The
tarantella
() is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...
is a traditional dance form, and accompanying music, with a distinctive rhythm, from the south of Italy. Tarantellas appear in many pieces of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
, in
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, and in
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
.
Classical music
* Mily Balakirev has a "Tarantella in B major".
*
Agustín Barrios
Agustín Pío Barrios (also known as Agustín Barrios Mangoré and Nitsuga—Agustin spelled backward—Mangoré; May 5, 1885 – August 7, 1944) was a Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist and composer, largely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
wrote a "Tarantella for guitar (Recuerdos de Nápoles)".
*
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's "
Kreutzer" Violin Sonata, third movement, is a tarantella.
*
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's
Piano Sonata No. 18, fourth movement, is a tarantella.
*
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
wrote a tarantella as the third and final movement of his ''
Sinfonietta'', Op. 1.
*
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...
wrote a ''tarantella'' for solo guitar, Op. 87b.
*
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
wrote a
Tarantelle in A-flat, Op. 43 with the characteristic time signature. It was inspired specifically by
Rossini's's song "
La Danza
"La danza" (Dance) (1835) is a patter song by Gioachino Rossini, in Tarantella napoletana time, the eighth song of the collection ''Les soirées musicales'' (1830–1835). The lyrics are by Count Carlo Pepoli (:it:Carlo Pepoli, it), librettist of ...
".
*
Giuseppe Martucci
Giuseppe Martucci (; 6 January 1856, in Capua – 1 June 1909, in Naples) was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. Sometimes called "the Italian Brahms", Martucci was notable among Italian composers of the era in that he dedicate ...
wrote two tarantelle: Op. 9 (1873), and Op. 44, No. 6 (1880, orchestrated in 1908 titled "Danza").
*
John Corigliano
John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...
wrote a tarantella as the fourth movement of his ''Gazebo Dances'', which he later used as the basis of the second movement of his
Symphony No. 1.
*
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
wrote a piece called "Danse (Tarantelle styrienne)."
*
Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Mordkhelovich Godowsky Sr. (13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a Lithuanian-born American virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the most highly regarded performers of his time, known for his theories concernin ...
transcribed
Chopin's
Étude Op. 10, No. 5 "Black Key" into a tarantella for the piano.
* Grande Tarantelle, Op. 67 for piano and orchestra, written c.1866 by
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States.
Life and car ...
.
*
Oleg Karavaychuk
Oleg Nikolayevich Karavaichuk (russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Каравайчу́к; 28 December 1927 – 13 June 2016) was a Soviet and Russian composer, author of music for many films and theater performances.
Biography
Karavayc ...
wrote a tarantella.
*
Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète".
Life and works
Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...
's twelfth movement of ''Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied'' (1979–80) is a tarantelle.
*
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
composed a piece called "Tarantella, Venezia e Napoli" (No. 3 from ''
Années de pèlerinage
''Années de pèlerinage'' (French for ''Years of Pilgrimage'') ( S.160, S.161, S.162, S.163) is a set of three suites for solo piano by Franz Liszt. Much of it derives from his earlier work, ''Album d'un voyageur'', his first major published pi ...
'', 2nd Year: Italy), which is in a rapid tempo in – time. Liszt also made solo piano transcriptions and expansive reworkings of tarantellas by several composers including
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...
,
Daniel Auber
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (; 29 January 178212 May 1871) was a French composer and director of the Paris Conservatoire.
Born into an artistic family, Auber was at first an amateur composer before he took up writing operas professionally when ...
,
Alexander Dargomizhsky and
César Cui
César Antonovich Cui ( rus, Це́зарь Анто́нович Кюи́, , ˈt͡sjezərʲ ɐnˈtonəvʲɪt͡ɕ kʲʊˈi, links=no, Ru-Tsezar-Antonovich-Kyui.ogg; french: Cesarius Benjaminus Cui, links=no, italic=no; 13 March 1918) was a Ru ...
.
*
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
wrote a piece called "Tarantella" in 1845 (Op. 102, No. 3).
*
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
's
Italian Symphony, fourth movement, is a tarantella.
*
Santiago de Murcia
Santiago de Murcia (25 July 1673 – 25 April 1739) was a Spanish guitarist and composer.
Biography
Until new research was published in 2008, few details about the life of Santiago de Murcia were known. However, it is now known that he was born ...
, a baroque Spanish composer and guitarist, wrote "Tarantelas" for guitar. It is No. 13 of his collection ''Saldivar Codex IV''
*
Albert Pieczonka, a pianist and composer who performed in Prussia, England, and the United States wrote a popular piano composition titled "Tarantella in A minor".
*
David Popper
David Popper (June 16, 1843 – August 7, 1913) was a Bohemian cellist and composer. Some other sources list his date of birth as December 9, 1843.
Life
Popper was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory. His family was Je ...
wrote a piece called "Tarantella, Op. 33", written in time.
