Francesco Bellotta (1834-1907) was a Palermitan harpist and pupil of Filippo Scotti (showed and also the scheme of harp classes in Italy, Bellotta was a pupil of Filippo Scotti, and therefore also a colleague of G. Caramiello. He certainly went to Naples to study, but after finishing his studies he returned to his island. Bellotta ideally follows the same journey as this research: from Naples he returns to Palermo and brings with him a truly important Neapolitan cultural and musical background. In Palermo, in addition to teaching, he also works on composing and writing several songs that have unfortunately been forgotten. I had several difficulties in finding Bellotta's scores. In this page I will develop two pieces that will highlight how the cities of Naples and Palermo were closely connected to each other, and how musical trend were common.
Unfortunately, there are not much informations about Bellotta's life because there are not biographies or historical documentation. I also searched through newspaper articles from the period and found nothing about him. It would seem like an almost completely forgotten artist because in many of the "harp histories" that I have studied this artist is not mentioned or it appears only his name. More informations appear only in two sources: the first is "The history of the harp" by R. Ruta as has already been seen in chapter II and in "Memoirs and studies" on the harp by Gelsomina Naclerio.
«We would have many beautiful compositions for the harp if misfortune had not struck the poor Palermo-born Bellotta, who lost his sanity. Few of his compositions remain, but they exhibit a simple, lively style marked by a unique brilliance and originality.».1
Emanuela Battigelli2 recently brought his compositions back to life, however, in my research I did not want to rely too much on her interpretations but I tried to build my own style. I decided to analyze her interpretations and to compare them to mine and trying to analyze Bellotta's pieces considering what I has been said about Naples and all the backgroudn that he lived. With a broader awareness and with a look at the kingdom of the two Sicilies and not just the score.
This piece3 demonstrates how the customs of Naples are brought to Palermo. In fact, this song is based on a popular Neapolitan theme “no granillo no mazzo di fiori” ("no granules, no bunch of flowers"). It is a song, that represents the desire of a man towards a woman, which does not pretend too much formality, but describes how a song sang in the alleys and countryside of Naples finds new life, first in the Neapolitan salons, then travels through the streets of the kingdom and arrives in Palermo, where through Bellotta's notes it resonates.
Unfortunately, there are no versions of the original popular song, but it seems Bellotta brings it back without too many variations or embellishments, listening to his piece would not be too far from listening the original one.
What I did is to compare my recording with Emanuela Battigelli's one. 4. Both to give another interpretive perspective and to validate my artistic-interpretive decisions.
Example 44. Francesco Bellotta, Fior di Primavera: Canzone per arpa, Concerto L'Eco dal Popolo, Museo Baglio Florio in the Archaeological Park of Selinunte, December 28, 2024, video, Bono Fotografo StudYmmagine, 2025, https://youtu.be/kDYbE-d_l2c?si=w9nB2qHU5D93Ght0.
Example 45. Emanuela Battigelli, Fior di Primavera, in Fiori Ritrovati, album (Amerio Stefano Edizioni Musicali, 2024), https://youtu.be/HIaqOmm3mDo?si=JyZpu_v7bNv6rHI8.
The opening incipit is very similar in both interpretations. The big difference, that is immediately noticeable, is when the actual theme begins. Battigellia plays a very slow tempo indeed. In my interpretation, on the other hand, I prefered to play faster. This decision is based on two main purposes:
- the first reason is that the bass line in left hand makes us think of a more walked tempo, like a dance, later on the theme is doubled on two different octaves which is very reminiscent of Caramiello's variation style. Caramiello himself when he writes this effect in order to simulate the sound of a mandolin.
- the second reason regarding "Fiori di Primavera", also known "No Granillo no mazzo de fiori", is also variated by Caramiello himself. Here is a recording by Letizia Belmondo in which it is clear what was the rhythm in Caramiello's mind when he wrote his version of the theme. I suggest to listen especially the first part for having an idea.
In my version, as I previously said, I have tried to enhance the character of song it is meant to be. I tried to give it a sparkling, cheerful, playful character while trying not to fall into parody.
In the book of Teodoro Cottrau5, I also found the lyrics of the original song,I report it with the English translation in order to get even clearer about the character of the original theme.
No granillo, no mazzo de fiore!
A lo barcone affacciate,
Ca te voglio parlare;
L'ammore che tengo 'ncore Io vengo a te spiegare.
No granillo, no mazzo de fiore,
Nenna bella, va dillo a mamma,
Ca stasera te voglio parlare.
Rosa de primavera,
Giglio de qualità,
Arancio che la sera
Me viene a profumà.
