Glossary of Italian music - Misplaced Pages

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Music of Italy

Timeline

General topics

Genres

Classical (Opera)
Pop
Rock (Hardcore · New Wave · Progressive rock)
Disco
House
Dance
Folk
Hip hop
Jazz

Specific forms

Gregorian chant

Media and performance

Music awards
Sanremo Music Festival (festival and awards) Festival di Napoli (festival and awards) Tenco Plates and Awards Lunezia Awards Music Awards Coca Cola Summer Festival (festival and awards) MTV Awards Festivalbar (festival and awards) Telegatti
Music charts
Federation of the Italian Music Industry (sales chart) EarOne (airplay chart)
Music festivals
Festivals Umbria Jazz Festival Ravello Festival Festival dei Due Mondi
Music media
Music media in Italy

Nationalistic and patriotic songs

National anthem
"Il Canto degli Italiani"
Other
"La Leggenda del Piave"

Regional music

Local forms
Abruzzo Aosta Valley Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Naples Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Lazio Rome Liguria Genoa Lombardy Milan Marche Molise Piedmont Sardinia Sicily Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Tuscany Florence Umbria Veneto Venice
Related areas
Croatia Austria France Switzerland

Not to be confused with Italian musical terms used in English. This is an article on the terminology used to describe the music of Italy.

Italian music terminology consists of words and phrases used in the discussion of the music of Italy. Some Italian music terms are derived from the common Italian language. Others come from Spanish, or Neapolitan, Sicilian, Sardinian or other regional languages of Italy. The terms listed here describe a genre, song form, dance, instrument, style, quality of music, technique or other important aspect of Italian music.

Dances

Instrumentation

arpicelli: The Viggiano harp
bena: A Sardinian clarinet
bifora, also pifara: a Sicilian double reed instrument of the oboe family, related to the shawm and to the piffero
bunkula: A cello.
cannacione: A historical, rural form of lute
cembalo: A hammered dulcimer
chitarra: A guitar, also a voice in trallalero ensembles that imitates the guitar
chitarra battente: A four- or five-steel stringed guitar, beating guitar
chiterra: A Sardinian guitar
ciaramella: A single-reed pipe, or oboe, also a bagpipe in Alta Sabina
citira: A violin
du' bottë: Abruzzese double bass diatonic accordion
firlinfeu: A panflute
fisarmonica: A chromatic piano accordion
friscalettu: A Sicilian folk flute
ghironda: A hurdy-gurdy most common in Emilia, Lombardy and Piedmont
launeddas: A Sardinian clarinet, played using circular breathing
lira: A three-stringed bowed fiddle, played on the knee, most common in Calabria
mandola: A string instrument similar to both the guitar and mandolin
mandolino: An Italian lute with eight or twelve strings
müsa: A bagpipe
organetto: A diatonic button accordion which accompanies the saltarello, and has largely replaced the bagpipe
piffaro, piffero: A double-reed shawm
piva: A kind of Lombard bagpipe
putipù: A friction drum
raganelle: A cog rattle
ribeba: An alternate term, rebab, for the scacciapensieri
scacciapensieri: A mouth harp found in the Alpine north and Sicily, care-chaser
simbalo: A tambourine
solitu: A Sardinian traditional shepherd's flute
surdulina: A bagpipe from Basilicata
tamburello: A small frame drum, used to accompany the tarantella, also a tambourine
tamburini: A tambourine
tammora: A large frame drum
tamura: A large frame drum
torototela: A bowed, one-string fiddle, most common in northeast Italy
triangulu: A Sardinian triangle
triccheballacche: A Neapolitan percussion instrument, built with mallets attached to a wooden frame, wooden clapper
tromba degli zingari: An alternate term, trumpet of the Gypsies, for the scacciapensieri
trunfa: A Sardinian jaw harp, or mouth harp, trump, similar to the scacciapensieri

tumborro: A Sardinian tambourine
zampogna: A southern Italian bagpipe, most commonly with two drones and two conical chanters
zampogna a paro: A single-reed and two- or three drone zampogna, found in Calabria and Sicily
zampogna zoppa: A mostly double-reed and variably droned zampogna, found in central Italy

