Marcello Sorce Keller

AMERICAN INFLUENCES
IN ITALIAN POPULAR MUSIC
BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
(1922-1945)


Orbis Musicae - Tel Aviv University n. 11 1993/94


The musical language of art-music, in its Neapolitan dialect, was until World War II the language of most Italian popular music. In fact, numerous serious nineteenth-century composers in Italy wrote songs that became nationally, and sometimes internationally, known. Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), the supposed author of «Io te voglio bene assaje», is a significant example of this tradition. [1] Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846-1916), a student of Mercadante, is perhaps the most popular case.

The most apparent features of the Italian-Neapolitan song style are:

1. Songs made of two sections: "verse" and "refrain" (in Italian, strofa and ritornello; the latter term is misleading to an Englishs-peaking reader, as it suggests an instrumental interlude). The two sections often contrast in mode, being set in each other's relative major or minor or, more typically, in the parallel key.

2. Simple and straightforward harmonies; occasional Neapolitan sixths or diminished seventh chords, which during the nineteenth century had become a dramatic effect in opera (even Verdi more than once expressed his dislike for their abuse).

3. Usually, a "progressive" verse, in the sense that it carries the narrative and alternates with the refrain, which, on the other hand, maintains throughout the same melody and text. (2]


Between World War I and World War II, however, some influence from American jazz began to be felt in popular song, even though jazz itself was then virtually unknown to the general public in Italy (unlike other European countries, France in particular). The integration of jazz elements coming from across the Atlantic within a pre-existing autochthonous musical style is an intriguing phenomenon: particularly so if we consider that Italy, from 1922 (when Mussolini took power) to 1945 (the end of World War II), was virtually closed to external influence, due to the cultural policy of the Fascist regime. Fascist policy favored, and even demanded, what was then called autarchia - protectionism, that is - in the realm of economy (in part as a consequence of the economic sanctions that the League of Nations decreed against Mussolini), and in that of cultural life as well. A regime whose ideology emphasized extreme nationalism eventually came to demand purity in language, music, and ultimately race.


We can gain some idea of how culturally isolated Italy was during those years, and how provincial, if we consider that between 1920 and 1925 when works like «I cavalieri di Ekebù» by Zandonai, «Belfagor» by Respighi and «Gli amanti sposi» by Wolf-Ferrari were produced in Italy, abroad at the same time innovative works such as «Les Noces» by Stravinsky, «Intégrales» by Varèse and «Wozzek» by Berg were premiered.

Music, whether "serious" or popular, nevertheless escaped censorship to some degree. Foreign words were purged from the Italian lexicon on the crest of nationalism ("chauffeur", for instance, became "autista" or "autiere"), but musical phrases that were equally foreign to the Italian tradition could not easily be stopped at the border. This phenomenon can be explained, at least in part, by the fact that popular musicians and arrangers in particular, by travelling and meeting colleagues from other European countries and the Americas, had gained some exposure to the new idioms. Such was the case of, among others, Pippo Bazizza (b. 1902). He even published an orchestration manual for popular orchestras containing various tricks of the trade and clichés he had picked up here and there, which were quite a novelty at the time. [3]

Songs from abroad were also occasionally reissued in 78-rpm records, even though the public at large did not buy very many: few families owned a gramophone. Musicians, on the other hand, had easier access to recordings, for obvious professional reasons. (The dimensions of the recording industry in those years are unfortunately not well known. Their investigation would allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of a channel that may have contributed to the dissemination of popular music from overseas. Its contribution may have been greater than is suspected.) The singer Alberto Rabagliati (1908-1974), for instance, spent four years in Hollywood, where he had been offered a contract to play in a film the role of Rudolph Valentino, whom he strongly resembled. Rabagliati failed in the motion-picture business but, coming back home, revealed a swinging quality in his singing that would become his trademark. He also worked in Paris with Ernesto Lecuona (1896-1972), and there he had further exposure to American and Latin-American music. Composers such as Gorni Kramer (b. 1913) and Lelio Luttazzi (b. 1920), to mention different cases, are known to have listened to the Voice of America, even when such listening was prohibited by the Fascist and, later, Nazi authorities. Through these broadcasts they kept abreast of new trends which, in turn, found their way into the tunes they wrote for variety shows. It is therefore through the theater that the tunes were mostly circulated.


At any rate, through whatever channel American music entered the Peninsula, there are three "imported" features which are most noticeable in Italian popular song of the time:

1. Melodic and harmonic segments borrowed from early jazz styles: two-bar phrases, riffs, blues, or blues-derived progressions inserted into a context where they do not seem to belong.