No granillo, no mazzo de fiore,
Nenna bella, va dillo a mamma,
Ca stasera te voglio parlare.
Me vesto po' da prevete,
Te vengo a confessà,
Tutto te voglio assolvere,
Se tu me vuoie spusà!
No granillo, no mazzo de fiore,
Nenna bella, va dillo a mamma,
Ca stasera te voglio parlare.
Ma non fa' chiu' la spruceta,
Lo core tujo me dà;
La rosa e lo garofano
Avimmo ad accoppia'.
No granillo, no mazzo de fiore,
Nenna bella, va dillo a mamma,
Ca stasera te voglio parlare.6
No grain, no bouquet of flowers!
By the balcony, lean out,
For I want to speak to you;
The love I hold in my heart,
I’ve come to explain to you.
No grain, no bouquet of flowers,
Beautiful girl, go tell your mama,
That tonight I want to speak to you.
Rose of springtime,
Lily of such grace,
Orange blossom that in the evening
Comes to perfume my space.
No grain, no bouquet of flowers,
Beautiful girl, go tell your mama,
That tonight I want to speak to you.
I’ll dress up as a priest,
And come to hear your confession;
I’ll absolve you of everything,
If you’ll agree to our union!
No grain, no bouquet of flowers,
Beautiful girl, go tell your mama,
That tonight I want to speak to you.
But don’t act coy anymore,
Give me your heart at last;
The rose and the carnation
We must unite fast.
No grain, no bouquet of flowers,
Beautiful girl, go tell your mama,
That tonight I want to speak to you.7
The "Fantasia sur trovatore" by F. Bellotta8 is one of the pieces I liked most in the entire research. In this piece Bellotta really demonstrates his skill as a composer, but also as a harpist. Also in this case, I decided to compare my recording9 with Emanuela Battigelli's one, to analyze my choices compared to hers10.
I now divide into five sections.
Here I report the link of the piece played by Emanuela Battigelli
Document 6. Francesco Bellotta, Il Trovatore, Fantaisie sur l'Opéra de Verdi, pour Harpe, Op. 10, https://ks15.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/9/99/IMSLP454793-PMLP739188-bellota-Il_trovatore,_fantaisie_sur_l'op%C3%A9ra_de_Verdi,_pour_harpe.pdf.
Just from the beginning of the section A, we notice two different characters, while Battigelli prefers to followmore the indication of score without "rubati" or freer parts, in my recording we notice already from the first arpeggio a greater freedom, a greater use of rubati and ritardandi, and an enhancement of the dynamics indicated by Bellotta himself (ff, p, pp). I interpreted this first part can be interpreted as an introduction of the opera theme of the second section, in which Bellotta plays with characteristic harp techniques: arpeggi, volatine, glissandi.
Example 46. Beginning Section A - Francesca Campo, Il Trovatore, Fantaisie sur l'Opéra de Verdi, pour Harpe, concert L'Eco dal Popolo, Museo Baglio Florio at the Archaeological Park of Selinunte, December 28, 2024, video, Bono Fotografo StudYmmagine, 2025, https://youtu.be/CIjqRBI3ENw?si=BGcDQcllEW3OjquN.
Example 47. Beginning Section A - Emanuela Battigelli, Fantasia su "Il Trovatore" di Verdi Op. 10, in Fiori Ritrovati, album, Amerio Stefano Edizioni Musicali, 2024, https://youtu.be/A1fhZzoXHS0?si=WMX3orrn8ZjKC0z3.
In the phrase consisting of chords that anticipates the glissando, Battigelli and I had two almost opposite interpretative ideas, while she wanted to create tension with a crescendo (written by Bellotta) and a ritardando (not written by Bellotta), I created a crescendo with an accellerando first and a ritardando later. Two interpretive ideas that I would evaluate both as valid considering that Bellotta does not give much other guidance.
The glissando should also be taken under analysis. In fact in this case Bellotta marks in the score every single note in the glissando, it would be more correct to play it as Battigelli does in her recording, but after several attempts I preferred to take more freedom to create a greater crescendo and make more sense of the chord that divides the ascending glissando from the descending one. This allows me to immediately play pianissimo after a crescendo exactly as requested in the score.
At the conclusion of the glissando there seems to be a engraving error that again is interpreted differently by both of us. In my recording the glissando concludes in the bass clef with an F that is repeated as an echo in 4 different octaves. However, as it can be seen in the side-by-side detail, it is true that the key change mark is marked after the four Fs. The correct notes then should be D, D, F, F in succession.
