'O sole mio

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'O sole mio ( Neapolitan for My Sun ) is a song composed in April 1898 by the Neapolitan musician and composer Eduardo Di Capua . The Neapolitan 'o corresponds to the Italian article il .

Emergence

Eduardo Di Capua was on tour with the Neapolitan State Orchestra in 1898. One night, in the then southern Russian port city of Odessa , Di Capua could not sleep because of the cold and because he was homesick. When the sun rose in the morning and shone through the hotel room, the melody for 'O sole mio came to mind. Di Capua underlay the melody with verses by the Neapolitan poet Giovanni Capurro . Despite its place of origin, 'O sole mio is a Neapolitan folk song. Di Capua also created the world-famous song O, Marie and, like Capurro, died in poverty because there was no copyright and corresponding royalties at that time. Both authors sold the rights to Ferdinando Bideri's publishing house in Naples for 25 lire.

There is a third author, as he transferred the notes from 'O sole mio onto the music paper: Emanuele Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878–1972). While Mazzucchi made no financial claims, his heirs sued for copyright, and the process dragged on for 25 years. In October 2002, the Turin judge Maria Alvau finally ruled in favor of the Mazzucchi, who now hold the rights to the song until 2042. Annual royalties are estimated at $ 250,000.

Paquito del Bosco, the artistic director of the sound archive of the Italian national radio ( RAI ), draws attention to the historical background in his publication. In the Neapolitan district of Mergellina near the church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta, a festival took place every year on September 8th for centuries, the Festa di Piedigrotta , at which a song of the year has also been chosen since the 1830s. The conditions for the song were three stanzas, the content of spring and love and the text in dialect. At this festival, Di Capuas Lied won the second prize in 1898.

distribution

Di Capua created with 'O sole mio a popular song , which celebrated its catchy melody a triumphal march around the world. The great Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso recorded the song in 1916, and Giuseppe Anselmi's recordings are known from 1907 . Later, almost all the great tenors included the song in their repertoire. Popular music singers such as Dean Martin also recorded the song with great success. The version It's Now or Never sung by Elvis Presley (with a text by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold) reached number 1 in both Great Britain and the USA in 1960 .

At the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 the Italian national anthem could not be found and instead played 'O sole mio .

The song is and was the favorite piece of celebrities like Mikhail Gorbachev , Pope John Paul II , Hugo Chávez . The first cosmonaut in space, Yuri Gagarin , hummed the tune during his first orbit around the world.

song lyrics

Neapolitan (original)    Italian    German translation
Che bella cosa è na jurnata 'e sole, Che bella cosa una giornata di sole, How beautiful is a sunny day
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta! un'aria serena dopo una tempesta! the clear air after a storm!
Pe 'll'aria fresca para già na festa ... Per l'aria fresca pare già una festa The fresh air looks like a party
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole. Che bella cosa una giornata di sole. How beautiful is a sunny day.
 
Ma n'atu sole cchiù bello, oi ne ', Ma un altro sole più bello non c'è. There is no sun that is more beautiful (than you).
'o sole mio sta nfronte a te! Il sole mio, sta in fronte a te! Oh, my sun, shines from you!
'o sole,' o sole mio, sta nfronte a te, Il sole, il sole mio, sta in fronte a te, The sun, my sun, shines from you
sta nfronte a te! sta in fronte a te! shines from you!

In most interpretations there are additional stanzas. The text part is repeated with “Ma n'atu sole… 'o sole mio…” as a refrain for each stanza . For examples see or.

Famous artists (selection)

Famous performers were or are:

literature

Web links

Wikibooks: Lyrics  - (Neapolitan, Italian, German)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holger Hettinger: Song to the sun . In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur , August 27, 2008.
  2. ↑ a b c "'O sole mio" focus of the new book. ( Memento from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: Il Denaro , November 28, 2006, (English).
  3. ↑ Jeff Matthews: Texts to some Neapolitan Songs - 'O Sole Mill . In: naplesldm.com , 2002; see. longer lyrics by Jeff Matthews: 'O Sole Mio. In: University of Maryland , University College Europe , scroll down .
  4. ↑ Umberto de Fabio: 'O sole mio (Di Capua-Capurro). In: napoletanita.it ; accessed on July 27, 2017.
  5. ↑ Italian version: Il sole mio. In: italiamerica.org , with audio file by Enrico Caruso (Neapolitan), accessed on July 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ German translation: O sole mio . In: Worlds of Music ; accessed on July 27, 2017.
  7. ↑ Neapolitan lyrics with links to translations. In: lyricstranslate.com .
  8. ↑ Lyrics and translation. In: portanapoli.de .
  9. ↑ Reviews of Holger Hettinger: Song to the sun . In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur , August 27, 2008 and
      Christoph Winder: World hit on the singing saw . In: Der Standard , May 30, 2008.