Neapolitan Songs (Canzoni Napoletane)
In the broadest terms, the genre of Canzoni Napoletane, or Neapolitan songs, consists of a large body of popular vocal music, with the distinguishing feature of having texts in the Southern Italian dialect centering around Naples. The genre became firmly established during the 1830s as the result of an annual songwriting competition in Naples, but there are songs in the dialect dating back perhaps into the 1100s. Although the competition ceased as an annual event in 1950, there are still a few singer-songwriters who carry on the tradition. In the early part of the 20th Century the famous tenor Enrico Caruso popularized them, in the U.S. and elsewhere, by singing them as encore pieces, and a decade later "The Three Tenors" (Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras) helped keep them in our collective consciousness. As with the majority of popular songs, regardless of the language, most Neapolitan songs are about love, either lamenting unrequited or lost love, or joyously celebrating it. In addition to Santa Lucia and Funiculì, Funiculà, the best-known Neapolitan songs in America likely are Torna a Surriento (Come Back to Sorrento) -- the lamenting variety -- and 'O sole mio (That Sun is All Mine) -- the celebratory kind. They have been recorded numerous times, and the tunes for these last two were given entirely new English lyrics and released as chart-topping hits by Elvis Presley, respectively as Surrender (1961), and It's Now or Never (1960), his best-selling single, ever.
De Curtis : Torna a Surriento (Come Back to Sorrento)
Music: Ernesto De Curtis (1875-1937)
Text (Neapolitan dialect): Giambattista De Curtis (1860-1926)
English version: Edward Lein, ©2012
Vide ’o mare quant’è bello.
Spira tanta sentimento,
Comme tu, a chi tiene mente,
Ca, scetato, ’o faje sunnà.
Guarda, guá’ chisti ciardine.
Siente sié’ sti sciure ’arancio
Un prufumo accussí fino,
Dint’ ’o core se ne na.
[Refrain:]
E tu dice, "Io parto, addio!"
T’alluntane da stu core.
Da la terra de ’ll ammore
Tiene ’o core en un turná?
Ma nun me lassá!
Nun darme stu turmiento!
Torna a Surriento,
Famme campá!
Vide ’o mare di Surriento,
Che tesore tene ’nfunno!
Chi a girato tutt’ ’o munno
Nun ll’ha visto comm’a ccá!
Guarda, attuorno, sti Serene,
Ca te guardano ’ncantate,
E te vono tantu bene
Te vulessero vasá!
[Refrain]
See the sea, so immensely lovely.
It inspires the deepest feelings,
Just like one who pulls your heartstrings;
It lets you dream while you're awake.
Look there, gaze into the garden.
Smell the scent of oranges in bloom:
Such a fine and fragrant perfume ...
It's so dear your heart might break.
[Refrain:]
And yet you say, "Farewell! Now I'll go,"
Forsaking this sore heart of mine.
You'd leave this land of love behind ...
Lest you return, won't your own heart break?
Do not forsake me!
Please do not torment me so!
Come back to Sorrento,
Or death take me!
See the sea of dear Sorrento,
There hidden treasures lie, deep down!
One might travel the whole world round
And not see the likes of this!
Look there, gaze upon these mermaids
Who gaze back at you, enchanted,
And their love for you is so great
They might offer you their kiss!
[Refrain]
De Capua / Capurro : 'O sole mio (That Sun is All Mine)
Music: Eduardo de Capua (1865-1917)
Text (in Neapolitan dialect): Giovanni Capurro (1859-1920)
English version: Edward Lein, ©2012
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole,
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare gia' na festa ...
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole!
Ma n'atu sole cchiu' bello, oi ne';
'O sole mio, sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio,
Sta 'nfronte a te, sta 'nfronte a te!
Lùceno ’e ’llastre d’a fenesta toia,
’Na lavannara canta e se ne vanta.
E pe’ tramente torce, spanna e canta,
Lùceno ’e ’llastre d’a fenesta toia.
Ma n'atu sole cchiu' bello, oi ne';
'O sole mio, sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio,
Sta 'nfronte a te, sta 'nfronte a te!
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
me vene quase 'na malincunia;
sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria,
quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.
Ma n'atu sole cchiu' bello, oi ne';
'O sole mio sta 'nfronte a te!
'O sole, 'o sole mio,
Sta 'nfronte a te, sta 'nfronte a te!
How lovely a thing is a day in the sun,
When calm breezes follow a stormy squall!
The fresh, balmy air feels just like a festival ...
How lovely a thing is a day in the sun!
But another sun shines with still lovelier rays;
That sun is all mine: it glows from your face!
O that sun, that sun is all mine,
It glows from your face, it glows from your face!
With the light sparkling bright on your windowpane,
A laundry-maid calls out--she's bragging and singing.
She sings as she goes about tugging and wringing,
And the sunlight glints off of your windowpane.
But another sun shines with much lovelier rays;
That sun is all mine: it glows from your face!
O that sun, that sun is all mine,
It glows from your face, it glows from your face!
When twilight descends and the sunlight is gone,
My spirits tend, sadly, to sink down low;
But I'd wait then gladly, under your window,
When nighttime descends, and the sunshine is gone.
For another sun shines yet with lovelier rays;
This sunshine is mine: it's the glow on your face!
This sunshine, this sunshine is mine,
It glows from your face, it glows from your face!
Giacomo