Songs, formats and pieces

addio padre: A post-war political song
ajri: A form of Albanian-Calabrian multi-part song
asprese: A form of multi-part song from Lazio
banda comunale: A local, civic band
a bandieri bella: A form of Calabrian secular multi-part song
baride: Sicilian brass bands
basso: A kind of song in Dignano
bei: A kind of Tuscan polyphony, especially known near Monte Amiata, also bei-bei
bitinada: A singing style for three men, most common in Rovigno in Istria
boare: work songs
canti alla boara: A kind of lyric song associated with the cantaustorie
buiasche: A kind of polyphonic song from the village of Bogli
butunada: A song form peculiar to Rovigno
camminareccia: A piece of wedding music in the sonata per la sposa of Alta Sabina
canzone a ballo: A dance song
canzone Italiana: Italian song
canzone Napoletana: A kind of popular song from Naples, Neapolitan song
canzune: A Sicilian term for lyric songs
canti a catoccu: A kind of lyric song
canti carnascialeschi: Carnival songs
cepranese: A form of multi-part song from Lazio
cioparedda: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
concertini: Small, violin-based ensembles most common in Emilia, Bagolino and Resia
canto a coppia': A kind of central Italian two-part singing similar to canti a vatoccu
cozzupara: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
canto a dispetto: A Tuscan term, song of the despised, equivalent to canto a vatoccu
endecasillabo: A central Italian song form with phrases of eleven syllables
canti alla falciatora: Scything songs
fogli volanti: Printed popular songs called in English broadsides, most commonly used for Italian ballads
giustiniane: A kind of popular historic song, named after Leonardo Giustiniani
laude: Strophic songs, often in Latin
canti lirici: Italian lyric songs, or canto lirico-monostrifici
canti alla longa: A kind of lyric song
maggi a serenata: A maggio love song
maggio della anime purganti: A maggio song for the souls in Purgatory
maggio delle ragazze: A maggio song for young girls
maggio drammatico: A music and drama celebration held during maggio
maitinade: A kind of dance song, most common in Trento; it is composed of six-line stanzas of eleven syllables per line
mantignada: A song form peculiar to Sissano
metitora: A form of two-part song from Lazio
canti alla mietitora: Harvesting songs
mondine: A kind of rural, woman's folk song
canto alla monmarella: work songs
montasolina: A form of multi-part song from Lazio
ninna nanna: A folk lullaby
a oli oledda: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
orazioni: A kind of Sicilian narrative folk song
canti degli orbi: A kind of Sicilian narrative folk song, associated with blind musicians
orologio della passione: An alternate term, used in musical collections, for the canto della passione
ottava rima: An eight line song, most common in Central Italy, especially Lazio, Tuscany and Abruzzo
pajarella: A form of Lazio multi-part song
canto della passione: A central Italian begging song, performed before Easter, also known as orologio della passione (clock of the passion)
alla pennese: A kind of two-part singing from Lazio, similar to canti a vatoccu
canto a pennese: A work song
canti a pera: A kind of lyric song from Gallesano
piagnereccia: A piece of wedding music in the sonata per la sposa of Alta Sabina
poeti contadini: An alternate term, peasant poets, for ottava rima
polesane: A kind of dance song
canti de questua: Begging songs
recchia: A kind of central Italian two-part singing similar to canti a vatoccu
a recchione: A form of multi-part song from Lazio
a reuta: A form of Lazian multi-part song
rispetti: A kind of lyric song
a rosabella: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
serenata: A love song
sonata per la sposa: A musical ritual from Alta Sabina
sonetto: A lyrical form consisting of four lines of seven syllables
canti alla stesa: A kind of lyric song
stornelli: A kind of solo lyric song, from the Provençal estorn, to challenge
stornello: A Sicilian folk song
storia: A kind of southern, long song
strambotti: A kind of lyric song, from the Provençal estribar, to lash
stranotti: A kind of lyric song
strina: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
tenores: Sardinian polyphonic chant
testamenti: A kind of Carnival song
tiir: A kind of polyphonic song from Premana in Lombardy
trallalero: A kind of Genoese polyphony
canti a vatoccu: A kind of polyphonic lyric song, usually for two to three women, songs in the manner of a bell clapper, most common in Umbria, and the Apennines of Abruzza and the Marche
verolana: A form of multi-part song from Lazio
villanella: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
villotte: A kind of lyric song with verses of 8 or 11 syllables
a voca regolare: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
a voca diritta: A form of Calabrian multi-part song
vjersh: A form of Albanian multi-part song found in Calabria and Basilicata