The glissando, as it is written, should then end on middle C and then be picked up by the other hand from F on the fifth octave and end on middle D. But, the enharmony proposed by Bellotta makes us think that those notes cannot be two Ds, two Cs, two As etc... but two F, two E two C etc. exactly as the glissando started at the beginning. For this reason I have no way to play a D natural, since Bellotta himself indicates that he wants an enharmonic glissato with two E two F sharps an A bequadro and two C. Therfore, at the moment the pedalboard is in the position of image 24(D sharp, C natural, B sharp, E flat, F sharp, G flat, A natural).
If Battigelli had wanted to interpret the four notes after the glissando as D, D, F, F she would have had to change pedals during the glissando (and these would have caused a lot of noise) and she would have had to end the glissando at middle D instead of returning to the octave where the glissando started.
In the part of arpeggios that follows the glissando and which is found in almost the entire rest of the first section, Battigelli is very faithful to the score, which unfortunately makes the passage a little cumbersome and makes us forget that we are in a fantasy about the opera. Bellotta on his part does not help us by writing this passage as if it were a study on harp arpeggios. In my interpretation I tried as much as possible to make this passage as less boring as possible by playing with colours, rallentando, accellerando and rubato as much as possible, as can be heard in the recording.
In the final part of this passage (we are at the first bar of the fifth line of the second page) Battigelli makes a sudden accelerando for which I cannot give an explanation, furthermore we cannot perceive from the recording the sudden change in dynamics that Bellotta himself indicates to us: from fortissimo to pianissimo.
There isn't much to add about the final part of the first section. The only thing on which the two recordings differ a lot are the arpeggiated chords, in fact if Battigelli arpeggiates them but in a quite strict way given that Bellotta is not indicated in the passage arpeggiated chords, in this case I arpeggiated them a lot, especially the last one to give the music some breathing room and prepare them for a new theme.
The section B can be divided in two parts, every part is then variated:
- the first one is a dark theme with a real caractheristic rythm, that then it's porposed variated with an important theme in the left hand;
- the second one is a busic box theme, then variated giving the melody only at the third and fourth finger of the right hand.
The two harpists have two different ideas of the tempo: if Battigelli takes a more confortable tempo, probably in view of the complex variation that begins at the end of the page, in my interpretation I tried to take an "Andantino". Furthermore, a tempo that is too slow does not allow the dotted rhythm characteristic of this passage and this theme to stand out.
In my recording I tried to play with the dynamics. Bellotta doesn't give us any directions here. However, the music itself helps us understand how to interpret certain passages.
I report my interpretative choices:
- In bar 3 the theme begins which the composer marks with piano, in bar 7 where he takes it up again I think of it as an mf, with a small crescendo;
- At bar 10 I return to an mf/f and then immediately make a piano at bar 12, to recreate a "question, answer" effect;
- At bar 14 I return with an mf/f which this time I keep until the "answer" where I make a crescendo;
- On the upbeat of measure 18 a holds begins, again in f and then a tempo that ends on the first beat of 22.
- At bar 22 there is an immediate p.
- In the octave scale Bellotta only marks a diminuendo at bar 25: beeing already on the piano and since it is a rather long scale I preferred to first do a crescendo with accelerando and then diminuendo with ritardando.
Throughout the passage that begins at bar 26 and ends at bar 40, two different techniques were used in the left hand part In the two interpretations. By playing the passage very slowly, Battigelli does not dampen the notes just played each time, certainly to also enhance the legate that the composer indicates for the left hand. In my version, however, the left hand theme is played almost entirely in etouffes, both to avoid noises due to placing the fingers back on the string close to the one just played and in a fairly low octave, and because it gives a more brilliant character. at the passage.
Once this section is finished, Bellotta brings up a music box. To make music box' idea more clear, I tried to make the most of the left hand play, playing the first note of each bar with a light accent. In this way the passage is lighter. Furthermore, in the last bar, to create a clear division between this part and the part that comes after, which as we will see is just a variation of the theme just played, I eliminated the last chord a third beat of the bar. Battigelli, on the other hand, once again appears very faithful to the score but plays the passage very slowly: the whole section ends with an idea of general heaviness.
This section is characterized by the singing given to the third or fourth finger. It is therefore important that the time chosen at the beginning is the same now. Also for this reason I chose to make the whole passage faster, because otherwise making the melody sing in this case would have been very difficult since the grace notes are higher in the melody and naturally risk coming out more easily.
In last bar of the second line of the second page I also create a small crescendo with the grace notes on the right to connect the next part, in this way it can be better perceived how the second part of the period is a natural resolution of the first.
At this point Bellotta returns to the theme presented in section B, creating a sort of circle structure. In doing so, the accompaniment of the left hand varies slightly as can be seen from the parts highlighted in the image on the side.
This feature is highlighted in both recordings with the only difference once again being the chosen tempo.
