Recordings
The performers of this song included Beniamino Gigli and Claudio Villa, [7] among many others.
"La spagnola" ("The Spanish Maiden", [1] "The Spanish Girl" [2] ), also known as "Stretti stretti, nell'estasi d'amor", [3] is a popular Italian song from the early 20th century. [4] [5] [6]
The song is dated to 1906 and was written by Neapolitan "tarantellist" Vincenzo Di Chiara. [4] [5] [6]
According to the official journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the song is about "a Spanish beauty who believes in her powers of love". [6]
The performers of this song included Beniamino Gigli and Claudio Villa, [7] among many others.
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation.
Erna Berger was a German lyric coloratura soprano. She was best known for roles such as Queen of the Night and Konstanze.
Adionilla Pizzi, known by her stage name Nilla Pizzi, was an Italian singer and actress.
"Mamma" is a popular song composed in 1940 by Cesare Andrea Bixio with Italian lyrics by Bixio Cherubini under the title "Mamma son tanto felice".
Canzone napoletana, sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song, is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, although well represented by female soloists as well, and expressed in familiar genres such as the love song and serenade. Many of the songs are about the nostalgic longing for Naples as it once was. The genre consists of a large body of composed popular music—such songs as "'O sole mio"; "Torna a Surriento"; "Funiculì, Funiculà"; "Santa Lucia" and others.
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Antonietta Meneghel, better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian operatic lyric soprano. She may be best remembered today for her performance as Cio-cio-san in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, having recorded this role complete in 1939 with Beniamino Gigli as Pinkerton.
Cesare Andrea Bixio was an Italian composer.
Arturo Buzzi-Peccia was an Italian singing instructor and song composer.
Martino Stanislao Luigi Gastaldon was an Italian composer, primarily of salon songs for solo voice and piano. However, he also composed instrumental music, two choral works, and four operas. Today, he is remembered almost exclusively for his 1881 song "Musica proibita", still one of the most popular pieces of music in Italy. Gastaldon also wrote the lyrics for some of his songs, including "Musica proibita", under the pseudonym Flick-Flock. He was born in Turin and after a peripatetic childhood studied music there and in Florence. By 1900, he had settled permanently in Florence, where he died at the age of 77. In his later years, he also worked as a voice teacher, music critic, and art dealer.
Spagnola is an Italian surname, meaning literally "Spanish", from and/or of "Spain" and may refer to:
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Rondine al nido is a romance and one of the best known works of the Italian composer Vincenzo de Crescenzo, whose music was in the repertoire of Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Richard Tucker, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Infantino, Ramón Vargas, Robert Dean Smith, Francesco Albanese, among many others.
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Vincenzo Di Chiara was an Italian amateur operatic baritone and composer of popular art songs. He made his mark with one song "La spagnola" which was a worldwide hit and was recorded by Rosa Ponselle.
Helena Arizmendi, sometimes featured as Elena Arizmendi, was an Argentine operatic soprano. A student of Maria Barrientos, she made her début in 1945 in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colón where in 1948 she partnered Beniamino Gigli as Mimi in La Bohème. She was highly acclaimed for her performances in Italy which included La Scala. In 1989 she received the Konex Award.
"I' te vurria vasà" is a 1900 song composed by Vincenzo Russo, Eduardo Di Capua, and Alfredo Mazzucchi. A classic of the Canzone Napoletana, the song premiered at the Teatro Mercadante, performed by Amina Vargas.
Vincenzo Di Chiara's "La Spagnola" was a popular song in its day and tells of a Spanish beauty who believes in her powers of love.
Media related to La spagnola at Wikimedia Commons
