FUNICULI, FUNICULA (score & parts)

The original version of Funiculì, funiculà was composed by Luigi Denza in 1880, to lyrics in Neapolitan dialect by Peppino Turco. The song is about a young man who compares his lover to a volcano and invites her to join him on a romantic walk up to the summit. To give this rather unusual premise some context, Funiculì, funiculà was written to mark the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius. It was destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in 1944.

The song was a massive hit and inside a year sheet music sales topped a million copies. Over the years this catchy song has been performed by countless singers including Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli and Mario Lanza.

So catchy is the song that a number of ‘serious’ composers have incorporated it into their own work. Richard Strauss heard it whilst on a tour of Italy and assumed the song to be a traditional folk song (and therefore copyright-free). He wove the song’s themes into the fourth movement of his 1886 tone poem, Aus Italien. When Denza got wind of it he sued Strauss, forcing him to pay a royalty fee. Rimsky-Korsakov made the same assumption and used it in his 1907 Neopolitan Song. It is Rimsky-Korsakov’s lively, inventive (and brilliantly orchestrated) version that forms the basis of this arrangement for wind quartet.

Delivery Details

We endeavour to dispatch all orders which are in stock on the day the order has been placed. If you need delivery by a certain time please state this clearly on your order and we will do our best to oblige.

For Royal Mail Special Delivery, Airmail (Signed For) and Courier shipments, a signature may be required upon delivery to your address. You are responsible for your order once the package arrives at the supplied delivery address. We cannot be held responsible if the package(s) goes missing once delivered. If any goods are received faulty or damaged on receipt, you must notify us within 7 days of receiving them (via email or telephone) quoting your order reference. We cannot be held responsible for goods that do not arrive with the customer due to errors made by the customer when entering their address details. Please ensure that you check all your details before confirming your order. For more information on deliveries, please click here.