Vincenzo Valente was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and writer. He was known for his Neapolitan songs and for his operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

s.

Life

Valente wrote his first piece, "Ntuniella", at the age of 15; this initiated a successful collaboration with Giambattista De Curtis

Giambattista De Curtis

Giambattista de Curtis was an Italian painter and poet remembered today for his song lyrics.-Biography:Born into a noble family in Naples, de Curtis was the firstborn of the fresco painter Giuseppe de Curtis and his wife, Elisabetta Minnon, and was a great-grandson of composer Saverio Mercadante...

. He wrote a total of ten operettas, the best known of which was I granatieri

I granatieri

I granatieri is an 'Neapolitan operetta' in three acts by the Italian composer Vincenzo Valente with a libretto in Italian by Raffaele Della Campa and Joseph Méry. It has been called the first true Italian operetta....

of 1889; he also wrote texts for the actor Nicola Maldacea, known for his macchiette; he was most famous, though, for his songs, the most famous of which was "Tiempe belle

Tiempe belle

"Tiempe belle" is a Neapolitan song written by Vincenzo Valente in 1916; the words are by Aniello Califano. It is Valente's most famous composition....

" of 1916.

Valente was a member of the so-called Società dello Scorfano, an artistic society which ironically emphasized its supporters' brutishness; among its other members was the poet Ferdinando Russo

Ferdinando Russo

Ferdinando Russo was a prominent Neapolitan journalist primarily remembered as a dialect poet and composer of song lyrics. He was also the author of a small volume, La Camorra, about organized crime in Naples, serialized in five installments in 1897 in il Mattino, still the largest Neapolitan...

.

Operettas

• I granatieri
  I granatieri
  I granatieri is an 'Neapolitan operetta' in three acts by the Italian composer Vincenzo Valente with a libretto in Italian by Raffaele Della Campa and Joseph Méry. It has been called the first true Italian operetta....
  
  
• Pasquita
• Signorina Capriccio
• L'usignolo
• Vertigini d'amore

Songs

• "'A capa femmena"
• "Peppì, Comme te voglio amà"
• "'E cerase"
• "Canzona amirosa"
• "I' Pazziava"
• "'A galleria nova"
• "'A bizzuchella"
• "Canzona cafona"
• "Cammisa affatata"
• "'O campanello"
• "'A sirena"
• "Montevergine"
• "Notte sul mare"
• "'O scuitato"
• "'A cammisa"
• "Manella mia"
• "L'ammore 'n campagna,"
• "Tarantella e lariulà"
• "'O napulitano a Londra"
• "Tiempe belle"
• "Jou-jou"
• "Bambola"

External links

• RAI archive of Neapolitan songs