L'Arte: Rivista della Filarmonica Bellini

L'Arte [RIPM code LAF] published by the Accademia Filarmonica Bellini of Palermo. The initial director was Arcangelo Lauria Lojacono; later Giuseppe Perez held the title of editor. The 1869 and 1870 volumes each comprise 24 fascicles, published by the Tipografia di F. Barravecchia in Palermo. Both volumes have regular, fortnightly periodicity, with issues appearing on the first and fifteenth of the month. Each fascicle comprises some 15 to 20 pages with continuous pagination per year. In the course of the second year, L’Arte deals progressively less and less with musical topics. For this reason, RIPM indexing stops at the end of the second year and does not include the third.

In the first issue, Arcangelo Lauria Lojacono declares his intentions for the new journal, stating that music will be the primary topic and that literature and other arts which reference the musical world will also be covered. This is clarified in the third issue, where he declares the Filarmonica's purpose to be an instrument of artistically-elevated delight for the citizens of Palermo and to represent the city admirably to the European musical scene. Political institutions are urged to understand the value of musical events and support their existence together with the voluntary contributors to the Association.

In 1870 Giuseppe Perez assumed the editorship of L’Arte. A scholar and holder of the many public offices, in the same year he ensured publication of the Vocabolario Siciliano Italiano attenente a cose domestiche e parecchie arti e mestieri in Palermo by the publisher Lao. President of the Accademia Filarmonica Bellini, Giuseppe Burgio di Villafiorita (Palermo 1845-Milan 1902) was a regular contributor. A composer trained at the Milan Conservatory, his opera Di chi è colpa? was first performed at a very young age (and frequently reviewed in L’Arte). He was also a singing teacher and wrote literary and music criticism in the magazines Il Secolo and La Gazzetta di Milano.

In the sixth issue, Lauria Lojacono describes the training of participants in the Accademia, who were amateurs, not necessarily professional musicians. As such, the purpose of the Accademia was not to entertain the public, but to develop the musical quality of its singers and instrumentalists, so they can attract the attention of the public and consequently increase the number of members. The repertoire performed does not aspire to first performances of new compositions but to reproduce already known music; this modesty is characteristic of the Accademia. In the twelfth issue a new column “Galleria d’illustri artisti”  was introduced to provide a space devoted to the fine arts.

Key contributors include San Giacinto, pseudonym of Giacinto Agnello (Palermo 1791-1870), politician and man of letters, who founded the newspaper La Cronica di Sicilia (1813-1814) and was later editor of the art criticism magazine Deca di belle arti. For L’Arte he wrote articles celebrating the recently deceased composer Gioachino Rossini and chronicled the theaters of Italy. Also contibuting regularly was Giuseppe Pitrè (Palermo 1841-1916), a writer, physician, man of letters, and ethnologist, best known for his pioneering work in the field of Sicilian folklore and as an initiator of folkloric studies in Italy. For L’Arte he contributed articles concerning archaeological discoveries and distinguished artists from Palermo. Activities of Pietro Platania, director of the Collegio di Musica, are addressed.

L’Arte is initially devoted mainly to music and thereafter becomes a miscellany in the arts and non-arts. Articles devoted to musicians, painters, sculptors, national art exhibitions, the art of dance, singing schools, studies related to biology and more appear. The focus remains on Sicily and its relations and roots with the artistic-cultural world of the past and present.  The 1870 volume contains several articles related to the city of Pesaro such as descriptions of commemorations of the painter Raffaello Sanzio of Urbino and the unveiling of the bust of the poet Terenzio Mamiani at the Pesaro City Hall. The periodical shows sensitivity to the reality of Italian singing, with articles by Luigi Celentano, and to new systems of technical improvement of musical instruments, such as Giulio Briccialdi's new flute and the trombone with “bimbonifono” by trombonist Gioacchino Bimboni.

Other columns also appear, such as “La Sicilia,” “Rassegna bibliografica,” “Cronaca musicale,” “Effemeridi musicali” (in 1869), “Cronaca delle belle arti,” “Notizie musicali,” “Nostra corrispondenza,” “Notizie varie,” and “Galleria di siciliani illustri.”

Various poetic texts are published in the journal. Aside from the graphic of a lyre which appears in the masthead, no other illustrations can be found. The only advertisement present is for Giuseppe Perez's publication, the Vocabolario Siciliano-italiano.

This RIPM Index was produced from a copy of the journal held by the library of the Conservatorio “Vincenzo Bellini” in Palermo.