* The fourth of
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
's twelve easy pieces for piano—''Musique d'Enfants'', Op. 65—is a tarantella.
*
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...
's
Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, Op. 17, features a tarantella for its finale.
*
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
's song "
La Danza
"La danza" (Dance) (1835) is a patter song by Gioachino Rossini, in Tarantella napoletana time, the eighth song of the collection ''Les soirées musicales'' (1830–1835). The lyrics are by Count Carlo Pepoli (:it:Carlo Pepoli, it), librettist of ...
" is a Neapolitan tarantella.
*
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
composed "Tarantella, Op. 6 in A minor for flute, clarinet and orchestra, or for flute, clarinet and piano". He also transcribed this piece for two pianos.
*
Gaspar Sanz
Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 (baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theolo ...
, a baroque Spanish composer, notated the chords of a Tarantelas in his book of instructions for the Spanish (baroque) guitar.
*
Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include ...
composed an ''Introduction and Tarantella'' for violin.
*
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
's ''
Death and the Maiden Quartet
The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D 810, known as ''Death and the Maiden'', is a piece by Franz Schubert that has been called "one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire". It was composed in 1824, after the composer suffered a ...
'' uses a tarantella in the frenetic fourth movement.
*
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
's Piano Sonata in C minor, last movement, is a tarantella/rondo.
* The fourth movement of Schubert's
Symphony No. 3 is also a tarantella, but following the
sonata form
Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...
.
*
John Serry Sr.
John Serry Sr. (born John Serrapica; January 29, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voic ...
composed his ''Tarantella'' for solo stradella accordion in 1942 and revised it in 1955.
* Allan Small wrote "Tarantella in A minor for piano".
*
William Henry Squire
William Henry Squire, ARCM (8 August 1871 – 17 March 1963) was a British cellist, composer and music professor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He studied cello at the Royal College of Music, and became professor of cello at the Roya ...
wrote "Tarantella for cello in D minor".
* The fifteenth section of
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
's
''Pulcinella'' is a tarantella. This music is also the fourth movement of the composer's ''Pulcinella Suite'' and fifth of his ''
Suite italienne''.
*
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Szymanowski's early works show the inf ...
wrote a ''
Nocturne and Tarantella'' for violin and piano.
*
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
's ''
Capriccio Italien
The ''Capriccio Italien'', Op. 45, is a fantasy for orchestra composed between January and May 1880 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It premiered 18 December, 1880 (New System) in Moscow, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein.The Nutcracker
''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...
'' features a tarantella.
*
Ferdinand Thieriot
Ferdinand Thieriot (April 7, 1838 – July 31, 1919) was a German composer of Romantic music and a cellist.
Life and career
Thieriot was born in Hamburg. He was a pupil of Eduard Marxsen in Altona and belonged to the circle of musicians around ...
included a tarantella in his ''Symphonietta'' op. 55 E major (1873/1892), conducted by
Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Br ...
and the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...
in February 1893.
*
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music.
Biography
Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of ...
composed a violin concerto entitled ''Mambo, Blues and Tarantella'' in 2007.
*
Fred Werner 1909 Tarantelle
*
Henryk Wieniawski
Henryk Wieniawski (; 10 July 183531 March 1880) was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer and pedagogue who is regarded amongst the greatest violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew Adam Tadeusz Wieniawski were al ...
composed a well-known violin piece called ''
Scherzo Tarantelle'', Op. 16.
* ''Tarantella'' for Piano and Orchestra was composed by American composer
Michael Glenn Williams
Michael Glenn Williams (born October 23, 1957 in Lancaster, California) is an American composer, pianist and technologist.
Biography
Williams' earliest years were spent in New York City, beginning trumpet studies and composing at 8 years old. ...
for pianist
Sean Chen.
* The last movement of
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, (21 November 19312 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.
Biography
Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931; his father was an A ...
's ''Sinfonietta'' (1965) is a tarantella.
Film
* The Fairy Godmother's song "
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" (also called "The Magic Song") is a novelty song, written in 1948 by Al Hoffman, Mack David, and Jerry Livingston. Introduced in the 1950 film ''Cinderella'', and performed by actress Verna Felton, the song is about the Fairy ...
" from ''
Disney's Cinderella'' (1950) is a tarantella in rhythm and tempo.
* The popular wedding tarantella ''
C'è la luna mezzo mare
"Luna mezz'o mare" (Moon amid the sea) is a comic Sicilian song with worldwide popularity, traditionally styled as a brisk tarantella. The song portrays a mother-daughter "coming of age" exchange consisting of various comic, and sometimes sexua ...
'' has appeared in
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s such as ''
The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...
'' (1972).
