page_title: Culture of Italy
section_title: Music
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Italy / Arts / Music
caption_attribution_description: English: "An anonymous portrait in oils in the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna is generally believed to be of Vivaldi and may be linked to the Morellon La Cave engraving, which appears to be a modified mirror reflection of it. It is striking how the engraving and the painting 'secularize' Vivaldi: they contain no hint of his identity as a priest. (The fashionable, though slightly informal, dress and self-confident attitude of the composer resemble very closely those of Telemann in the well-known engraving by Georg Lichtensteger.) Ghezzi's sketch likewise shows Vivaldi in a non-clerical black stock as opposed to the white clerical stock and still wearing a wig. (Two years later, in the anno santo of 1725, Innocent XIII was to ban the wearing of wigs by priests.) There is disagreement over whether the hint of red showing in front of the centre of the composer's wig in the painting is a sly reference to his famous hair-colour or simply an unpainted part of the canvas. Whatever the case, it is not out of place to observe that, contrary to the belief of many modern illustrators, Vivaldi's wigs were never coloured red." Michael Talbot, The Vivaldi Compendium (2011), p. 148. The proposition that the painting actually depicts Antonio Vivaldi has been questioned by some sources (e.g. by Groves dictionary). Français&#160;: Portrait d’un violoniste vénitien du XVIIIe siècle, généralement considéré comme étant celui de Vivaldi
context_page_description: Italy is considered a cultural superpower. Italy has been the starting point of phenomena of international impact such as the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, the Romanesque, the Renaissance, the Scientific revolution, the Baroque, the Neo-classicism, the Risorgimento, the Fascism and the European integration. During its history, the nation has given birth to an enormous number of notable people.
  Both the internal and external faces of Western culture were born on the Italian peninsula, whether one looks at the history of the Christian faith, civil institutions, philosophy, law, art, science, or social customs and culture.
  Italy was home to many well-known and influential civilizations, including the Etruscans, Samnites and the Romans, while also hosting colonies from important foreign civilizations like the Phoenicians and Greeks, whose influence and culture had a large impact through the peninsula. Etruscan and Samnite cultures flourished in Italy before the emergence of the Roman Republic, which conquered and incorporated them.
context_section_description: Music writing began in Italy. Therefore, Italian words are used to tell us how music is played. Consequently, all countries have adopted technical terms in their Italian form — a demonstration of the crucial role played by Italy, and in particular Florence, in the history of music.
  From folk to classical, music has always played an important role in Italian culture. Having given birth to opera, for example, Italy provides many of the very foundations of the classical music tradition. Some of the instruments that are often associated with classical music, including the piano and violin, were invented in Italy, and many of the existing classical music forms can trace their roots back to innovations of 16th- and 17th-century Italian music (such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata).
  Italian composers have played a major role in music since the Middle Ages. In the 11th century, Guido of Arezzo, an Italian monk, developed a revolutionary system of notation and method of sight-singing. The Gregorian chant, troubadour song, and the madrigal were forms in early Italian music.
  During the Renaissance, Giovanni Palestrina composed masterpieces of choral music for use in church services. The first operas were composed in Florence in the 1590s. Opera emerged as an art form during the Baroque period. Claudio Monteverdi was the first great composer of Baroque opera in the early 17th century. Important composers of the late 17th century and early 18th century included Alessandro Scarlatti, his son Domenico, and Antonio Vivaldi. Alessandro became best known for his operas, Domenico for his keyboard compositions, and Vivaldi for his works for violin. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, popular operas were composed by Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.
  Today, the entire infrastructure that supports music as a profession is extensive in Italy, including conservatories, opera houses, radio and television stations, recording studios, music festivals, and important centers of musicological research. Musical life in Italy remains extremely active, but very Italian-centered and hardly international. Some of the main international Italian pop-singers include 1970s pop-diva Mina, who sold 76 million records worldwide in her lifetime, and singer Laura Pausini, who has sold 45 million albums.
  La Scala opera house in Milan is renowned as one of the best in the world. There are other famous venues for opera, including San Carlo in Naples, La Fenice Theatre in Venice, and the Roman arena in Verona. Additionally, there are fifteen publicly owned theaters and numerous privately run ones in Italy. These theaters promote Italian and European plays as well as ballets. Famous Italian opera singers include Enrico Caruso, Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, to name a few.
caption: Antonio Vivaldi, in 1723.  His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons
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