Written 1880 Composer(s) Luigi Denza Language Neapolitan | Published 1880 Lyricist(s) Peppino Turco | |
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"Funiculì, Funiculà" ([funikuˈli ffunikuˈla]) is a famous Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza to lyrics by Peppino Turco. It was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. It was presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival the same year. The sheet music was published by Ricordi and sold over a million copies within a year. It has been widely adapted and recorded since its publication.
Contents
History
"Funiculì, Funiculà" was composed in 1880 in Castellammare di Stabia, the home town of the song's composer, Luigi Denza; the lyrics were contributed by journalist Peppino Turco. It was Turco who prompted Denza to compose it, perhaps as a joke, to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius in that year. The song was sung for the first time in the Quisisana Hotel in Castellammare di Stabia. It was presented by Turco and Denza at the Piedigrotta festival during the same year and became immensely popular in Italy and abroad. Published by Casa Ricordi, the sheet music sold over a million copies in a year.
Adaptations and unintentional plagiarism
Six years after "Funiculì, Funiculà" was written, the German composer Richard Strauss heard the song while on a tour of Italy. Thinking that it was a traditional Neapolitan folk song, he incorporated it into his Aus Italien tone poem. Denza filed a lawsuit against Strauss and won; Strauss was forced to pay him a royalty fee. The Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov also mistook "Funiculì, Funiculà" for a traditional folk song and used it in his 1907 "Neapolitanskaya pesenka" (Neapolitan Song). Cornetist Herman Bellstedt used it as the basis for a theme and variations titled Napoli; a transcription for euphonium is also popular among many performers. Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg arranged a version for ensemble in 1921 which was used in an episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld.. An instrumental version was also used in the Woody Allen film Broadway Danny Rose, where it is often played as background music.
In 1960, Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman wrote a new set of English lyrics to the melody of "Funiculì, Funiculà" titled "Dream Boy." Annette Funicello included the song on her album of Italian songs titled Italiannette and also released it as a single, becoming a minor hit. "Dream Boy" was featured the following year in the Walt Disney television production Escapade in Florence. An earlier Disney adaptation is in the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment of the 1947 animated feature Fun and Fancy Free in which Mickey Mouse returns with magic beans while a starving Donald Duck and Goofy fantasize about a sumptuous feast. Big Idea Productions Veggie Tales series used the tune with new lyrics about a top hat, chocolates and a trolley stop for the "Classy Songs with Larry" segment in "Lyle the Kindly Viking", entitled 'Larry's High Silk Hat'.
The tune was used with different lyrics in the commercials for the board game The Grape Escape and the drawing toy, Doodle Dome.
Over the years the song has been performed by many artists including Erna Sack, Anna German, Mario Lanza, The Mills Brothers, Connie Francis, The Grateful Dead, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, and Il Volo. The song is also referenced by The Decemberists in the song Song for Myla Goldberg on their album Her Majesty the Decemberists. Topo Gigio, on an episode on Ed Sullivan's show, introduced his family of Italian mice who sang the song together.
Original Neapolitan lyrics
In Turco's original lyrics, a young man compares his sweetheart to a volcano, and invites her to join him in a romantic trip to the summit.
Traditional English lyrics
Edward Oxenford, a lyricist and translator of librettos, wrote lyrics with scant relationship to the original that became traditional in English-speaking countries. His version of the song often appears with the title "A Merry Life".