Cappella Neapolitana is an early music ensemble based in Naples and dedicated to the recovery of Neapolitan musical heritage, primarily from the baroque era.
The Cappella Neapolitana was founded in 2016 by the musicologist and conductor Antonio Florio (it), who studied under Nino Rota,[1][2] as well as participating in events at the church Chiesa della Pietà dei Turchini.[3] The name of church, conservatory, and now the modern cappella and music centre go back to the turquoise (Italian "turchino") shirts worn by the original children of the institute. The association between church, conservatory, and commercial opera productions goes back to the roots of the original Pietà de' Turchini, and the days when Leonardo Leo used his students from the Conservatorio Pietà de' Turchini as chorus singers in his opera productions.[4]
Florio's work in recovering music which has lain unperformed for three centuries often involves reconstructing lost parts, or "discreetly recomposing" missing portions from larger works.[5] A particular focus has been the recovery of the music of Francesco Provenzale, Giovanni Salvatore and Cristofaro Caresana, sometimes in cooperation with the musicologist Dinko Fabris.[6][7]
The concerts of the Cappella and other artists at the Centro di Musica are now widely acknowledged as a tourist attraction in Naples.[8][9]
The Capella commenced recording with the Symphonia label. Then entered cooperation with the Opus111 label founded by Yolanta Skura[10] for the production of an ambitious and extensive series of recordings of Neapolitan music, Tesori di Napoli, originally scheduled to contain 50 CDs. however this project slowed and then ceased after 2000 when Opus 111 was acquired by Naïve.
- ^ Antonio Florio, le Napolitain, article in Diapason, Paris 1997
- ^ The New Grove dictionary of music and musicians, Volume 17 2001 p627
- ^ Mario Pasi, Sandro Boccardi Storia della musica, Volume 2 p50
- ^ Journal of the American Musicological Society, p380 1971
- ^ Kurt Sven Markstrom The operas of Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano p28
- ^ Dinko Fabris Music in seventeenth-century Naples: Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704)
- ^ Gramophone article Putting Maples on the map. June 1998 p18. Florio: "From the very beginnings of the Cappella Neapolitana I have had incomparable support from the musicologist Dinko Fabris. Together we have discovered a large number of unpublished manuscripts raising many new questions about Neapolitan music between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This joint enthusiasm, uniting musicology with practical application, has so far given considerable results. Alongside the musicological research there is also an equally important study of the theatre, being made expertly by Federica Castaldo. Indeed, it is precisely thanks to this combined study that we have been able to launch a scientific project to explore the entire musical and theatrical heritage of the Naples under Spanish rule. This has been made possible by the opening of the Centro di Musica Antica Pietà de' Turchini in Naples where the various activities, academic and musical, take place."
- ^ Robert I. C. Fisher, Amy Wang Fodor's Naples, Capri & the Amalfi Coast 2004, 2007 p.124
- ^ Bruce Murphy, Alessandra de Rosa Frommers Amalfi Coast 2008 / Italy for Dummies 2009 p401
- ^ Classical Net article on Opus111