2. Occasional more complex harmonies such as major chords with an added sixth, [4] dominant seventh chords with an added ninth (both the added sixth and the added ninth are usually heard in the melodic part, where they stand out), and dominant seventh chords that do not resolve, as in the blues progression. [5]

3. The distinctive rhythms of Latin American ballroom dances such as tango, beguine and rumba.

Many songs in the Latin-American idiom were written by Italian composers, like, for instance, the extremely popular «Chitarra romana» (1936) by B. and E. di Lazzaro (1902-1970). The ways in which these heterogeneous elements combine is most interesting. By and large, Latin-American song style is compatible with the native Italian-Neapolitan one;there had been, after all, some interchange between Italian popular music and that of Latin America, where in the course of time Neapolitan songs frequently enjoyed great popularity (e.g., the aforementioned «Io te voglio bene assaje», which became a hit in South America shortly after 1935). The Brazilian modinha, a drawing-room dance, has often been considered an offshoot of Neapolitan song (although its Neapolitan origin is not conclusively proven). Both repertoires often use the verse-and-refrain form, with its characteristic contrast of major and minor modes as well as the "habanera" type of accompaniment

especially common in the Neapolitan repertoire. The frequent syncopation found in the Latin American idiom is, however, foreign to Italian style, although it is extremely common in early jazz (in particular the figure

In sum, whatever features of Latin American music and of jazz are integrated in the fabric of these Italian songs, one realizes that the former merge more or less naturally into the overall outline whereas the latter stand out as foreign bodies. A small repertory of jazz elements exists that can be seen here and there woven into songs which, from the formal point of view, are still Italian to the point of adopting at times worn-out clichés such as the Neapolitan sixth.


As we proceed to examine a few of the fashionable songs published between 1922 and 1945, we should bear in mind that printed sheet music does not convey the whole picture. As a semi-oral tradition, popular music relies heavily on practices that are not transmitted by standard musical notation. Popular music, although circulated through notation in its basic form, is expected to be played by ear and to be "faked"; no-one in his right mind, therefore, would wish to have the Critical Edition of, say, «Yesterday» or «Blue Moon». Indeed, anybody unfamiliar with a given popular style (be it funky, bossa-nova, Neapolitan or what-have-you) would be unable to render it convincingly by just reading the notes. In order to be effective the performer needs to be in touch with the performing tradition of that particular music. It is only aurally that one learns the accentuation and the accompaniment patterns that carry most of a song's style characteristics. Jelly-Roll Morton, for instance, once showed how a stride-bass line could be applied to almost any kind of tune (see his famous recordings for the Library of Congress)

and helps to reveal the implicit style connotations of the songs it was meant to accompany. [6] Perhaps to a greater degree than other stylistic elements, accompaniments, riffs, fillings, and endings are orally transmitted and thus can be studied better through recordings than in sheet music form. [7]

Nevertheless, written scores reveal some obvious characteristics. [8] Songs possessing Latin-American features or jazz stereotypes are generally cast in duple meter (simple or compound); those in triple meter are as a rule purely Italian, i.e., in the Neapolitan idiom, or, sometimes, in an intentionally folk-like style that despite the efforts of their authors bears little resemblance to the actual folk music of any part of the Italian peninsula. Such are some of the folk-like songs of Tosti (e.g., «Canti popolari abbruzzesi», for vocal duet) and, later, those of di Lazzaro, of which Reginella campagnola by C. Bruno and E. di Lazzaro is the most popular. [9] At the time, nobody except a few isolated scholars like Alberto Favara (1863-1923) or Giorgio Nataletti (1907-1972) knew what Italian folk music was really like.

Turning now to specific jazz stereotypes in Italian popular songs we note various kinds. The most common ones can be seen in the musical examples.

Example I shows four blues-derived two-bar segments that often conclude a musical phrase and that occur frequently in songs composed in the late 1930s at the conclusion of a phrase.

In Example 2 we find two instances of chromatic incipits that art idiosyncratic to early jazz (especially the New Orleans style).

Example 3 presents four phrases incorporating added sixths (3a, 3b and 3c are also incipits). Phrase 3b is somewhat similar to the incipit of the 'blues" section of Gershwin's «American in Paris». One also notes that the major chord with added sixth is usually that of the tonic. Phrase 3d with its added sixth on the fourth scale degree is an exception.

Example 4 reveals five additional common incipits. Phrases 4a and 4b feature a syncopated figuration that is totally foreign to Italian music. Equally alien is the descending contour shown in phrases 4c, 4d and 4e.

Finally, two curiosities can be seen in Example 5. The first is a phrase ending reminiscent of Stephen Fosters «Old Folks at Home». The second is a boogie-woogie accompaniment figuration that is here atypically used for the beginning of a tune.


The composite nature of Italian popular song of this fer, seen by viewing a piece in its entirety. Examples 6 and 7 show how much contrast there can be between the verse (almost Neapolitan in its melancholy and melodramatic quality) and the refrain. And exemple 8 reveals a particularly notable instance of a song whose verse is reminiscent of Puccini but whose refrain and accompanying style is not at all indigenous to Italy. The bridge passage in the refrain of this song could very well belong to a genuine American tune, and the published sheet music even suggests fillers and short countermelodies borrowed from Gershwin's «Rhapsody in Blue».

