This stop, in particular, takes the reader from very far away: we are in the 13th century, when a rebellion called I vespri siciliani ("The Sicilian Vespers") breaks out in Palermo (asit was already written in the previous chapter). The citizens of Palermo gather in the square to drive out the French oppressor, the Angevins. This rebellion ended with the Peace of Caltabellotta, leading to the expulsion of the French from Sicily. In this period, the first prototype of the Sicilian flag, symbolizing freedom and identity, was also created. (if you want to know more about the flag and its meaning click on the flag for a small summary). This rebellion therefore acquires a fundamental role for the Sicilian people who see their strength and determination in that rebellion. This feeling travels through the centuries and reaches Giuseppe Verdi who puts it into music, writing the opera of the same name: I vespri siciliani. Carlo Munier1 ,then, wrote "Rapsodie drammatiche per mandolino e pianoforte sopra melodie celebri di G. Verdi"2 for piano and mandolin, a piece that I analysed and adapted for harp and mandolin. In this way I reached to work personally on its expressiveness, adding an artistic layer to the interpretation.
Before delving into the piece, it is important to highlight who Carlo Munier was. In the 19th century in Naples, Munier was a great mandolinist and did a lot for the instrument by writing methods and repertoire for the instrument. Today it is considered an obligatory and basic stage for mandolin players. Among the various works that have survived, the rhapsody on the Sicilian vespers does not seem to have much success today, in fact it is difficult to find it cited in the various Munier's biographies, and even expert mandolists are often unaware of its existence.
The charm of this piece captures the listener from the beginning, where Munier decided to insert one of the most characteristic and singable themes of the Sicilian vespers, namely La Tarantella.
But before getting to the heart of the tarantella, Munier lets us taste only the rhythm of the tarantella. In fact, it is not unusual for these popular tarantelle to begin with rhythmic parts and then begin with the melodic part later. Listening, for example, to a very famous Sicilian tarantella on the jew's harp, it is possible to notice that firstly is given the fisrt beat of each bar, then the key rhythm in the popular piece and then the "friscaletto" or flute begins which finally gives the melody. When Munier wrote this rhapsody, he was certainly clear on how tarantelle sounded, because he wrote with this exact idea.
Example 2. Seamusica Official, "Balli e tarantelle di Sicilia – Tarantella siciliana," YouTube video, 3:13, published January 15, 2020, https://youtu.be/wAseu-RUtDw?si=ug_51UT_VNmVgyhX.
What Munier seems to be doing on a thematic level is to expand a connecting section that Verdi inserts between the scene of "Cavalier, questofoglio..." of the second act and the actual tarantella, as well. In fact, in this section the violins already hint at a tarantella rhythmas , as in the score 3. The Tarantella is one of the most recognizable parts for its lively and cheerful rhythm, typical of Sicilian dance. The music accompanies a moment of popular celebration which, beneath the surface, anticipates more dramatic tensions. The dance develops immediately before the plot which will lead to a crucial moment in the plot. The tarantella helps to create a contrast between the festive atmosphere and the imminent tragic turning point that will occur later in the story.
Example 4. Recitativo in the original music by Verdi - Radio Televisione Italiana, "I Vespri Siciliani G. Verdi 1986 Teatro Comunale di Bologna M° Riccardo Chailly Bruno Lazzaretti," YouTube video, accessed February 3, 2025, https://youtu.be/WQHR55x_fyY?si=s5cBI9U_CVI2kqAB.
The theme of the tarantella is taken very faithfully to the original by entrusting the right hand with the voice of the first violins, flute, oboe, clarinet and the left hand with the voice of the second violins with the triplet chord, typical of a tarantella. The right hand rhythm required a lot of attention when it was brought to the harp. In fact, since the rhythm is very fast and the accents are a fundamental part of the rhythm, I decided to carefully choose a fingering that was functional in bringing out the rhythm, not slowing me down in speed and which at the same time was agile and light. In the video below it can seen the final result. In interpreting this passage I also decided to slightly change the dynamics that Munier decided to insert. In fact, he inserts "piano" throughout the passage, while Verdi clearly wanted a forte both because he writes it in the score and because he doubles the same voice on all the instruments. In my interpretation I thought it was more musical to do the strong theme the first time and the second mp 4.
