Michele Novaro meets Mameli and together they write a piece still in vogue... That "piece" he talks about Rino Gaetano in its "The violets faded"(1976) is none other than"The Song of the Italians" (better known as "National Anthem"), Of which it occurs today the 173rd anniversary from his debut. Beloved and mistreated, unifying and divisive, for better or for worse, "Brothers of Italy”Is an important part of Italian history. It is the symbolic song of Italian Risorgimento, of that combative and patriotic spirit that still makes the hearts of many Italians beat. It might be strange to know that the Italian anthem comes from the mind of a 19enne. Today almost all Italians only know the first verse of the song and the chorus (also thanks to the matches of the national football team), but Mameli wrote well five stanzas. Furthermore, the text is full of historical and current references for the time.
Hymn by Mameli for the first time in Genoa
Goffredo Mameli, patriot and Mazzinian, in fact wrote the text of his “Canto” a September 1847 (will die two years later due to an infected leg wound duringsiege of Rome, in defense of Roman Republic). The music was added the following November, when the hymn arrived in the hands of the maestro Michele novaro (also Genoese), who was in Torino. The composer was immediately impressed and in a few weeks he created a melody that would change the history of our country. The piece was first performed on 10 December 1847 a GenoVa laid down by the Sestrese Philharmonic in front of 30.000 patriots. That day, in square of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loreto, the Genoese celebrated the centenary of the revolt in the neighborhood Portoria against the Austrians. For the occasion, many Genoese printers printed the text written by the young Mameli and distributed it to those present.
According to some sources, the one performed by the Sestrese Philharmonic is not the first public performance of the piece. There Voltrese Philharmonic, founded by Nicholas Mameli (Goffredo's brother), he would in fact have performed the piece a few weeks before the official debut, again in GenoVa. Furthermore, the poem did not yet feature the famous music written by Novaro. Unfortunately to date there is no documentation left any of this execution.
The anthem of Italy today
For many today Il Canto degli Italiani is now an empty text, to be sung only during the matches of the National football team (with little enthusiasm). The hand that rests on the heart during its execution is only a mild "mechanical gesture" learned by children and nothing more. This is because Italy (and the unity of the Italian people) is now a foregone conclusion, which is no longer noticed. Others don't even consider it their own hymn, preferring the "Go, thought"of Giuseppe Verdi, praising a phantom Po Valley independence that will never exist. At the time it was Verdi himself who chose Il Canto degli Italiani as a representative of Italy in his Hymn to the Nations of 1862. The patriotism of this hymn, considering that at the time "Italy had not yet been made”Is very strong. Unfortunately, this feeling has been lost over time (or is misused to justify xenophobia).
Despite its century and a half of life, Il Canto degli Italiani became "provisional hymn" in 1946 and got theofficial only in 2017, after a 12-year process. Today there are still those who discuss whether to change it, but the Mameli anthem is now part of our history and it is certain that that "piece" written by Novaro and Mameli and performed for the first time on 10 December 1847 in Genoa, it will remain in vogue for many years to come.
Photo: © Museum of the Risorgimento of Genoa.
