Canzone napoletana (Italian: [kanˈtsoːne napoleˈtaːna]; Neapolitan: canzona napulitana [kanˈdzoːnə napuliˈtɑːnə]), sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song, is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, although well represented by female soloists as well, and expressed in familiar genres such as the love song and serenade. Many of the songs are about the nostalgic longing for Naples as it once was. The genre consists of a large body of composed popular music—such songs as “‘O sole mio”; “Torna a Surriento”; “Funiculì, Funiculà”; “Santa Lucia” and others.
The Neapolitan song became a formal institution in the 1830s due to an annual song-writing competition for the Festival of Piedigrotta, dedicated to the Madonna of Piedigrotta, a well-known church in the Mergellina area of Naples. The winner of the first festival was a song entitled “Te voglio bene assaje”; it is traditionally attributed to the prominent opera composer Gaetano Donizetti, although an article published in 1984 by Marcello Sorce Keller shows there is no historical evidence in support of the attribution.[2] The festival ran regularly until 1950, when it was abandoned. A subsequent Festival of Neapolitan Song on Italian state radio enjoyed some success in the 1950s but was eventually abandoned as well.
The period since 1950 has produced such songs as “Malafemmena” by Totò, “Maruzzella [it]” by Renato Carosone, “Indifferentemente” by Mario Trevi and “Carmela” by Sergio Bruni. Although separated by some decades from the earlier classics of this genre, they have now become Neapolitan “classics” in their own right.
