"Torna a Surriento" () is a

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 ...

composed in 1894 by Italian musician

Ernesto De Curtis Ernesto De Curtis (4 October 1875 – 31 December 1937) was an Italian composer.Giambattista De Curtis. The song was copyrighted officially in 1905, and has become one of the most popular of this traditional genre; others include "

'O sole mio "O sole mio" () is a well-known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its Neapolitan language lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the music was composed by Eduardo di Capua (1865–1917) and Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878–1972).. The title transl ...

", " Funiculì funiculà", and " Santa Lucia".

History

Tradition holds that the origin of the song dates to 1902, when Guglielmo Tramontano, mayor of

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...

, asked his friend Giambattista De Curtis to write the song for the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Giuseppe Zanardelli Giuseppe Zanardelli (29 October 1826 26 December 1903) was an Italian jurist and political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 15 February 1901 to 3 November 1903. An eloquent orator, he was also a Grand Master freemason. Zan ...

, then vacationing at his seaside hotel, the Imperial Hotel Tramontano; it was claimed that the piece was meant to celebrate Zanardelli's stay. Some claim the song is a plea to Zanardelli to keep his promise to help the impoverished city of Sorrento, which was especially in need of a sewage system. The song reflects the beauty of the city's great surroundings and the love and passion of its citizens. More recent research indicates that the song may merely have been reworked for the occasion; family papers indicate that the brothers deposited a copy with the Italian Society of Authors and Editors in 1894, eight years before they claimed to have written it.

Neapolitan lyrics ("Torna a Surriento")

English translation ("Come Back to Sorrento")

Other recordings

"Torna a Surriento" has been sung by performers as diverse as: * Zhanna Aguzarova *

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

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* José Carreras *

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* Franco Corelli *

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* Robertino Loreti *

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* Muslim Magomayev *

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* Alfie Boe *

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Karel Gott ) Sinatra of the East( cs, Sinatra Východu, link=no)Divine CharlieIl Volo *

Anatoliy Solovianenko Anatoliy Solovianenko (sometime transliterated as Anatolii Solovyanenko; uk, Анатолій Борисович Солов'яненко; russian: Анатолий Борисович Соловья́ненко; September 25, 1932 – 29 July 1999 ...

, * Robertino Loreti * Katherine Jenkins and

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with George Kahumoku Jr. *

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covered the song for his 1962 RCA Victor Red Seal debut album (''Romantic Italian Songs''), which peaked at No. 17 on the

Billboard Top 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

. *A comedic version by

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entitled, "Saltcoats at the Fair". * Claude Aveling wrote the English-language lyrics, which are titled "Come Back to Sorrento".

Doc Pomus Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall ...

and

Mort Shuman Mortimer Shuman (12 November 1938 – 2 November 1991) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including "Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as " ...

re-arranged it and wrote a new set of lyrics for Elvis Presley ("

Surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

"). *

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Elīna Garanča Elīna Garanča (born 16 September 1976) is a Latvian mezzo-soprano. She began to study singing in her hometown of Riga in 1996 and continued her studies in Vienna and in the United States. By 1999 she had won first place in a significant compe ...

Popular culture

*In the television show ''

The Honeymooners ''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It fol ...

'', Ralph Kramden identifies the song in preparing for his appearance on a quiz show called "The $99,000 Answer". He mistakenly identifies it as "Take Me Back to Sorrento" and says it was written by "Ernesto Dequista", which his friend Ed Norton says is "absolutely correct".

References

External links

Lyrics
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torna a Surriento 1902 songs Neapolitan songs Songs about cities