{{Music of Italy, map=Italy Regions Apulia Map.png The music of

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

has had some glorious history as well as some very hard times. Located along the southern

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

, the area was part of

Magna Grecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

and certainly one of the centers of

Ancient Greek music Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greek ...

. And 1,000 years ago,

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, on the coast, was a privileged sanctuary for

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...

s and

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

rs on their way to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. Yet, the only musical relic that remains from the period is the ''Excultet'', a representation from the 11th century of two angels playing trumpets that is preserved in the Basilica of San Nicola in Bari. Later, as part of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

, Apulia produced many memorable names in music, but like elsewhere in the south, many of them gravitated to

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 ...

, the capital of the kingdom. Further, economic hardships in the south following the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century Political movement, political and social movement that resulted in the Merger (politics), consolidation of List of historic stat ...

through much of the 20th century resulted in massive emigration, a phenomenon hardly conducive to emphasis on music and the arts. Yet, modern Apulia has shown itself to be remarkably resilient and has an active, if still struggling, musical life.

Folk music

Apulia was home to the well-known folk song revivalist

Matteo Salvatore Matteo is the Italian form of the given name Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Matteo or DeMatteo, meaning " escenda ...

. The healing tarantolati ritual is an important part of Apulian folk culture. The ritual is centered on

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

and women (''tarantolati'') who are said to have been bitten by a

tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

. The poison from the bite is said to be healed by dancing, sometimes for hours or even days. The dances include 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 ...

and tarantata, and is accompanied by tamburelli and either

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

organetto The modern organetto is a small diatonic button accordion used in Italian folk music. It is often used to play the saltarello The ''saltarello'' is a musical dance originally from Italy. The first mention of it is in Add MS 29987, a late-f ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Brass bands

Apulia is known for its brass band tradition, which includes the Bando Ruvo di Puglia, led by

Pino Minafra Pino Minafra (born 21 Juli 1951 in Ruvo di Puglia) is an Italian people, Italian trumpeter and flugelhorn player who is associated with free improvisation, avant-garde jazz. A founding member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Minafra has recorded ...

. In recent music, this brass band tradition has involved many of the region's

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

performers.

Music venues

The Petruzzelli Operatic and Symphonic Foundation of Bari is the organization around which much of the cultural life of the city revolves. It is named for the famous

Teatro Petruzzelli The Teatro Petruzzelli is the largest theatre of the city of Bari and the fourth Italian theatre by size. History Origin and golden age The history of the Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari begins when Onofrio and Antonio Petruzzelli, traders and ship b ...

, the center of music life in the city and province, but which fell victim to a disastrous fire in 1991 and reopened just in 2009. Taking up that slack, however, are other venues: the

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

of San Nicola, the premises of the Piccinni Conservatory, and the

Teatro Piccinni Teatro Piccinni is a theatre in the city of Bari, Apulia on the east coast of Italy. It was founded in 1854 and opened on 30 May of that year. It was named in honor of eighteenth-century composer Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 J ...

(now closed). The city of Bari also hosts the interesting Kismet Theater, a permanent theatrical and musical workshop, open to the public 6 days a week, the aim of which is to encourage those activities among the youth.

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

's new Verdi Theater had its first concert in 2002. The theater is an impressive hyper modern structure that seats 1200 and was built near the presumed place where the poet

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

is said to have died. The area contains significant Roman archaeology, which caused delays in the completion of the new concert hall. The city and province of

Foggia Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...

are noted as the birthplace of composer

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

and much musical activity recalls that fact. The main venue for opera was built in 1828 and was renamed the Giordano Theater in 1928. The city has a secondary theater, named for

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

was the birthplace of the great tenor,

Tito Schipa Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice ...

. It also hosts a music conservatory and is the home of the Salento Chamber ensemble. The Teatro Comunale is named for

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

, one of the great names in 18th century Neapolitan

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

. The "city on two seas",

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

, recalls its connection to ancient Greece in the names of musical organizations such as the Magna Grecia Orchestra, the

Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...

n Art Orchestra and the Magna Grecia Choir. The area hosts the Association for the Music of

Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

(born here), sponsors the annual Nicolosi Song Competition, and is the site of the internationally known Valle d'Itria Festival. It takes place in July and August, during which time the entire city of Taranto becomes a collection of venues for music of various sorts. It is considered one of the most important cultural manifestations in southern Italy.

References

*''Guide Cultura, i luoghi della music'' (2003) ed. Touring Club Italiano. *Surian, Alessio. "Tenores and Tarantellas". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', pp. 189 - 201

External links

Petruzzelli Foundation, BariPiccinni Conservatory, BariConcerts today in Apulia

Apulia