ITEM
Marcia reale; Giovinezza; Inno a Roma Item Info
Marcia reale; Giovinezza; Inno a Roma - item
- Object ID:
- demo_0931
- Creator:
- Columbia
- Type of Sound:
- Music
- Music Composer:
- Giuseppe Gabetti; Giuseppe Blanc; Giacomo Puccini
- Type of Music:
- Hymn March
- Date:
- 1937
- Identifier:
- DQ 1967
- Linked Recording:
- demo_0932
- Rights:
- metadata-only record, please check the publication for rights
- Description:
- The "Marcia Reale" (or "Marcia Reale Italiana") is the national anthem associated with the Italian monarchy, the representative instance of political power already in place before Benito Mussolini came to power in October 1922, and which remained present throughout the Fascist period. When marketed as a record, the monarchist anthem most often accompanied "Giovinezza", the anthem of the National Fascist Party, which served as a second national anthem, on the other side of the record. In this way, the same record gives voice to and represents the two sides of Italian political power: the symbolic one, which represents the process of uniting Italy (the "Risorgimento") and thus the very possibility of its existence as a nation; the executive one, which intends to represent the national, even racial, development of Italy according to the palingenesis principle central to Fascism. "Giovinezza" is a composition by Giuseppe Blanc dating from 1909, which received lyrics from at least three different authors. The song was used as the hymn of the National Fascist Party (NFP) alongside "All'armi" from its creation in November 1921, before a new version with lyrics by Salvatore Gotta became the official anthem in 1924. Popular, it became the national anthem of Fascist Italy, alongside the "Marcia Reale", which signifies the pre-Fascist monarchical aspect, and thus the historical continuity, of the Italian nation. Often featured on records also including "Marcia Reale", it was the most recorded hymn under Benito Mussolini's government, in instrumental versions or sung by adults and children alike. The intensity of this presence is one of the signs of the central symbolic and political role played by youth in the regime's project of national regeneration, which also provided a framework for the fascization of young Italians in and out of school, with the creation of several dedicated institutions from the mid-1920s onwards (see Bruno Wanrooij, "Giovinezza", in Victoria De Grazia & Sergio Luzzatto (eds), Dizionario del fascismo. Vol. 1, A-K, Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2019, p. 600-604). Composed in 1918 by Giacomo Puccini, "Inno a Roma" became a vehicle for celebrating the Italian capital during the "ventennio". As the former capital of the Roman Empire, of which it preserves many vestiges, Rome was the object of a myth and a cult of "Romanity" ("romanità"), because of its embodiment of the history, symbols and values of the ancient empire (military power, heroism, imperialism, grandeur, glory), elements on which the Fascist regime based its own symbolic apparatus and national imaginary. From the early 1920s, the city was remodeled to showcase the Roman ruins, at the cost of destroying part of its later architectural heritage. Linking the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia, from which Benito Mussolini worked and delivered some of the most important speeches of the Fascist period, the "Via dell'Impero" (today's "Via dei Fori Imperiali"), laid out between 1924 and 1932 to better showcase the many sites that line it, is an eloquent testimony to this highly symbolic urban policy. In Fascist discography, "Inno a Roma" is most often accompanied by a propaganda recording.
- Online Resources:
- -
- Music by:
- Giuseppe Gabetti Giuseppe Blanc Giacomo Puccini
- Genre:
- Hymn March
- Sound Type:
- Music
- Related Record:
- demo_0932
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Marcia reale; Giovinezza; Inno a Roma", REDIRE Database, Bonn Center for Digital Humanities (BCDH)
- Reference Link:
- http://localhost:4000/items/demo_0931.html
Rights
- Rights:
- metadata-only record, please check the publication for rights
- Standardized Rights:
- Dischi Columbia, Catalogo generale, 1938