Tarantella
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The term tarantella groups a number of different folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in 6/8 time (sometimes 18/8 or 4/4), accompanied by tambourines.
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Notable tarantellas
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Classical music
- Benjamin Britten wrote a tarantella as the third movement of his Sinfonietta for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 1.
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote a Tarantella for solo guitar, Op. 87b
- Frédéric Chopin wrote a Tarantelle in A-flat, Op. 43 with the characteristic 6/8 time signature. It was inspired specifically by Rossini's's song "La Danza"
- John Corigliano wrote a Tarantella as the fourth movement of his Gazebo Dances.
- Claude Debussy wrote a piece called "Danse (Tarantelle styrienne)."
- Leopold Godowsky transcribed Chopin's Etude Op. 10, No. 5 "Black Key" into a tarentella for the piano.
- Helmut Lachenmann's twelfth movement of Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied (1979–80) is Tarantelle.
- Franz Liszt composed a piece called "Tarantella, Venezia e Napoli" (No. 3 from Années de pèlerinage, 2nd Year: Italy), which is in a rapid tempo also in 6/8 time.
- Felix Mendelssohn wrote a piece called "Tarantella" in 1845 (Op. 102, No. 3). The final movement of his Italian Symphony is in the form of a tarantella.
- David Popper wrote a piece called Tarantella (Op. 33), written in 6/8 time.
- The fourth of Sergei Prokofiev's twelve easy pieces for piano—Musique d'Enfants, Op. 65—is a Tarantella.
- Sergei Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, Op. 17, features a tarantella for its finale.
- Gioachino Rossini's song "La Danza" is a Neapolitan tarantella.
- Camille Saint-Saëns composed "Tarantella" Op. 6 in A minor for flute, clarinet and orchestra, or for flute, clarinet and piano. He also transcribed this piece for two pianos.
- The last movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor by Camille Saint-Saëns is a tarantella.
- Pablo de Sarasate composed an Introduction and Tarantella for violin.
- Franz Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet uses a tarantella in the frenetic fourth movement.
- Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata in C minor, last movement, is a tarantella/rondo.
- The fourth movement of Schubert's Symphony No. 3 is also a tarantella, but following the Sonata form.
- William Henry Squire wrote a tarantella for cello in D minor.
- The firth movement of Igor Stravinsky's Suite italienne is a tarantella.
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien ends in a frenzied variation of a tarantella. Also, one of his Pas de Deux in The Nutcracker features a tarantella.
- Mark-Anthony Turnage composed a violin concerto entitled Mambo, Blues and Tarantella in 2007, with the tarantella being the finale.
- Henryk Wieniawski composed a well-known violin masterpiece, called Scherzo-Tarantella, Op. 16
- Tarantella for Piano and Orchestra was composed by American composer Michael Glenn Williams for pianist Sean Chen
- The last movement of Malcolm Williamson's Sinfonietta (1965) is a tarantella.
- Albert Pieczonka wrote the classical piece titled Tarantella.
- The main theme to the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest, composed by Bernard Herrmann, is itself a tarantella. Herrmann claimed that he was inspired by lead actor Cary Grant, because he "walked like a tarantula." Grant's distinctive walk may perhaps be attributed to his pre-Hollywood years as a stiltwalker.
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Other uses
- In literature
- A performance of the tarantella was central to the plot of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.
- In film
- The Fairy Godmother's song Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo from Disney's Cinderella is a tarantella.
- It has appeared in feature films such as The Godfather.
- In The Godfather II, Frankie Pentangeli tries to get the band playing at Michael's son's 1st communion party(whose members are not Italian) to play a tarantella. They end up playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" instead.
- The dance is referenced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where it is the result of a magical curse.
- It is also in the soundtrack to Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino.
- It has appeared in the musical version of Peter Pan with Mary Martin and is danced by Captain Hook and his band of pirates, illustrating the above mentioned occasional association with swordfights vis à vis the metaphor of pirates. In this performance, which is available on film and DVD, the context is silly fun.
- It has appeared in The Legend of 1900 when some immigrants request 1900 to playing tarantella music
- In games
- A tarantella was part of the soundtrack for 2009 game Assassin's Creed II
- One level of Earthworm Jim 2, "Puppy Love" uses both a tarentella and Funiculì, Funiculà as music.
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See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Tarantella" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.