the most famous operas are 'Rigoletto', 'II trovatore', 'Don Carlos', and 'Aida'.
• It became popular in the next few decades during which many composers came to light like Luigi Rossi, Marco Marazzoli, Stefano Landi, and others.
• Since then, opera has become one of the most popular parts of the Italian music industry.
• Italian folk music varies greatly between different regions of Italy. They are found in regional styles only.
• Zampogna bagpipes are used only during Christmas in Italy.

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