’O sole mio
' O sole mio ( Neapolitan for My Sun ) is one of the most famous songs in the world and was composed in April 1898 by the Neapolitan musician and composer Eduardo Di Capua. The Neapolitan 'o corresponds to the Italian article il.
Formation
The prevailing version Di Capua to sing a Persian carpet dealer during a tour through Russia in Odessa have heard. While he listened to the song, the hidden heavens shall open and the sun shone through the clouds. Di Capua highlighted the melody that had gone to him here by the head, with the verses of the poet Giovanni Capurro Neapolitan. ' O sole mio is referred to in many, even reputable publications mistakenly referred to as Neapolitan folk song. Di Capua also created in Naples scarcely less known O, Marie and died as Capurro in poverty, because there was in his time no copyright and related royalties. Both authors sold the rights to the publisher of Ferdinando Bideri in Naples for 25 lire.
There is also a third author, since he transferred the notes of ' O sole mio on music paper: Emanuele Alfredo Mazzucchi ( 1878-1972 ). While Mazzucchi raised no financial claims, complained his heirs, however, a copyright, the process dragged on for over 25 years. In October 2002, eventually a judge ruled in favor of the Mazzucchi, the rights now last until the year 2042 on the song. The annual bonuses are estimated at $ 250,000.
Paquito del Bosco, the artistic director in the sound archives of the state broadcasting of Italy ( RAI), draws attention in his paper on the historical background. In the district of Naples Mergellina at the Church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta a festival took place over the centuries every year on the 8th of September, the Festa di Piedigrotta, was crowned in the a song of the year since the 1830s. The conditions for the song were three stanzas, as the content of the spring and the love and the text in dialect. In this hard won Di Capua song in 1898 the second prize.
Dissemination
Di Capua created with ' O sole mio a popular song, which celebrated its catchy melody a triumphal march around the world. The great Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso took the song in 1916 as the first singer to record on, then it did it almost all the great tenors of the same and also took it into their repertoire. Even singer of popular music, such as Dean Martin, the song played with great success. The sung by Elvis Presley version of It's Now or Never ( with lyrics by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold) reached in 1960 both in the UK and in the USA No. 1 on the charts.
The song is and was the favorite of celebrities such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Hugo Chávez. The first cosmonaut in space, Yuri Gagarin, humming the tune during his first circumnavigation of the earth.