Techniques

accordo: A multi-part singing technique, also canto ad accordo
basci: The bass voice in a trallalero ensemble
bassu: The bass voice of the Sardinian tenores
boghe: The lead vocalist of a Sardinian tenores ensemble
chitarra: A guitar, also a voice in trallalero ensembles that imitates the guitar
contra: The counter-vocalist of the Sardinian tenores
controbasso: The baritone vocalist of the trallalero tradition
contrubassu: Alternate term for controbasso, the baritone vocalist of the trallalero tradition
cuntrètu: A falsetto voice
mesa boghe: The middle voice of the Sardinian tenores
primmu: The tenor voice in a trallalero ensemble

Other terms

bandautore: A cantautore who composes music for a band
bello ideale: An aesthetic idea which embraced a predominant melody and other elements, beautiful ideal
boghe ballu: In Sardinian, harmony, or a danceable singing rhythm, literally we dance with our voice
cantastorie: Itinerant musicians, now most commonly found in Sicily
cantautori: Popular, modern singer-songwriters
carnevale: The Italian Carnival
carnevale de Bagolino: A very famous Carnival, in the town of Bagolino, Brescia
condanna della vecchiaccia: An Umbrian ceremony that heralds the return of spring, the condemnation of the crone
maggio: A May celebration
mamutones: Masked performers in processions in Mamoiada in Sardinia
scacciamarzo: A spring holiday
sega la vecchia: An old mid-Lent ceremony, the sawing of the witch
tarantate: Women who had been supposedly poisoned by the tarantula bite, and intended to cure themselves through the tarantella ritual
tratto marzo: A spring holiday
urlatori: A shouter, an expressive vocalist
la vecchia: A carnevale ritual from Pontelangiorno
veglie: A central Italian musical gathering

References

^ New Grove Encyclopedia of Music, pp 637–680
^ Keller, Marcello Sorce, Roberto Catalano and Giuseppina Colicci, "Italy" in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, pp 604–625
^ "Saltarello". StreetSwing's Dance History Archives. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Italian Treasury - Alan Lomax Collection". Musical Traditions Internet Magazine. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Il coro a tenores CULTURA POPOLARE di Neoneli". Isolasarda. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Workshops". Musicantica. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Furlana". StreetSwing's Dance History Archives. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Galliarde". Street Swing's Dance History Archives. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ Surian, Allessio, "Tenores and Tarantellas", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp 189–201
"International Dance Glossary". World Music Central. Archived from the original on July 11, 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "La Tarantella". StreetSwing's Dance History Archives. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
Mario Sarica, Strumenti Musicali Popolari in Sicilia, Assessorato alla cultura, Provincia di Messina 1994. Excerpted in Il Flauto in Sicilia (in Italian)
^ "A LAVAGNA CANTI E RIME DAL TRALLALERO AL SUD ITALIA". Prono Provincia Notizie (in Italian). Archived from the original on May 12, 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ Levy, "Italian Music" in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, pp 860–864
"Accordion History in Italy". Accordions.com. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ "Glossary of Folk Musical Instruments & Styles from Around the World". Hobgoblin Info Source. Retrieved April 20, 2006.
^ Antonello Ricci. "Multivocal music in Central and Southern Italy". Detailed Maps on the Spreading of Multipart Singing in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
"Sicilian Folklife". Italian Los Angeles. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
^ Monti, Giangilberto; Veronica Di Pietro. Dizionario dei cantautori. Retrieved July 15, 2006.

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