* In ''
The Godfather Part II '' (1974),
Frankie Pentangeli tries to get the band playing at Michael's son's
First Communion
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communi ...
party (whose members are not Italian) to play a tarantella; following some quick coaching, the band instead ends up playing "
Pop Goes the Weasel
"Pop! Goes the Weasel" (Roud 5249) is a traditional English and American song, a country dance, nursery rhyme, and singing game that emerged in the mid-19th century. It is commonly used in Jack-in-the-box toys and for ice cream trucks. The song ...
".
* It appears in ''
The Legend of 1900
''The Legend of 1900'' ( it, La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano, 'The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean') is a 1998 Italian drama film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Mélanie Thierry. It was Tor ...
'' (1998) when Italian immigrants request 1900 to play tarantella music.
* The tarantella dance is referenced in the film ''
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry Potter (character), Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of W ...
'' (2002), where it is the result of a magical curse.
* ''Rabbia e Tarantella'' is in the soundtrack of ''
Inglourious Basterds
''Inglourious Basterds'' is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells an alter ...
'' (2009) by
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
.
* Extensive use of tarantellas is made in the French film ''
Tous les soleils
''Tous les soleils'' ( en, All the Suns) is a 2011 French film written and directed by Philippe Claudel.. The film also has been titled ""The Silence of Love"" in a version with English subtitles.
Plot
Alessandro is an Italian teacher who is dete ...
'' (2011).
Television
* ''
The Backyardigans
''The Backyardigans'' is a computer-animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It centers on five animal neighbors who imagine themselves on fantas ...
'' episode "The Legend of the Volcano Sisters" features Tarantella as the music style du jour.
Stage
* It has appeared in the musical version of ''
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...
'' (1954 on stage) with
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (194 ...
, and is danced by Captain Hook and his band of pirates, illustrating the above-mentioned occasional association with sword fights ''vis à vis'' the metaphor of pirates. In this performance, which is available on film,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, and DVD, the context is silly fun.
* In the song "How I Saved Roosevelt" from ''
Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...
'', a tarantella is used to musically represent
Giuseppe Zangara
Giuseppe Zangara (September 7, 1900 – March 20, 1933) was an Italian immigrant and naturalized United States citizen who attempted to assassinate the President-elect of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, on February 15, 1933, 17 d ...
.
Video games
* A tarantella is part of the soundtrack for game ''
Assassin's Creed II
''Assassin's Creed II'' is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montréal and published by Ubisoft. It is the second major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series, and the sequel to 2007's '' Assassin's Creed''. The g ...
'' (2009)
* The "Puppy Love" level of ''
Earthworm Jim 2
''Earthworm Jim 2'' is a 1995 run and gun (video game), run and gun platform game, platform video game and the sequel to ''Earthworm Jim (video game), Earthworm Jim'', and the second and final game in the ''Earthworm Jim (series), Earthworm Jim'' ...
'' uses both ''
Tarantella Napoletana
The "Tarantella Napoletana" is the tarantella associated with Naples. It is familiar to North American viewers of popular media as a quintessentially Italian musical riff or melody.
\relative c''
Examples of its use include Gioachino Rossini ...
'' and ''
Funiculì, Funiculà'' as music.
Literature
*
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
's poem "Tarantella" (1929) mimics in words the progress of the dance, culminating in the stillness of death. Online versions of the poem vary: a reliable printed version can be found in ''The Oxford Book of Modern Verse''.
* In
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
's play ''
A Doll's House
''A Doll's House'' (Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having bee ...
'', a performance of the tarantella is central to the plot.
*
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
's short story "
The Gold-Bug
"The Gold-Bug" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe published in 1843. The plot follows William Legrand, who was bitten by a gold-colored bug. His servant Jupiter fears that Legrand is going insane and goes to Legrand's friend, an ...
" (1843) features the introductory lines, "What ho! What ho! This fellow is dancing mad. He has been bitten by the tarantella", which Poe ascribes to a 1761 play by Arthur Murphy, although the lines do not appear in the play.
*
Tim Powers
Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels ''Last Call (novel), Last Call'' and ''Declare''. ...
' novel ''Medusa's Web'' (2015) uses the 18/8 version of the tarantella and its effect on (supernatural) spiders as a plot device.
* In
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...
's novel ''
The Volcano Lover: A Romance'' (1992), Lady
Emma Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy me ...
shocks her company by dancing a tarantella.
* In
Carolina De Robertis' novel ''The Gods of Tango'' (2015), the crowd at the port of
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
sings a tarantella to send off the new emigrants to
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
.
Comics
* In ''
Axis Powers Hetalia
is a Japanese webcomic, later adapted as a manga and an anime series, by Hidekaz Himaruya. The series' main presentation is as an often over-the-top allegory of political and historic events as well as more general cultural compariso ...
'', Southern Italy/Romano cures his disease by dancing the tarantella with Spain; one of the songs sung by him, "The Delicious Tomato Song", is a tarantella.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarantellas
Music-related lists
Classical music lists
Film music
Fiction about music
Dance forms in classical music
Sacred dance
Italian folk dances
17th-century music genres
Taranto