Italian Classical Music

The roots of music on the Italian Peninsula can be traced

back to the music of Ancient Rome. However, the underpinnings of much

modern Italian music come from the Middle Ages.

The earliest extant music

in the West is plainsong,

a kind of monophonic, unaccompanied, early

Christian singing performed by Roman Catholic monks, which was largely developed roughly between the

7th and 12th centuries.

...in different ways, but everyone

has always loved it.

Music, from the

beginning, has been used

in many various

fields and…

Ottaviano dei Petrucci published the Harmonice

Musices Odhecaton, the first substantial collection of printed polyphonic music, and

in 1516, Andrea Antico published the Frottole intablate da sonari organi, the

earliest printed Italian music for keyboard.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is

considered the first great composer

of the new musical form, opera. He

has been very important, he scars

the passage from music of the

Renaissance to Baroque music.

The last fifty years of the 19th century were

dominated by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), the greatest musical icon in Italian history. Verdi's

music "sought universality within

national character" that is, much of what he

composed in terms of historical themes could be related to his pan-

Italian vision. Verdi was the composer of the

Italian Risorgimento, the movement to unify Italy

in the 19th century.

Later in the century is also

the time of the early career of

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924),

perhaps the greatest composer

of pure melody in the history of

Italian music.

…but as them, also other composers have helped to

give life to the beautiful music history that we read today.

FINE