The city of La Spezia, in the Gulf of Poets, boasts a rich musical history spanning centuries, from classical composers to jazz to folk music revival.
La Spezia and classical music: the composers of the Gulf of Poets
The first and oldest documented musician from La Spezia is Giovanni Agostino Casone, a friar of the Observant branch of the Franciscan Order. Around 1600, Casone reorganized the sacred hymns into an influential treatise.
Giambattista Vissei, born in Portovenere in 1766, distinguished himself as a composer of various works, including a Sextet for serenade for a quartet, horn and clarinet string. Napoleon Bonaparte applauded Vissei when he had the opportunity to listen to him in Genoa.
Stefano Santo Bruni, born in 1801 in Bastremoli in the province of La Spezia, became famous for his sacred and profane compositions and as a music teacher. Among his students, he had Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione.
La Spezia was also the birthplace of Carlo Mussinelli in 1871. Despite his blindness, he successfully dedicated himself to music, becoming a well-known composer and pianist. He was highly esteemed by the Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli.
Giovanni Pagella, born in Le Grazie in 1872, was a priest and composer of sacred music. He was admired by the famous Italian composer Pietro Mascagni.
Domenico Cortopassi, born in Sarzana in 1875, established himself as an orchestra maestro and organist, famous for his operettas and Christmas masses.
Cortopassi had studied in Lucca, where he was lucky to have Carlo Angeloni and Giacomo Puccini as teachers.
La Spezia and Jazz
In 1969, La Spezia became the cradle of the International Jazz Festival, the longest-running festival of this kind in Italy.
Among its creators and founders was Tiberio Nicola. He was born in 1931 in Villafranca Lunigiana and later moved to La Spezia.
Tiberio loved music and started playing the violin at a young age. However, the war interrupted his career as a violinist.
His passion for jazz was probably born during his military service in the Air Force in Rome. Returning to La Spezia, he joined a group of young jazz enthusiasts, forming the Circolo Amici del Jazz. Shortly after that, they launched the festival.
Since then, many international stars, such as Keith Jarrett, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus and Michel Petrucciani, have been guests of the festival, making it one of the historic events of European jazz.
The passion for jazz in La Spezia is not limited to festivals: Amazon has classified the city as the one with the highest consumption of jazz and blues in Italy.
La Spezia also had its own jazz orchestra, La Spezia Big Band, active from 1976 to 1989. The formation, composed mainly of local musicians, participated in various editions of the International Jazz Festival, performing under the guidance of musicians such as Luciano Learnato and Bruno Tommaso.
Another renowned composer and trumpeter from La Spezia is Lorenzo Cimino, who is also the artistic director of the Spezia Jazz Festival.
Folk music from Liguria’s Eastern Riviera
In the 90s, Tandarandan, a musical group and cultural association founded by Mauro Manicardi, rediscovered the lost musical traditions of Lunigiana and the Ligurian Riviera di Levante.
Manicardi, an accordion player and lover of popular traditions, worked with several people to bring his project to life.
These included Bugelli, a storyteller from Lunigiana; Edward Neill, a Genoese ethnomusicologist; and Germano Cavalli, Director of the Ethnographic Museum of Villafranca.
Through careful field research, the project revived interest in local traditional music. It involved musicians and dance groups using typical instruments like the hurdy-gurdy, the piva, and the accordion. Tandarandan’s repertoire featured jigs, waltzes, mazurkas, songs, and ballads.
The name “Tandarandan” comes from a nursery rhyme character from Lunigiana.
With its rich musical heritage, La Spezia demonstrates a lively and dynamic cultural scene capable of attracting and inspiring generations of artists and enthusiasts!
Sources:
Ernesto Di Marino “La cultura musicale alla Spezia” (1992)
Società dei Concerti La Spezia “I suoni della Lunigiana e del Levante ligure”
Giorgio Pagano, Città della Spezia
