Giovinezza

Giovinezza
English: Youth

Score of Giovinezza

National anthem of  Italian Social Republic

Lyrics Nino Oxilia (1909)
Marcello Manni (1919)
Salvator Gotta (1924)
Music Giuseppe Blanc, 1909
Adopted 1943
Relinquished 1945

"Giovinezza" ([dʒoviˈnettsa]; Italian for youth) is the official hymn of the Italian National Fascist Party, regime, and army, and was the unofficial national anthem of Italy between 1924 and 1943.[1] Although often sung with the official national anthem Marcia Reale, some sources consider Giovinezza to have supplanted the Royal March as the de facto national anthem (Inno della Patria[2]) of Italy,[3] to the dismay of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy[4]—a powerful symbol of the diarchy between the King and Mussolini.[5] It was subsequently the official anthem of the Italian Social Republic.

Ubiquitous in fascist Italy, the hymn emphasized youth as a theme of the fascist movement and was one example of the centrality of the Arditi (Italian World War I veterans) to the fascist narrative.[6]

History

"Giovinezza" was composed by lawyer and composer Giuseppe Blanc in 1909 as "Commiato" (Italian for "farewell"). Blanc also wrote other Fascist songs, including The Eagles of Rome, the Imperial Hymn.[7] Previously a Turin university graduation song,[8] and popular among Italian soldiers during World War I, the song was called "Inno degli Arditi" (Hymn of the Arditi, a corps of the Italian Royal Army during World War I, whose members joined the fascist movement in large numbers).[9] The hymn was further popularized by the mass rallies of Gabriele d'Annunzio in Fiume.[10]

The version sung during the March on Rome was composed by G. Castaldo in 1921, using the original score by Giuseppe Blanc and words by Marcello Manni (beginning "Su compagni in forte schiere").[11] After the March on Rome, where it was sung, Mussolini commissioned Salvator Gotta to write the new lyrics, which were completed in 1924.[12]

Gotta's version plays on fascist themes like youth and nationalism. Its reference to "Alighieri's vision" is an allusion to Dante Alighieri marking Italy's borders on the Quarnaro River, thus including the province of Istria, a territory granted to Italy after World War I.[13]

After the capitulation of Italy in 1944, the Allies suppressed the hymn in Italy. At the time, Italy had no national anthem,[11] until Il Canto degli Italiani was provisionally chosen when Italy became a Republic on 12 October 1946, only to be officially legislated on 17 November 2005. "Giovinezza" is currently banned in Italy,[2][14] people have been arrested in the post-war period for singing it.[15]

Lyrics

1922 Lyrics

Italian lyrics[16]
Su, compagni in forti schiere,
marciam verso l'avvenire
Siam falangi audaci e fiere,
pronte a osare, pronte a ardire.
Trionfi alfine l'ideale
per cui tanto combattemmo:
Fratellanza nazionale
d'italiana civiltà.
Giovinezza, giovinezza
primavera di bellezza,
nel fascismo è la salvezza
della nostra libertà.
Non più ignava nè avvilita
resti ancor la nostra gente,
si ridesti a nuova vita
di splendore più possente.
Su, leviamo alta la face
che c'illumini il cammino,
nel lavoro e nella pace
sia la verà libertà.
Giovinezza, giovinezza
primavera di bellezza,
nel fascismo è la salvezza
della nostra libertà.
Nelle veglie di trincea
cupo vento di mitraglia
ci ravvolse alla bandiera
che agitammo alla battaglia.
Vittoriosa al nuovo sole
stretti a lei dobbiam lottare,
è l'Italia che lo vuole,
per l'Italia vincerem.
Giovinezza, giovinezza
primavera di bellezza,
nel fascismo è la salvezza
della nostra libertà.
Sorgi alfin lavoratore
giunto è il dì della riscossa
ti frodarono il sudore
con l'appello alla sommossa
Giù le bende ai traditori
che ti strinsero a catena;
Alla gogna gl'impostori
delle asiatiche virtù.
Giovinezza, giovinezza
primavera di bellezza,
nel fascismo è la salvezza
della nostra libertà

