La Musica: Rivista ebdomadaria musicale

Published in Palermo from 17 January to 2 March 1886 at the Tipografia Filippo Barravecchia e figlio, La Musica. Rivista ebdomadaria musicale was issued weekly on Sundays for a brief period – only eight issues appeared – each comprising four pages. Missing from this RIPM Index is issue number 1, which could not be located.

La Musica was directed by Giuseppe Lo Verde De Angelis, a pianist, composer, and conductor from Palermo who was very active on the Sicilian concert scene. He declared the journal’s intention to be “an exact magazine of the art of music.” One of the first periodicals to promote musical verismo for the national theatrical scene—this precedes Mascagni’s Cavelleria Rusticana, which was first performed in 1890—La Musica takes part in this nascent debate somewhat earlier than the more well-known musical and cultural periodicals of the time, including the Gazzetta musicale di Milano, Nuova antologia, and Il Teatro illustrato. Had La Musica survived, it might have become an instrument for the pursuit of the goals of literary and musical verismo.

La Musica presents readers with a reflection on the problem of inadequate subsidies to musical institutions by the Italian government, reflected in the rubic “La Decadenza dell’arte [musicale]” which aimed to request help and raise awareness at the Ministry of Education. Regular rubrics in the journal include “Notiziario,” which reports on opera performances and concerts in Italy and abread; “Nostra corrispondenze” contains letters from Italian cities and New York; and “Aneddoti musicali”, from issue 4, with short stories related to musical personalities. Musical supplements (“La nostra musica”) are included. “Le opere nuove” in issue 8 reviews new compositions. Issue 3 opens with a commemorative article dedicated to the recently-deceased composer Amilcare Ponchielli.

Of note is the serialized article from issue 3, “Denominazione degli intervalli,” by the composer Carmelo Fodale who reflect upon the inadequacy of scientific studies in the field of music, demonstrating the backwardness of the methods of musical harmony, continuing and illustrating musical intervals, scales and semitones, and the degrees qualified as “natural” in the diatonic scale.

This RIPM Index was produced from a copy of the journal held in the library of the Conservatorio “Alessandro Scarlatti” in Palermo.