TARANTELLA

Tarantella



Tarantella

The tarantella is a traditional musical form from southern Italy, but it is far more than that. It is the manifestation of a tradition that is rich in mythology and social significance, some of which have never been fully explored. It is known since the 17th century, it probably has much older roots in the worship of ancient gods: some researchers see distant descendants of the rites of Dionysus. The music is performed in a large region of Italy from Naples to Taranto, but some believe that the tarantella would have had a healing power: we read for instance Baglavi (Praxis medica, Rome, 1696) at the time of harvest, the tarantula bite is healed in two to three hours without interruption, until complete exhaustion, sweating and he was able to eliminate the poison.

Particularly, the lively melody accompanied by a catchy and joyful dance was performed during ceremonies that could last for days, to heal those that were thought to be victims of a bite spider legend the tarantula. The therapeutic qualities that lent them were also a pretext to perpetuate the dance origins pagan in the Italian Catholic rigorist of 17th century.

The ballet of Jean Coralli, The Tarantula (1839), has greatly contributed to the popularization of the tarantella in the nineteenth century.

Eugenio, Bennato, Christina, Pluhar, and L'Arpeggiata these popular ceremonies have almost disappeared since the mid- 20th century, but in recent year singers and music groups are rediscovering the ancient tarantella and add to their repertoire: for example Eugenio Bennato or Christina Pluhar and her band The Arpeggiata.

The tarantella is also some traditional dance form predominantly in southern Italy, and the corresponding musical melodies, which are mainly in fast tempo in various meters: the various types have a metric of melodic and rhythmic phrasing in 6/8, 18/8 or 4/4, either greater than in a minor key.

The first historical source dates back to the early seventeenth century, Tarantismo and since its first appearance is related to the dance and ritual complex phenomenon tarantismo Puglia. While we know some reasons tarantella six-eighteenth century, it is not possible to know with certainty that centuries of choral forms for lack of choreographic notation of the time and referring to the popular classes who practiced this dance. In the nineteenth century, Tarantella has become one of the best-known emblems of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and his name has replaced ...