Giuseppe “Peppino” Turco (7 March 1846 – 14 October 1903) was an Italian

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. Turco was born in

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 ...

. Initially he was a renowned

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, collaborating with the satirical newspaper ''Capitan Fracassa'' in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and various Neapolitan periodicals. However it is for his verses put to music that he is best known.

Funiculì, Funiculà

Turco lived in

for much of his life, but frequented the thermal baths at

Castellammare di Stabia Castellammare di Stabia (; nap, Castiellammare 'e Stabbia) is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania region, in southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento. History ...

every summer. In 1880 it was there that he collaborated with

Luigi Denza Luigi Denza (24 February 1846 – 27 January 1922) was an Italian composer. Career Denza was born at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples. He studied music with Saverio Mercadante and Paolo Serrao at the Naples Conservatory. In 1884, he moved t ...

to write the verses for "

Funiculì, Funiculà "Funiculì, Funiculà" (, en, "Funicular Up, Funicular Down") is a Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza to lyrics by Peppino Turco. It was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius. It was pr ...

". The song became a huge international success and sold over one million copies, representing for many the birth of the modern

Neapolitan song Canzone napoletana (), sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song ( nap, canzona napulitana ), 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 b ...

. He died in his home town of Naples.

Other songs

Turco also wrote the verses to lesser known songs: * ''‘O telefono'' * ''Uocchie nire'' * ''Taranti, tarantella'' * ''Capille nire'' * ''Vocca ‘e rosa''

References

External links

Vesuvioinrete

Musica napoletana
1846 births 1903 deaths Musicians from Naples Italian male writers 19th-century Italian musicians {{Italy-writer-stub