John Lewis, when asked why the MJQ played God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, said there were certain tunes (like GRYMG and When Johnny Comes Marching Home) that just make you feel good.
So true.
Well, here’s another – yes, I know its only Aqua with the great Luciano Pavarotti – but just watch and feel the buzz. I defy anyone to remain passive whenever this tune is played – it’s probably one of the most familiar tunes in the western world – and even if your knowledge of Italian is zilch everyone can pump out part of that chorus line…
Yet isn’t it rather weird that this most famous of songs is about – a funicular railway! Viennese waltz king Richard Strauss couldn’t believe it either. He thought it was a cheerful royalty free Italian folk song and loved it so much he included it in one of his works, “Aus Italien”
Big mistake
Lawyers hit him like a rocket – lawyers acting on behalf of Luigi Denza who had composed the music to fit words written by journalist Peppino Turco. The courts sided with Denza and thereafter he got a chunk of royalty every time Aus Italien was played.
So “Funiculì, Funiculà” is a song written about a funicular railway – but not just any funicular railway. Turco and Denza wrote it for the opening of the line that opened in 1880 to take visitors to the top of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano overlooking the Bay of Naples.
What is even more interesting is that it was probably written as an advertisement for the railway – possibly the world’s first commercial jingle….
Up to the 1870s the only way for tourists to avoid an exhausting climb to the crater of Vesuvius was either by a sedan chair or on the back of a donkey. The chair carriers and donkey owners were all locals, rather surly characters who charged exorbitant fees and guarded their monopoly with brutal ferocity.
When the plans for the railway were announced they felt threatened. The project managers, fearing that their employees might be intimidated, disbursed money to the porters as a gesture of compensation for reduced business.
Initially this appeared to work – until they realised that rumours were being spread that the railway was dangerous. The management then decided to mount their own PR campaign and it is quite likely that Turco and Denza were given an unofficial commission to compose something to publicise the project – and the rest is history.
Indeed the song has outlived its subject. The Vesuvius Funicular was destroyed in the eruption of 1944 and is long gone. Today you can take a bus halfway then walk the rest, which is how we got there.
There has been talk of building another railway, though whether anything will be done is debatable. But that is irrelevant. The railway is gone but the song remains – and I guarantee that, during the turn of the century celebrations in Italy in 2100, “Funiculì, Funiculà” will still be belted out with gusto…..