1924 Lyrics

Italian lyrics[16]
Salve o popolo d'eroi
Salve o patria immortale
Son rinati i figli tuoi
Con la fede e l'ideale
Il valor dei tuoi guerrieri,
La virtù dei tuoi pionieri
La vision dell'Alighieri
Oggi brilla in tutti i cuor
Giovinezza, giovinezza,
Primavera di bellezza
Per la vita, nell'asprezza
Il tuo canto squilla e va!
E per Benito Mussolini,
Eja eja alalà
E per la nostra Patria bella,
Eja eja alalà
Dell'Italia nei confini
Son rifatti gli italiani;
Li ha rifatti Mussolini
Per la guerra di domani
Per la gloria del lavoro
Per la pace e per l'alloro,
Per la gogna di coloro
Che la patria rinnegar.
I poeti e gli artigiani
I signori e i contadini
Con orgoglio d'italiani
Giuran fede a Mussolini.
Non v'è povero quartiere
Che non mandi le sue schiere
Che non spieghi le bandiere
Del fascismo redentor.
English translation[16]
Hail, people of heroes,
Hail, immortal Fatherland,
Your sons were born again
With the faith and the Ideal.
Your warriors' valour,
Your pioneers' virtue,
Alighieri's vision,
Today shines in every heart
Youth, Youth,
Spring of beauty,
In the hardship of life
Your song rings and goes!
And for Benito Mussolini,
Eja eja alalà
And for our beautiful Fatherland,
Eja eja alalà
In the Italian borders,
Italians have been remade
Mussolini has remade them
For tomorrow's war,
For labour's glory,
For peace and for the laurel,
For the shame of those
Who repudiated our Fatherland
The poets and the artisans,
The lords and the countrymen,
With an Italian's pride
Swear fealty to Mussolini
No poor neighbourhood exists
That doesn't send its hordes
That doesn't unfurl the flags
Of redeeming Fascism

The lines "E per Benito Mussolini / Eja eja alalà / E per la nostra Patria bella / Eja eja alalà" do not appear in some recorded and published versions of the song.

Performances

"Giovinezza" was played "with the slightest pretext" at sporting events, films, and other public gatherings, and often carried adverse (even violent) consequences for those who did not join in.[17] Even foreigners were roughed up by blackshirts if they failed to remove their hats and show respect when "Giovinezza" was played.[18]

In the 1930s, "Giovinezza" was made the official anthem of the Italian army.[19] The school day was required to be opened either with "Giovinezza" or "Balilla", the song of the Opera Nazionale Balilla.[20] A faint, recorded version of the hymn played in the background of the Chapel of the Fascist Martyrs in the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution.[21]

There was a German song with German lyrics, set to the same tune as Giovinezza; "Hitlerleute" (Hitler's people) replacing "Giovinezza."

Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli recorded "Giovinezza" in 1937, although the anthem is noticeably excluded from his "Edizione Integrale," released by EMI.[22] "Giovinezza" followed the inauguration of the Fascist parliament in 1924 (following the Acerbo law)[23] and preceded the Nazi radio broadcast announcing the creation of the Italian Social Republic.[24]

"Giovinezza" was sung on 12 March 1939, the day of Pope Pius XII's coronation, by the Pope's Palatine Guard. After the last ceremony of his papal coronation was over Pius XII went to rest in the Lateran Palace. The singing occurred during a moment of public bonhomie between the Palatine Guards and the Italian Guards, "Palantine and Italian Guards exchanged courtesies, the former playing the fascist anthem, "Giovinezza" and the latter the papal hymn." This incident, which was not part of the coronation ceremony and took place without the knowledge or approval of Pope Pius XII is sometimes used to portray Pius XII as a crypto-fascist. [25]

Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini (who had previously run as a Fascist parliamentary candidate in 1919 and whom Mussolini had called "the greatest conductor in the world") notably refused to conduct "Giovinezza" on multiple occasions. Toscanini had refused to play "Giovinezza" in Milan in 1922 and later in Bayreuth, which earned him accolades from anti-fascists throughout Europe.[26] Mussolini did not attend the premier of Puccini's Turandot on 15 April 1926 – having been invited by the management of La Scala – because Toscanini would not play Giovinezza before the performance.[27] Finally, Toscanini refused to conduct "Giovinezza" at a May 1931 concert at La Scala, was subsequently roughed up by a group of blackshirts, and thereafter left Italy until after World War II.[1][28]

