Title: Canzoni Da Battello Del Settecento Veneziano
Artist: Del Monaco, Donella
Label: CD Baby
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 634479746413
Genre: Classical Artists

"In Venice everybody sings, in the squares, in the streets, on the canals. The merchant sings while attending to his affairs, the worker sings on his way to work, the gondolier sings while waiting for his master". This is what Carlo Goldoni wrote in his memoirs. And he was certainly referring to the "boat songs" as well, which were extremely famous and popular at the time and continued to be so until the end of the nineteenth century. There were other illustrious writtenesses to this tradition, like Mozart, who, on his travels to Venice, relates how he was enchanted by an exquisite "gondola song". Later on D'Annunzio spoke of these folk songs, defining them as "the soul of Venice". Written around the middle of the eighteenth century by cultured authors, the boat songs were never signed or orchestrated, as they were offered as songs for everybody and for all occasions, accompanied by whatever instruments were at hand, and without an established structure. Cheerful accompaniment for summer trips by boat, from hence they take their name, but also during carnival and other traditional festival so representative for the social costume of the Venetian Republic. But the complex "simplicity" that makes them so emblematic, and almost iconic, of a unique and unrepeatable society, also made them expressive territory for many great interpreters of the Opera Theatre, starting with Faustina Bordoni, the wife of Hadolf Hasse, who introduced them to London, to the great Maria Malibran, and lastly Toti Dal Monte. Their fascination is connected to the Goldonian atmosphere that they express - they speak to us of comedy, but instead they were a realistic glimpse, and small snippets of popular life with it's gossip and declarations of love. I began recovering these songs, now in disuse, at the beginning of my artistic career, searching for them in the various archives. In this edition I decided to re-propose some of the songs of my first discographic performance (Fonit Cetra, 1977), today unobtainable, which avails of the re-elaboration by one of the most authoritative signatures of contemporary music, Salvatore Sciarrino. At my suggestion, the author found in the emblematic quality of these melodies, which I left intact, an opportunity to apply the timbric subtlety and skill, acquired through his experience of constructing contemporary "timbric melody". Lastly, I added several re-elaborations taken from my most frequently performed concerts, and the touch of a homage dedicated to the poet Giorgio Baffo, freatly lovely by Apollinaire. (Donella Del Monaco)

Tracks:
1.1 Canson Dei Vogadori
1.2 Petazza Insolente
1.3 Do Parolette Al Zorno
1.4 Sento Ch'el Cor Me Manca
1.5 Putazze Ciassose
1.6 Mi Credeva D'esser Sola
1.7 I Abelimenti de Le Done
1.8 La Canson de la Frittola
1.9 La Biondina in Gondoleta
1.10 Tasé Suso Frasconazza
1.11 Nina No So Che Farve
1.12 Pettegole Se Dise
1.13 Me Ralegro Mia Parona
1.14 Le Gatarigole
1.15 Ghe Sta Dito a la Mia Nina
1.16 In Sandolo
1.17 El Cor Tigrà

Audio Sample:
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