The section C develops on chromatic successions. My idea was to bring out the staccato (which Bellotta indicates in the paragraph) and to give an idea of the phrase. In doing so I tried to create a kind of dynamic curve: speed up slightly and grow a little and then decrease and slow down slightly. A very small movement of the dynamics but which allows the whole band to be more appreciable and with a musical sense.
Battigelli is once again rigorously follow the score. However, she succeeds very well in the diminuendo which begins at bar 24c, with balance she manages to decrease bar by bar to arrive at a ppp at the end of the passage.
In finding my own interpretation of the passage I admit that I tried the most different things. The passage being very repetitive, long and starting from a p to arrive at a ppp.
At the beginning I first experienced a crescendo that culminated at bar 28c and then a diminuendo began from that point. After playing it for a few months, however, I didn't like the solution and it seemed to me that, instead of making the passage less boring, it made it heavier. So I preferred to follow the instructions of the score and understand how to better manage the diminuendo. Here I report both versions so it can be shown clearer the difference and be able to form own opinion.
The following section D begins with a phrase I found it very difficult to make sense of this retort. In the end, bringing this part back to the fourth act of "Il trovatore", I decided to overturn the metric and create a "bell effect" with these kings. Verdi on his side in the fourth act to create more pathos with strings and wind instruments recreates somewhat the same effect, let's hear it in the recording alongside.
Battigelli instead imagines an accelerando with a crescendo in this section. In her version there is certainly more respect for Bellotta's notation and the staccato effect that perhaps he wanted by inserting the dots under the E.
Furthermore, if we compare her recording and mine, we also notice a different agreement. In fact, in the second arpeggio Battigelli seems to be playing a natural E. I wasn't able to give an explanation, there could be three hypotheses:
- she found, unlike, the original version of the passage and noticed an error in the score
- we have two different versions of the score
- mistake during performance
Since it is a recording I doubt it could be the last option because he could have recorded it again.
In the small part that follows Bellotta seems to recreate a cadence. However, it doesn't leave us much freedom regarding the rhythm: as we see in the photo, it inserts a semi-bisquaver triplet and the last note of the arpeggio is a bisquaver. Beating the rhythm therefore the final result is as in recording.
I admit that this rhythm does not allow for great freedom in the passage, but I am sure that if Bellotta preferred to write this rhythm rather than the classic arpeggio it is because he wanted it to sound that way. Battigelli, on the other hand, in this case does not follow the rhythm that Bellotta marks precisely, this would allow her to have more freedom in the passage and it could make sense if she had taken more freedom. However, what she does is following the time without ritardiandi or large accelerandi. Such a use of rhythm in this case does not enhance the passage and Battigelli seems to take a liberty without however making good use of it.
The next part also sounds like a harp cadenza. Once again we see how two harpists can interpret the same passage differently. Battigelli shows her skills by playing this part very quickly. In general the passage is very well played even if it gives little value to the characteristic note of the passage, which is played with the left hand jumping over the right hand: Bellotta inserts a dot under that note to indicate its importance.
In my version I took more freedom, but there is an error that I noticed after execution. In fact, Bellotta clearly inserts a flat D during the passage, whereas in my performance the D remains natural. It is also true that the whole passage suffers from writing mistake, the G flat is often missing, where it is evidently G flat for example, so I am no sure if the D is actually flat or not, especially because it is not sound bad in both case.
The piece presents here the aria "Deserto sulla terra". The idea of air is very clear in both recordings. In Battigelli's recording once again the tempo seems a little slower. However, Battigelli managed to reduce the noise to zero. Since a passage is played entirely in the central area of the harp, it is very difficult for the passage to be clean, but in Emanuele's recording the singing is more pleasant and with less smudging, probably also because she managed to take her time. The only negative note is the sudden change in tempo as soon as the part sung on the harp begins, comparing with the last cadenza.
This part of the work and the imagination is one of the most emblematic of the piece. In fact, Bellotta, with great compositional skill, manages to merge the harp part that Verdi actually wrote in the original, with the part sung by the character Conte Luna. Since in my interpretation not only listening to the aria but also studying the orchestra passage for harp, an instrument that communicates exclusively with the singer in this part, was fundamental, I report the recording of the original and then of the passage orchestra to get a clear idea.
In conclusion, it is important to say that at the moment Battigelli and I are the only ones to have published recordings on Francesco Bellotta. This chapter has two main objectives:
- give solid explanations of my artistic interpretations
- bring this composer even more into vogue and help future harpists to approach his pieces with a focused perspective, remembering that behind a piece there is always a story and that without it, it is not possible to play a piece with an artistic sense a piece.