La Danza
"La danza" (Dance) (1835) is a patter song by Gioachino Rossini, in Tarantella napoletana time, the eighth song of the collection Les soirées musicales (1830–1835). The lyrics are by Count Carlo Pepoli (it), librettist of Vincenzo Bellini's opera I puritani. "La danza" is a stand-alone chamber vocal piece, rather than part of a larger work.
Franz Liszt transcribed it for piano; Frédéric Chopin used the song as inspiration for his Tarantelle in A-flat, Op. 43;[1] and Ottorino Respighi featured it in La Boutique fantasque. "La danza" was loosely the original source of the popular wedding tarantella "C'è la luna mezzo mare" and its English versions "Oh! Ma-Ma!" and "Lazy Mary".[2]
Lyrics
|: Già la luna è in mezzo al mare, mamma mia, si salterà! frinche, frinche, frinche, ogni coppia a cerchio va, frinche, frinche, frinche, |
|: Now the moon is over the ocean; Mamma mia, we're going to leap! faster, faster, faster, every couple have a turn, faster, faster, faster, |
References
- Sotheby’s Auctions
- Shannon, Bob; Javna, John (1986). Behind the Hits. Warner Books. ISBN 978-0446381710. (excerpt
External links
Media related to La danza (Rossini) at Wikimedia Commons
- Soirées musicales (No. 8: "La Danza"): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project