The sceneggiata (pronounced[ʃenedˈdʒaːta], pl. sceneggiate) or sceneggiata napoletana (pronounced[ʃenedˈdʒaːatanapoleˈtaːna]) is a form of musical drama typical of Naples. Beginning as a form of musical theatre after World War I, it was also adapted for cinema; sceneggiata films became especially popular in the 1970s, and contributed to the genre becoming more widely known outside Naples.[2] The most famous actors who played dramas were Mario Merola, Mario Trevi, and Nino D'Angelo.[3]
The sceneggiata can be roughly described as a "musical soap opera", where action and dialogue are interspersed with Neapolitan songs. Plots revolve around melodramatic themes drawing from the Neapolitan culture and tradition, including passion, jealousy, betrayal, personal deceit and treachery, honor, vengeance, and life in the world of petty crime. Songs and dialogue were originally in Neapolitan dialect, although, especially in filmic production, Italian has sometimes been preferred, to reach a larger audience. Outside Italy, sceneggiata is mostly known in areas populated by Italian immigrants. Besides Naples, the second homeland of sceneggiata is probably Little Italy in New York City.[4]
History and evolution
The golden age: 1920–1940
The sceneggiata has its roots in cheap, popular theatrical performances, and scholars believe that economic considerations were decisive in its development.[5] This is also true of the genre's most commonly identified forerunners, such as the works of Pasquale Altavilla (1806–1875), who developed many of his comedies around successful songs to appeal to a larger audience. After World War I, the Italian government increased the taxation of variety shows, thus causing many authors to devise a mixed type of show that would complement songs with dramatic acting, in order to circumvent such duties.[5] This escamotage is sometimes credited to Enzo Lucio Murolo, who explicitly wrote the song "Surriento gentile" with the intent to create a sceneggiata around it and bring it to theatres in that form (the sceneggiata was performed by the Cafiero-Fumo company in 1920).[6]
One of the first known examples of sceneggiata is Pupatella (1918), based on the eponymous song by Libero Bovio, and performed by the theatre company led by Giovanni D'Alessio. In the following years the sceneggiata quickly developed with the advent of dedicated companies, such as that founded by Salvatore Cafiero (formerly a variety show author) and Eugenio Fumo (formerly a popular dramatist), and dedicated venues, such as the Trianon and San Ferdinando theatres, that became "temples" of the genre.[6] The Cafiero-Fumo company (which starred, among others, Nino Taranto) largely contributed to establishing the genre's parameters. The typical sceneggiata included monologues, dialogues, songs, dancing, and its plot was centered on strong emotions such as love, passion, jealousy, honor, betrayal, adultery, vengeance, and the fight between good and evil. A standard pattern was that of the "triangle" comprising isso ("he", the hero), essa ("she", the heroine) and 'o malamente ("the villain").[7][6]
Sceneggiata remained extremely popular in Naples from the 1920s throughout to the 1940s. This era was dominated by a relatively small number of authors, called poeti di compagnia ("company poets") who wrote most of the screenplays; those included Enzo Lucio Murolo (1898–1975), Oscar Di Maio, Gaspare di Maio (1872–1930), and Raffaele Chiurazzi.
In this golden era of the sceneggiata, the genre was also exported abroad, especially in communities of Italian immigrants of Neapolitan origin. New York City's Little Italy, most nostably, became a sort of second homeland of the sceneggiata, with notable companies such as Maggio-Coruzzolo-Ciaramella, Marchetello-Diaz, and that led by Gilda Mignonette (1890–1953), the so-called "Queen of Emigrants".[8]
Besides being performed in theatres, sceneggiate were adapted for film since the early years of cinematography. The prominent sceneggiatamovie studio was Miramare Film, founded by Emanuele Rotonno, that between 1919 and 1927 produced over 100 largely successful movies. This era of sceneggiata films, by the way, established a tradition of movies based on hit songs, which remained in Italian film making long after the decline of sceneggiata itself. One of the best known developments of this tradition is the musicarello subgenre that became popular in the 1950s–1960s in Italy, whereby many popular singer and singer-songwriters (e.g., Gianni Morandi, Al Bano, Adriano Celentano, Little Tony, and others) would also be actors in movies linked to their major hits.
The sceneggiata almost disappeared across World War II. In 1969, a single theatre in Naples (the Teatro Duemila) was continuing this tradition.
