We have arrived at the penultimate stage of this journey which has Palermo as its protagonist.
The 19th century was a crucial period for Sicilian song and for the musical transformation of Palermo, marked by significant artistic and cultural developments intertwined with the city’s social and economic changes. While opera remained the central focus of Palermo’s musical life, with major venues such as Teatro Carolino and Teatro Santa Cecilia, the city gradually expanded its musical offerings to include symphonic, chamber, and sacred music1.
During the 19th century, Sicily underwent profound social and economic changes. The revolution of 1848-1849 forced many political exiles to seek refuge in England and France, while the unification of Italy in 1861 did not resolve social inequalities or the economic gap between the North and South. The mafia emerged as a powerful force, documented as early as 1876 by Sonnino and Franchetti. Although certain industries, such as sulfur mining and Marsala wine production, thrived, Sicily’s economy remained largely agricultural2.
From a demographic perspective, the population of Sicily grew by 42% between 1871 and 1911, but this increase was heavily affected by emigration. Between 1876 and 1910, over one million Sicilians left the island, many heading to the Americas3. This reality was reflected in popular music, with many songs addressing themes of poverty and migration as we will see in the page of Gino Marinuzzi.
A key moment in Palermo’s musical development was the opening of the Accademia Filarmonica Palermitana in 1867, after its closure in 1848. This institution became a major hub for public concerts, bringing together both amateur and professional musicians. It introduced audiences to a variety of musical repertoires, from operatic transcriptions to instrumental works, and organized charity events and academies. However, Palermo lagged behind other Italian cities such as Florence and Milan in the development of symphonic and chamber music4.
An important step occurred in 1874 with the founding of the Società del Quartetto, affiliated with the Accademia Filarmonica Bellini. Although short-lived, this institution was an early attempt to promote chamber music concerts, following models established in other Italian cities. Further progress came in the 1890s with the creation of the Società del Quintetto, led by cellist Giacomo Baragli and pianist Alice Ziffer, both professors at the Conservatory. This society was known for its precise performances of classical and Romantic repertoires, introducing the Palermo audience to works by Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms, which were still relatively unfamiliar at the time5.
The Palermo Conservatory, originally the Istituto del Buon Pastore, was transformed into a Royal Conservatory in 1889 and became a key institution in the city’s musical life. In the image there is a sign at the entrance to the Palermo conservatory in which reads:
"On the fourth centenary of the foundation of the Istituto del Buon Pastore (1617-2017), which later became the Conservatory of Music and in the 20th century was named after the great Sicilian genius Vincenzo Bellini6, under the presidency of Gandolfo Librizzi and the direction, first of Daniele Ficola, then of Gregorio Bertolino, to remember his artistic and musical greatness, mindful of his Panormite roots, the State Conservatory of Music of Palermo, the second oldest in Italy, was dedicated to
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
celebrated throughout the world as the founder of the modern opera school.
Approved by the Ministry of Education, University and Research, on August 10, 2018
Palermo on March 1, 2019"
This explains the name change and the transition from an institute to a fully conservatory, first named Vincenzo Bellini and after Alessandro Scarlatti.
The conservatory not only trained high-level musicians but also played a central role in organizing cultural events and public concerts.
One of the most important initiatives of the conservatory was the annual Bonerba Bequest concerts, which revived sacred music masterpieces from the 17th and 18th centuries (Stradella, Frescobaldi, Marcello), alongside works by Mozart and Mendelssohn. These concerts were not only artistic highlights but also significant social events, attended by a diverse audience that included both aristocrats and commoners7.
Alongside the rise of classical music, the 19th century also saw the evolution of Sicilian song, which transitioned from a purely oral tradition to a more structured form, thanks to the growing music publishing industry.
The first systematic collections of Sicilian music were compiled by Lionardo Vigo in 1857 and later expanded by Salvatore Salomone Marino in 1867. However, the most significant contribution came from Giuseppe Pitrè, who, in his Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane (1871), distinguished popular music from academic compositions, emphasizing the spontaneity and authenticity of folk singing8.
During the late 19th century, Sicilian song was strongly influenced by Neapolitan song, which was experiencing its golden age. The annual Festival of Piedigrotta in Naples became a model for musical competitions in Sicily9.
In 1892, Tina Whitaker Scalia organized the first Sicilian Song Competition in Palermo, inspired by Naples’ successful festivals. This event led to the creation of the Società per la Canzone Siciliana and a Committee for Song Competitions at the Giardino Inglese, which promoted large-scale musical parades along Via Libertà10.
At the same time, aristocratic salons continued to play a crucial role in musical life. Noble families such as the Marquis De Seta and the Prince of Trabia hosted gatherings where professional musicians performed alongside noble and amateur players. The De Seta sisters, for example, were key figures in organizing high-level musical events, reflecting the growing involvement of the aristocracy not only as patrons but also as active participants11.
