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Funiculì Funiculà

from Ringtone Sonata by Wolfgang Tinder

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about

‘Funiculì, Funiculà’ was composed by Luigi Denza in 1880, to lyrics in Neapolitan dialect by Peppino Turco. The merry Neapolitan tune sings of a young man, who compares his sweetheart to a volcano and invites her to join him on a romantic walk up to the summit.

It was written to mark the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius – and within the year, the song had done the 19th-century equivalent of shooting to the top of the charts. By 1881, the sheet music had sold a million copies.

Since its premiere, the Neapolitan song has been performed by swathes of classical singers including Luciano Pavarotti , Andrea Bocelli and Mario Lanza.

Over the last 130 years, ‘Funiculì, Funiculà’ has been incorporated into a few famous classical works… not entirely legally. German composer Richard Strauss heard it while on a tour of Italy six years after it was composed. Assuming it was a traditional Neapolitan folk song, he used it in ‘Neapolitan Folk Life’, the fourth movement of his 1886 tone poem, Aus Italien. Denza filed a lawsuit against him and won, and Strauss had to pay a royalty fee. Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov made the same assumption and used it in his 1907 Neapolitanskaya pesenka (Neopolitan Song).

lyrics

Aissèra, Nanninè, me ne sagliette
Tu saie addò? Tu saie addò?
Addò 'stu core 'ngrato cchiù dispietto
Farme nun pò! Farme nun pò
Addò lo fuoco coce, ma si fuie
Te lassa sta! Te lassa sta
E nun te corre appriesso, nun te struie
Sulo a guardà, sulo a guardà
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà
Funiculì, funiculà!

Nè jamme da la terra a la montagna
No passo nc'è! No passo nc'è
Se vede Francia, Proceta e la Spagna
E io veco a tte! E io veco a tte
Tirato co li ffune, ditto 'nfatto
'Ncielo se va, 'ncielo se va
Se va comm' 'à lu viento a l'intrasatto
Guè, saglie sà! Guè, saglie sà
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà
Funiculì, funiculà!

Se n'è sagliuta, oje n'è, se n'è…

credits

from Ringtone Sonata, released September 15, 2023
source: www.classicfm.com

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Panama Papers Panama

From Panama to parts unknown. Based in Barreiro and overseas.

4 any question, demos, or hangouts contact:
emmissaocontacto@gmail.com

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