Nevertheless, in the 1970s the genre had a new boost. While this revival was mostly driven by successful sceneggiata films starring popular singers/actors such as Mario Merola, Mario Trevi, and Nino D'Angelo, sceneggiata also reappeared in theatres. Merola, in particular, became so popular with movies such as Sgarro alla camorra or Zappatore (the most successful sceneggiata film ever) to earn the title of "king of sceneggiata".[1] Especially outside Naples, Merola is by far the best known representative of the sceneggiata genre and he is often mentioned to refer to sceneggiata through antonomasia.
The revival era of sceneggiata, too, had its "company poets", who worked either for theatres, films, or both. Prominent representatives of this generation of sceneggiata authors include Alberto Sciotti (1925–1998), Aniello Langella (1919–1995), Francesco Martinelli, Elena Cannio, and Gaetano Di Maio (1927–1991).
Canons of sceneggiata
The canons within which the themes brought to the stage by the authors of the Neapolitan sceneggiate are well defined, such as love, betrayal, honor - sometimes the underworld -, summarized in the trinomial of protagonists:[11]
isso ("he"), also called "tenor", the positive hero;
essa ("she"), also called "first female singer", the heroine;
The Italian pornographic film director Mario Salieri released his Sceneggiata napoletana, in which sexual activity with background music takes over the role of the form's usual musical interludes.
The cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and the stylistic aspect of film has been one of the most important factors in the history of Italian film. As of 2018, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, one Academy Award for Best Picture and many Golden Lions and Golden Bears.
Naples is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's administrative limits as of 2022. Its province-level municipality is the third-most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 3,115,320 residents, and its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately 30 kilometres. Naples plays also a key international role in international diplomacy, since it is home to NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Gaetano "Nino" D'Angelo is an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, television personality, film director, screenwriter and author.
Naples has played an important and vibrant role over the centuries not just in the music of Italy, but in the general history of western European musical traditions. This influence extends from the early music conservatories in the 16th century through the music of Alessandro Scarlatti during the Baroque period and the comic operas of Pergolesi, Piccinni and, eventually, Rossini and Mozart. The vitality of Neapolitan popular music from the late 19th century has made such songs as'O Sole mio and Funiculì Funiculà a permanent part of our musical consciousness.
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.
Mario Merola was an Italian singer and actor, most prominently known for having rejuvenated the traditional popular Neapolitan melodrama known as the sceneggiata.
Guappo is a historical Italian criminal subculture and informal term of address in the Neapolitan language, roughly analogous to or meaning thug, swaggerer, pimp, braggart, or ruffian. While today the word is often used to indicate a member of the Camorra, a Mafia-type organisation in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy, the guapperia predates the modern Camorra and was originally a different and separate criminal subculture that considered itself very much independent of the Camorra.
Agostino Capozzi, known professionally as Mario Trevi, is an Italian singer and actor.
"Malafemmena" is a song written by the Neapolitan actor Totò in 1951. It has become one of the most popular Italian songs, a classic of the Canzone Napoletana genre, and has been recorded by many artists.
Il sindaco del Rione Sanità is a play in three acts by Neapolitan screenwriter and actor Eduardo De Filippo. It was written in 1960 and first presented on stage that same year by Eduardo himself, at the Quirino theatre in Rome.
Neomelodic music, or musica neomelodica, sometimes just neomelodico is a musical style originating from the Italian city of Naples.
Roberto Murolo was an Italian musician.
Dolores Palumbo was an Italian stage and film actress.
Mauro Nardi, stage name of Antonio Borrelli is an Italian singer.
Ettore Maria Fizzarotti was an Italian film director and screenwriter.
The Festival della Canzone Napoletana, commonly known as the Festival di Napoli, is a Neapolitan song contest. The first edition was held in 1952 and the last in 2004. From 1952 to 1970 the show was broadcast on RAI and from 1998 to 2004, in a differently spirited version, by Rete 4.
Sgarro alla camorra is a 1973 Italian musical-crime film written and directed by Ettore Maria Fizzarotti and starring Mario Merola at his film debut. It is regarded as the first sceneggiata film and as a prototype for the genre. It was shot in Cetara, Province of Salerno.
"Lazzarella" is a song composed by Domenico Modugno and Riccardo Pazzaglia. The song, with a performance by Aurelio Fierro, ranked second at the fifth edition of the Festival di Napoli. It also got an immediate commercial success, peaking at second place on the Italian hit parade.
Tradimento is a 1982 musical comedy film by Alfonso Brescia featuring Mario Merola, Antonio Allocca, and Nino D'Angelo set in Naples. The soundtrack contains several Neapolitan songs.
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