La Serenata
Italian Serenades and Love Songs
by Traditional
Chamber Music - Sheet Music

Chamber Music flute, guitar

SKU: PR.114416540

Italian Serenades and Love Songs. Composed by Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Caldara, Francesco Tosti, Giacomo Puccini, Giovanni Battista Martini, Giulio Caccini, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Tommaso Giordani, and Traditional. Arranged by Frederic Hand Paula Robison. Sws. Classical. Score. With Standard notation. 48+48 pages. Theodore Presser Company #114-41654. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114416540).

ISBN 9781598069396. UPC: 680160623907. 9x12 inches. Key: D major.

Through the years, Paula Robison and Frederic Hand have been drawn to the full-hearted sound of classic Italian song and to the rich folk traditions of Italy. It is their great pleasure to present this collection of some of their favorite melodies in these new arrangements for flute and guitar. Here they serenade us with nine Italian love songs from opera and popular traditions, ranging from Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro and the beloved Santa Lucia to lesser-known gems of the Baroque era. The publication includes background and lyrics for all the songs as well as Robison's phrase marks and Hand's fingerings.______________________________________Paula Robison and Frederic Hand bring to theirperformances and recordings a shared delight in musical exploration. Both are classically trained with international careers as classical artists and teachers, but early on each was irresistibly attracted by diverse ways to make their instruments sing.Frederic Hand is a Grammy-nominated composer and arranger.Known for his unique performances of early music and his eclectic,versatile style embracing jazz and folk traditions, he is the creator of Jazzantiqua, a group The New York Times described as “scintillating and brilliant.” His arrangements and improvisations have been heard in the scores of numerous films, and he received an Emmy Award for his prolific work in television. He has been the guitarist and lutenist with the Metropolitan Opera since 1986 and has shared the Met stage with Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Of his compositions for guitar, Alexandre Lagoya has written, “His knowledge of the instrument enables him to achieve effects which are absolutely remarkable. Mr. Hand possesses a magnificent talent which touches me profoundly.”Paula Robison has also taken pathways to new expression. “WithArt,” an ongoing series with visual artists, has included Sol LeWittand Mozart in a special installation at the Isabella Stewart GardnerMuseum in Boston, Luciano Berio with art from the 1950s at PS 1in New York, Takemitsu at the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, and a battle with Tim Hawkinson’s UberOrgan at MASS MoCA, armed with JS Bach and Edgar Varèse. Her passion for Brazilian Chôro helped spark a revival of interest in this lively art form, and she has performed with Brazilian jazz colleagues at New York’s Birdland, at Carnegie Hall, in Rio de Janeiro, and at the Cartagena and Spoleto Festivals. Her sense of connection between the flute and the human voice has led her to transcribe and arrange a large repertoire of songs for flute and instrumental ensemble, many of them performed with Frederic Hand in her historic Vivaldi series in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.Through the years, Paula Robison and Frederic Hand have been drawn to the full-hearted sound of classic Italian song and to the rich folk traditions of Italy. It is their great pleasure to present this collection of some of their favorite melodies in these new arrangements for flute and guitar.
ABOUT THE MUSICby Paula RobisonAll the songs and arias included in this volume have been performed and recorded by great singers. I would counsel our players, music in hand, to hear them sung, either at the opera or in recording. Enrico Caruso. Amelita Galli-Curci, Tito Schipa, Maria Callas, and Beniamino Gigli are excellent teachers of the style from the past, as is Luciano Pavarotti in our own time. Listen to good early music interpreters. Listen also to the great Neapolitan folk singers of the early twentieth century. Enjoy a good glass of red wine. Or even better: go to Italy. Get up with the dawn and smell the roses. Watch the birds swoop around an ancient cathedral, singing as they fly. Climb an Italian mountain and regard the farmland below. Walk the streets of Florence. Gaze at the bay of Naples and then at Vesuvio, the volcano which could erupt and destroy it at any time, and then have dinner with some Neapolitans. Study the architecture: what does an Italian open window look like? What does it look out upon? Read Petrarca. Read Dante. Study the art, the light, the colors of that amazing peninsula which has given so much beauty to the world. The more you can take into your body, mind, and spirit, the better interpreter you will be of these wonderful melodies. Buon Viaggio!______________________________________See also the notes about the individual pieces on pages two and three of the full score.