As it could already heard in the video, in the second part of the tarantella the left hand changes: the chord this time is set with a note on the first beat and a chord on the second beat. This change of accompaniment is not present in the original score where the second violins continue with their triplets; but listening to the piece there is an expressive change and this is due to the fact that Bassoon and Horn stop playing their accompaniment notes. It may not seem like much but the final effect is very close to what Munier renders in his piece.
In the third section the violins lose the theme which passes to the three wind instruments: oboe, clarinet and bassoon. In the original version, these instruments create a more playful, cheerful atmosphere. In this case Munier modulates to C major, a smart move considering the difficulty of maintaining the original effect. In general this part should be played with a different spirit than before, remembering the original. The key change certainly guides the right interpretation. The second time the theme is repeated, Verdi adds the flutes, so I decided to make the second phrase brighter and stronger even if it repeats like the first. At this point Munier breaks away from the original version where the instruments begin to articulate themselves in chromatic scales. What Munier does, instead, is to take the phrase again and present it first in F major, then in A minor, then again in A minor and finally in D minor, and seems that he wants to close the tarantella as he began: 3 triplet rhythms are repeated and pressing octaves, until this rythm is forgotten and start the next section. In this case, I added a rallentando even though it is not indicated and I play the notes as detached as possible, with the goal of losing and making the listener forget the pressing rhythm of the tarantella.
In the next passage, Munier took into consideration the aria "S'avanza l'ora del piacere!"(The hour of pleasure is approaching), where the French governor organizes a ball in honor of Elena, the female protagonist, as a gesture of courtesy. However, this event takes place in a context of oppression and tension between the Sicilians and the French, who are occupying the Sicily. The dance, apparently joyful, masks the tension and discontent that spreads among the Sicilians.
The theme is ceded to the mandolin in Munier's rhapsody, mandoline which until now had mainly accompanied the piano, while the piano is given the harmony with a rhythm that is very reminiscent of the march. Ideally, I would have liked to recall the idea of the distant choir that is present in the original also with the mandolin, but being a very weak instrument on a sound level and not being able to take advantage of important amplification during the concert and the recording5 we simply followed the score. However, this does not prevent us from interpreting the first passage with the appropriate amplification, adding (at least in the recording) an effect to convey the sense of distance.
In this part there is also a very complex chromatic transition. In this case observing the use of chromaticisms, it is possible to see how Munier carefully planned this step by step; but through enharmony I managed to solve the problem and play the passage.
It is possible to see the passage rewritten as it can actually be played on the harp (image 6), with the writing of the pedals. This solution is not unique, in fact I have found more than one but I think it is the most convenient for evidencing noises due to pedal changes and reduces the problems of repeatedly playing the same note, a technique which is not convenient on the harp and not very effective.
In the next part the atmosphere changes radically, the mandolin gives way to the piano and Munier presents us with the theme with which the opera opens: the Overture. In this passage that Munier himself indicates to us, "Largo" is where, as a harpist, I allowed myself to give more freedom to the instrument. In fact, I would define this part as a "largo expressive". Before listening my version, I propose the Overture in the original Verdi's opera.
The theme is certainly very linked and the sound propagates. The theme given to flute, clarinet and bassoon allows for a clear, warm and incisive sound thanks to the bassoon. In general the Overture is not just a musical introduction, but a true summary of the emotions and conflicts that will be developed in the opera. It move from moments of great solemnity to episodes of poignant lyricism, up to explosions of energy and tension.
In interpreting this passage I therefore wanted to give the same tension, and at the same time I wanted to make the part more harpistic. So I added some arpeggiated chords and more freedom. Two recordings can be compared: the first demostrates how Munier wrote for piano, the second one is how I adapted in a harpistic way.