Relationship to Marcia Reale

The Royal March had often preceded "Giovinezza" on official occasions,[29] as required by official regulations following an abortive attempt to conflate the two songs.[5] Many considered the Royal March "long winded and gaudy," and these faults were thrown into sharp relief by back-to-back ceremonial presentations.[30] "Giovinezza" was used as a sign-off by Italian radio under Mussolini; after the ousting of Mussolini in 1943, the Italian radio signed off for the first time in 21 years playing only the Royal March, "Marcia Reale."[31]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Farrell, Nicholas. 2005. Mussolini: a New Life. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 1-84212-123-5. p. 238.
  2. 1 2 Bertini, Tullio Bruno. 1998. Trapped in Tuscany Liberated by the Buffalo Soldiers. Branden Books. ISBN 0-937832-35-9. p. 79.
  3. ↑ Silone, Ignazio. 1977. Fontamara. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0662-7. p. 252.
  4. ↑ Smith, Denis Mack. 1959. Italy: A Modern History. University of Michigan Press. p. 391.
  5. 1 2 Mack-Smith, Denis M. 1989. Italy and Its Monarchy. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05132-8. p. 273.
  6. ↑ Olick, Jeffrey K. 2003. States of Memory-CL: continuities, conflicts, and transformations in national retrospection. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3063-6. p. 69.
  7. ↑ Arnold, Denis. 1983. The New Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press. p. 763.
  8. ↑ Langsam, Walter Consuelo. 1954. The World Since 1919. Macmillan. p. 154.
  9. ↑ Scott, Jonathan French, and Baltzly, Alexander. 1930. Readings in European History Since 1814. F. S. Crofts & co. p. 607.
  10. ↑ Payne, George Stanley. 1995. A History of Fascism, 1914-1945. Routledge. ISBN 1-85728-595-6. p. 92.
  11. 1 2 Blom, Eric ed., 1955, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, St. Martin's Press, p. 22
  12. ↑ ""Giovinezza" (The Youth)."
  13. ↑ Bosworth, Richard J. B. 1996. Italy and the Wider World 1860-1960. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13477-3. p. 154.
  14. ↑ Porter, Andrew. 1992, June 8. "Mario and the Magician - Opera." Financial Times. p. 13.
  15. ↑ "The Old Giovinezza". Time.com. 24 April 1950.
  16. 1 2 3 Fasci di combattimento Version.
  17. ↑ Gallagher, Tag. 1998. The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80873-0. p. 62.
  18. ↑ Mellow, MR James R. 1994. Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-201-62620-9. p. 184.
  19. ↑ Germino, Dante L. 1959. The Italian Fascist Party in Power: A Study in Totalitarian Rule. University of Minnesota Press. p. 114.
  20. ↑ Ebenstein, William. 1972. Fascist at Work. Ams Pr Inc. p. 134.
  21. ↑ Etlin, Richard A. 1994. Symbolic Space: French Enlightenment Architecture and Its Legacy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-22084-2. p. 196.
  22. ↑ High fidelity. 1957. Records in Review. Wyeth Press. p. 360.
  23. ↑ The New York Times. 25 May 1924. "Italy's Parliament Opened with Pomp." p. 3.
  24. ↑ New York Times. 9 September 1943. "New Fascist Regime Setup, Nazis Report." p. 1.
  25. ↑ Matthews, Herbert L. 19 May 1939. "Pope Takes Over St. John Lateran In Pageant Last Held 93 Years Ago." New York Times. p. 9.
  26. ↑ Ignatieff, Michael. 1999. Isaiah Berlin: A Life. Owl Books. ISBN 0-8050-6300-5. p. 54.
  27. ↑ Osborne, Charles. 1993. The Complete Operas of Puccini: A Critical Guide. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80200-7. p. 250-251.
  28. ↑ Taubman, Hyman Howard. 1951. The Maestro, the Life of Arturo Toscanini. Simon and Schuster. p. 157.
  29. ↑ Procacci, Giuliano. 1970. History of the Italian People. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 356.
  30. ↑ Katz, Robert. 1971. The Fall of the House of Savoy. Macmillan. p. 259.
  31. ↑ Brigham, Daniel T. 26 July 1943. "Mussolini ousted with fascist cabinet." New York Times.

External links

Lyrics
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