Funiculì, Funiculà

Funicular on Vesuvius. Stereo photo by Giorgio Sommer .

Funiculì, Funiculà [funikuˈli funikuˈla] is a popularly held song in Neapolitan from 1880, which was composed on the occasion of the opening of the funicular to Mount Vesuvius . It is the product of a collaboration between the lyricist Peppino Turco and the composer Luigi Denza . This funicular was completely destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in 1944 and was later replaced by a chairlift . This was shut down in 1984, but the song still lives on successfully as a classic evergreen .

text

The play on words funiculì, funiculà from funicular ' funicular railway' and from the local adverbs lì 'da' and là 'there' means something like : "Cable car there, cable car there", "Cable car up, cable car down" or "Cable car up, cable car down" . The text (in Neapolitan dialect) consists of an advertising appeal by the singer to his Giovanna to visit the top of Vesuvius by funicular, to enjoy the wide view as far as France and Spain and to marry him. It reads in the original:

Aieressera, oì Nanninè, me ne sagliette,
tu saie addò tu saie addò
Addò 'stu core' ngrato cchiù dispietto
farms now pò!
Addò lo fuoco coce, ma si fuie
te lassa sta!
E now te corre appriesso, now te struie
sulo a guardà.
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,
funiculì, funiculà!

No, jamme da la terra a la montagna! no passo nc'è!
Se vede Francia, Proceta e la Spagna…
Io veco a tte!
Tirato co la fune, diritto 'nfatto,
' ncielo se va.
Se va comm '' à lu viento a l'intrasatto, guè, saglie sà!
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,
funiculì, funiculà!

Se n '' è sagliuta, oì Nè, se n '' è sagliuta, la capa già!
È gghiuta, pò è turnata, pò è venuta,
sta sempe ccà!
La capa vota, vota, attuorno, attuorno,
attuorno a tte!
Sto core canta sempe
nu taluorno
Sposamme, oì Nè!
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà,
funiculì, funiculà!

Edits

The popular melody was used by Richard Strauss in his symphonic poem From Italy in 1885/86 , which allegedly led to a legal dispute with the composer, but has not been archived. The main motif was quoted by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1907 in the Neapolitan Song and in 1909 by Alfredo Casella in the Italia orchestral suite.

The Munich Dixie band Hot Dogs released a cover version of the song in the 1970s on the nonsense text "Look hi, there's a dead fish in the water".

Web links

Funiculì, Funiculà : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project

Sheet music in the public domain by Funiculì, Funiculà in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

Neapolitan and German text version

Audio sample sung by Luciano Pavarotti

Individual evidence

↑ Portanapoli: Funiculì, Funiculà.
↑ Barbara Delcker: “From Italy. Symphonic Fantasy in G major op. 16 ”. In: Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik . Vol. 3: S-Z (= Piper 8228 series). Schott / Piper, Mainz / Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7957-8228-7 , pp. 890 - 892.
↑ "Look hi, there's a dead fish in the water" at hitparade.ch, accessed on June 9, 2014.
↑ "Look hi, there's a dead fish in the water" at last.fm, accessed on June 9, 2014.

[1] Portanapoli: Funiculì, Funiculà.

[2] Barbara Delcker: “From Italy. Symphonic Fantasy in G major op. 16 ”. In: Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik . Vol. 3: S-Z (= Piper 8228 series). Schott / Piper, Mainz / Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7957-8228-7 , pp. 890 - 892.

[3] "Look hi, there's a dead fish in the water" at hitparade.ch, accessed on June 9, 2014.

[4] "Look hi, there's a dead fish in the water" at last.fm, accessed on June 9, 2014.