Before continuing with the next section Munier inserts a small cadenza for mandolin. In our interpretation (me and the mandolinist one) we decided to rewrite the cadence and have the mandolin improvise6, therefore to underline the idea of freedom that we wanted to give to this whole Adagio and to also allow the mandolin to be more expressive.
That festive aria seems to emerge from the harmonization and rhythm. Bars 13-14-15 seem to be inserted precisely to make the context clear, and the harmony goes into major for a moment, to continuously modulate in the following bars precisely to highlight the emotional instability of the characters in Verdi's original.
In my interpretation of piano part I tried to give more value and weight to the left hand and therefore to the first downbeat of the bar and to play the other two lighter: this is because, on one hand the waltz rhythm of the passage is highlighted, and, on the other hand, these low octaves in the harps provide a very dark aspect to the passage. Furthermore, the high and playful sound that the mandolin has, does not provide that allegretto character of the passages.
We continue with the next section of the piece in which Munier quotes the scene "Se sincero e' quell'accento" (If sincere is that accent), still in Act IV. In this scene the dialogue between Arrigo and Elena is full of pathos. Elena suspects Arrigo's betrayal, while the latter tries to convince her of the purity of his heart. In this passage the climate seems relaxed but the two voices intertwine with each other, and it is precisely the intertwining of the two voices that creates this growing pathos which at the end of the scene sees a small rapprochement between the two characters.
Munier demonstrates great compositional skill in this part, as he manages to recreate this mix of voices without ever abandoning the melody. This "Allegro" theme, as it is defined, is firstly given to the piano, the mandolin enters after a few bars and if at the beginning it only seems to accompany the theme, that was definitively given to the piano, later it takes on power, the piano on its side it returns to accompany, creating a harmony that helps the final pathos climax with the continuous modulations.
I think that in this part can be really appreciated the intertwining of two plucked instruments such as the harp and the mandolin. Listening to the passage it will be clearly noticed how the two voices intertwine with each other creating a tense, but at the same time cheerful atmosphere7. Once again Verdi, and consequently Munier, play with the contradictions between a climate of celebration and tension.
We are almost at the end of this rhapsody, Munier takes us back to the opera to Act III, scene "Mentre contemplo quel volto amato (While I contemplate that beloved face). In this aria Arrigo has just discovered that his father is the French governor, oppressor of Sicily. In this aria Monforte sings happily about knowing his son, while Arrigo is desperate for the internal conflict that is developing within him: on the one hand his love for Elena, on the other his blood bond with his father. This theme is taken up again later in the duet this time by Arrigo who seems to develop it. This theme plays the role of internal conflict of Arrigo's character. In the two recordings it will noticed the same theme sung first by Monforte and then by Arrigo.
In this part the music is very pressing and a rhythm reminiscent of a waltz is resumed, but the general sensation is of having reached the pinnacle of a climax. In this part, in contrast, Munier does not take up the accompaniment of the original work, but gives a triplet rhythm to the piano. This rhythm really lends itself very well on the harp and when I saw this passage for the first time, I admit that I thought it was originally written for the harp. The triplet rhythm leads to accompaniment of the melody and creates a second melody with the highest note of each figure (highlighted notes).
The same theme is already anticipated in the Overture before these scenes, and perhaps it is precisely from where Munier takes the theme. In the Overture, in fact, the theme is inserted in a pure, playful, cheerful way, presented several times with small variations. Going more specifically, the first time the theme is given to the celli, while the violas accompany with a triplet rhythm that recalls the one used by Munier on the piano.
The second time the whole orchestra becomes part of this theme: the cello resumes its role, but it is also joined by bassoon, clarinet. A group of wind instruments that we have already met during the opera and which provides a decisive, warm and sweet timbre at the same time. In contrast, this time the theme is not accompanied by a triplet rhythm from the violas but rather chords in the form of arpeggios in eighth note rhythm given to piccolo, flute and oboe.
The following and last section of this piece offers a confirmation that Munier was inspired by the theme taken from the Overture and not from the third act precisely because the theme of the last section follows the previous one on a thematic level even in the original version,as it's possible to listen in the example 26.8