La Serenata

Description

Flute, Guitar — ABOUT THE MUSICby Paula RobisonAll the songs and arias included in this volume have been performed and recorded by great singers. I would counsel our players, music in hand, to hear them sung, either at the opera or in recording. Enrico Caruso. Amelita Galli-Curci, Tito Schipa, Maria Callas, and Beniamino Gigli are excellent teachers of the style from the past, as is Luciano Pavarotti in our own time. Listen to good early music interpreters. Listen also to the great Neapolitan folk singers of the early twentieth century. Enjoy a good glass of red wine. Or even better: go to Italy. Get up with the dawn and smell the roses. Watch the birds swoop around an ancient cathedral, singing as they fly. Climb an Italian mountain and regard the farmland below. Walk the streets of Florence. Gaze at the bay of Naples and then at Vesuvio, the volcano which could erupt and destroy it at any time, and then have dinner with some Neapolitans. Study the architecture: what does an Italian open window look like? What does it look out upon? Read Petrarca. Read Dante. Study the art, the light, the colors of that amazing peninsula which has given so much beauty to the world. The more you can take into your body, mind, and spirit, the better interpreter you will be of these wonderful melodies. Buon Viaggio!______________________________________See also the notes about the individual pieces on pages two and three of the full score. Through the years, Paula Robison and Frederic Hand have been drawn to the full-hearted sound of classic Italian song and to the rich folk traditions of Italy. It is their great pleasure to present this collection of some of their favorite melodies in these new arrangements for flute and guitar. Here they serenade us with nine Italian love songs from opera and popular traditions, ranging from Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro and the beloved Santa Lucia to lesser-known gems of the Baroque era. The publication includes background and lyrics for all the songs as well as Robison's phrase marks and Hand's fingerings.