Image 20. Tina Scalia Whitaker. Fondazione Whitaker, accessed February 7, 2025, https://www.fondazionewhitaker.it/storie/tina-scalia-whitaker/.
A crucial aspect of Palermo’s musical transformation was the rise of music journalism. In 1894, Luigi Sandron founded La Sicilia musicale and L’arte della musica (1898-1910), two of the first specialized music magazines in Palermo. These publications not only documented local musical activities but also promoted new genres, such as Sicilian song, and disseminated compositions by Italian and European composers. They played a key role in modernizing Palermo’s musical tastes and integrating the city into the broader Italian and European musical landscape12.
Despite these advancements, Palermo still faced structural challenges compared to other Italian cities: it lacked a stable orchestra, it had a weak symphonic tradition, and its music publishing industry was still underdeveloped. However, thanks to figures such as Zuelli, Baragli, Ziffer, and Favara, and the contributions of institutions like the Conservatory and cultural societies, the 19th century was a pivotal period of transition for Palermo’s musical life.
Although Sicilian song never gained the same widespread popularity as Neapolitan song, often remaining confined to aristocratic salons. The musical dynamism of the city in this period laid the foundation for the artistic renewal that would characterize the early 20th century 13.
The harp in the city
Despite Spanish colonization, the harp in Sicily was not an instrument for continuous bass as organ or accordion, but it was played largly in Sicily from Middle Ages. We can see sicilian painting of the middle Ages and Renaissance small harps with one line of strings and often with sculpted colums and curved structures with wooden sculptures. It is unknown a lot about the baroc harps with two or three lines of strings, altough they could corrispond to the so-called "arponi" mentioned. All these informations come from documents, instead in the collections do not appear an harp belonging before XIX century. We do not know anything about the previous centuries in which, thank to french builders, the harp acquired new mechanism with pedals 14.
Talking about the musicians in the first part of the XIX century, they were fews and often they come from abroad. The only one that have some news is Luigi Kintherland, harpist in Carolino theater and partner of the Santa Cecilia Academy; his name appear in opera booklets in the middle of the XIX century and between the city's musical theaters.
At that time the harp was not taught at the Conservatory, actually the first teacher was Giuseppe Vitrano in 1887. Giuseppe had studied with Francesco Bellotta15, famous palermitan harpist, who studied in Naples in the school of Filippo Scotti and Alfonso Scotti. Moreover, from 1887 started a negotiation with Ministry of Education for buying a harp16.
The first Erard harp, 43 strings, was sent in Naples in 1888; but was not sufficient for the big class that in the meantime had been created. After two years started a new negotation for buying another harp. This time the instrument was bought from the French factory in 1892 for 2400L (around 1200 euros) because less expensive than buying from the neapolitean shop as Marchetti17 suggested18.
In that period, a female high-school was united inside the Conservatory and a second class of harp was opened and all this brought to the necessity to buy an other harp. The opening of the new class in the Conservatory, and the two collegiums (Educato Maria Adelaide, where Vitrano himself taughtin in 1891 and Sant'Anna Istitute) increased the members of the harpists and the harps in the city; until it became the most widespread instrument, along with the piano, in the salons of the high-sicilian society19.
image 21. Orchestra of harps and stringed instruments of the Institute Saint Anne in a photo from the beginning of the 20th century, Palermo. Giovanni Paolo Di Stefano, Selima Giorgia Giuliano, and Sandra Proto, “Cordofoni Senza Manico: Arpe E Salteri,” in Strumenti Musicali in Sicilia, ed. CRicd (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana – CRICD, 2013), image14, originally "archive of the Sant'Anna Institute"
As Vitrano died in 1899, Rosalinda Sacconi, an harpist of Florence became the teacher utill 1902 and then the class passed to Paolo Serrao, that was contested a lot and substituted by Riccardo Ruta after three years. Ruta will be the very author who has already been cited in the previous chapter (regarding the harp classes in Italy) and who remains a very reliable source for us, as he lived in that period and provides us with the most likely list and hierarchy of Italian harpists. Unfortunately, neither Sacconi nor Serrao are found in his book, which also includes a list for a school in Florence, but Sacconi's name does not appear.
Thanks to Ruta, the Palermo Conservatory saw the introduction of the cromatique harp. However, in Sicily the most common harp was the pedal one of the Erard's model, bought from Paris or Naples, where the harp schools were larger, as in Palermo there were no local harps shop and repair services20.
Furthermore, two important names remain connected to the name of Ruta: Angelina and Giuseppina Pasculli, students of Ruta himself and daughters of the great Palermo oboist Antonio Pasculli21, who also composed a piece for English horn and harp, "Omaggio a Bellini".
The most important factory of harps were:
- Celentano
- Pasquale Curci22, supplied the Royal Conservatory of Naples and Palermo.