NON DIMENTICAR... (le mie parole) SLOW


An intriguing aspect of change resulting from the impact of one style on another emerges from these examples: the introduction and integration of foreign elements is restricted to specific parts of the musical period, namely the beginning of a phrase, and, less frequently, the end of it. Here the imported elements function as signals and draw one's attention toward the innovation. To put it otherwise, outside influence reveals itself through the direct borrowing of discrete musical elements rather than through the progressive fertilization of the overall melodic style.

This phenomenon is not unusual in folk music but has not been discussed with respect to popular music. In many European folk cultures, for example in the Italian Trentino, variations in a particular song are often accomplished through the insertion and substitution of phrases that originally belong to other songs. [10] Some of these phrases, moreover, are idiosyncratic to foreign styles.

It would be very valuable, in order to further our understanding of musical change caused by external influences, to learn in what other traditions wandering phrases and melodic segments may be responsible for the variation process and for the evolution of style in general. This is especially feasible with popular music and other semi-oral traditions where such influences can often be explained through a combination of musical analysis and socio-historical interpretation. The example of Italian popular music presented in this article, in my view, illustrates one such case.


NOTES


[1] Although Donizetti composed some popular songs in Neapolitan style, historians have not been able to determine their exact number. For an analysis of four of these songs see M. Sorce Keller, «Gaetano Donizetti: Un bergamasco compositore di canzoni napoletane», Studi Donizettiani 3 (1978): 100-107; and idem, «Io te voglio bene assaje: A Famous Neapolitan Song Traditionally Attributed to Gaetano Donizetti», The Music Review 45 (1984): 251-264.

[2] Italian-Neapolitan songs are seldom in AABA form, where a tune repeated three times is separated by an often modulating "bridge" or "release".

[3] L'orchestrazione moderna nella musica leggera (Milano: Edizioni Curci (n.d.]).

[4] Added sixth chords, as employed in popular music, only sometimes correspond to the «sixte ajouté» discussed by Rameau in his Génération harmonique (1737). That chord is, in fact, a subdoniinant with an added sixth, and can also be understood as an inversion of II (7]. Hence there are two different ways to resolve it: to the tonic or to the dominant. In popular music, on the other hand, a sixth (and sometimes a ninth also) is often added to the tonic chord for purely coloristic reasons.

[5] The widespread use of ninth and added sixth chords in Italian popular music can probably be traced to various influences. One of these is American popular music and jazz. Another is likely to be Puccini, whose harmonic language, rich in non-dominant seventh chords (those defined as sevenths of the second, third and fourth species in European harmony textbooks) on practically all the degrees of the scale, had quite an impact on American popular music and on jazz itself (for instance, on composers such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Harold Arlen). The coloristic use of sevenths, ninths and other "additions" became a distinctive trait of Tin Pan Alley composers, in whose songs "every chord would have added tones, non-harmonic notes, and chromatically altered notes, alone or in combination" (Charles Hamm, Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (New York: Norton, 1979), p. 367).

[6] See Luciano Berio, "Notizie e commenti sul Rock", Nuova rivista musicale italiana 1 (1967): 35-45.

[7] These are, for the most part, 78-rpm records until about 1957, when the industry dropped this format.

[8] Canzonieri (songbooks) provide the best source for popular music in those years. Many of the pieces in these songbooks have become "evergreens" and have been published many times over in so-called album professionali (song collections comparable in some ways to American "Take books", published in separate booklets and often given free to professional bands. One booklet is for the singer, the others for instruments in C, B-flat and E-flat). The musical examples in this article are drawn from 30 anni di successi: Antologia di canzoni italiane dal 1935 al 1965 (Milano: Gruppo Editoriale Curci, 1965), Cento canzoni milionarie (Milano: Edizioni Leonardi, 1978), and 33 anni per 111successi: Il meglio degli autori italiani (Milano: Sugarmusic, 1968).

[9] Compare, for example, the Italian Chitarra romana (by B. and E. di Lazzaro) with the Latin hit El relicario by José S. Padilla. Interestingly enough, Padilla (1889-1960) was born in Spain and studied at the Madrid Conservatory. He also conducted zarzuela companies in Argentina. He might at least in part be credited for the diffusion of the Latin-American style since he lived in Italy from 1930 to 1934 and composed many songs to Italian texts. Two of his most successful songs were made popular by the Italian tenor Tito Schiopa (La violetera and Princesita).

[10] See M. Sorce Keller, «Life of a Traditional Ballad in Oral Tradition and Choral Practice», Ethnomusicology 30 (1986): 449-469.