Italian Classical Music

T he roots of music on the Italian Peninsula can be traced back to the music of Ancient Rome. However, the underpinnings of much modern Italian music come from the Middle Ages.

The earliest extant music in the West is plainsong, a kind of monophonic, unaccompanied, early Christian singing performed by Roman Catholic monks, which was largely developed roughly between the 7th and 12th centuries.

... in different ways, but everyone has always loved it. Music, from the beginning, has been used in many various fields and …

O ttaviano dei Petrucci published the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, the first substantial collection of printed polyphonic music, and in 1516, Andrea Antico published the Frottole intablate da sonari organi, the earliest printed Italian music for keyboard.

C laudio Monteverdi ( ) is considered the first great composer of the new musical form, opera. He has been very important, he scars the passage from music of the Renaissance to Baroque music.

T he last fifty years of the 19th century were dominated by Giuseppe Verdi ( ), the greatest musical icon in Italian history. Verdi's music "sought universality within national character" that is, much of what he composed in terms of historical themes could be related to his pan- Italian vision. Verdi was the composer of the Italian Risorgimento, the movement to unify Italy in the 19th century.

L ater in the century is also the time of the early career of Giacomo Puccini ( ), perhaps the greatest composer of pure melody in the history of Italian music.

… but as them, also other composers have helped to give life to the beautiful music history that we read today.

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