About INNI e CANTI
When Italian immigrants celebrate a religious feast, they turn to the songs included in this collection. These are the hymns that rang out in the churches and towns of their native country as they processed through the narrow streets behind their statues and their varas and their banners. These are the hymns that stirred their hearts and solidified their faith. These are the hymns that they taught their children. These are the hymns that maintained their emotional and spiritual connection to each other and to Italy, even after they established themselves in new communities in their adoptive countries.
Because these hymns linked Italian immigrants to the land and the faith of their forebears, in many Italian-American communities they survived the 1960s transition to contemporary church music. However, the people singing them often had to rely on their memories, since the musical scores for many of these songs disappeared in the late 60s. I tried unsuccessfully to locate such scores during my frequent trips to Italy. Finally, in the early 90s, I was able to find a now treasured anthology of Italian church music which includes the melodies of some of these hymns.
So when I was invited to serve as music liaison for Milwaukee’s Festa Italiana Mass Committee in 2008, I welcomed the opportunity to include several of these stirring hymns in the liturgy. The favorable reactions of the choir members, most of whom did not speak Italian, encouraged me to include more traditional Italian hymns in subsequent annual Festa Italiana Masses. Thousands of participants at the Masses were introduced to these songs and showed an interest in them. My daughter, Olivia, crafted a faithful and accurate English translation of each song’s lyrics, which we have included in this collection so that non-Italian speakers can learn and sing these songs of faith also. Most importantly, Michael Kamenski, Director of Liturgy and Worship at St. Sebastian (Milwaukee, WI), developed rich arrangements, and, working with the choir and local musicians, he created a magnificent sound, capturing the songs’ sincere piety and deeply felt devotion and breathing new life into this traditional music. Maestro Kamenski has choral octavos, PVG sheet music, assembly format for worship, and instrumental arrangements available for purchase (he can be contacted at [email protected]).
There are individuals in Italy and in my native Republic of San Marino applauding our efforts to preserve and celebrate this sacred music, as well as all it represents. It is my hope that this recording, which we dedicate to Our Lady, will enable these powerful hymns to continue to move people to prayer and praise, as they have for many generations.
Marisa Gatti-Taylor, Ph.D.
Because these hymns linked Italian immigrants to the land and the faith of their forebears, in many Italian-American communities they survived the 1960s transition to contemporary church music. However, the people singing them often had to rely on their memories, since the musical scores for many of these songs disappeared in the late 60s. I tried unsuccessfully to locate such scores during my frequent trips to Italy. Finally, in the early 90s, I was able to find a now treasured anthology of Italian church music which includes the melodies of some of these hymns.
So when I was invited to serve as music liaison for Milwaukee’s Festa Italiana Mass Committee in 2008, I welcomed the opportunity to include several of these stirring hymns in the liturgy. The favorable reactions of the choir members, most of whom did not speak Italian, encouraged me to include more traditional Italian hymns in subsequent annual Festa Italiana Masses. Thousands of participants at the Masses were introduced to these songs and showed an interest in them. My daughter, Olivia, crafted a faithful and accurate English translation of each song’s lyrics, which we have included in this collection so that non-Italian speakers can learn and sing these songs of faith also. Most importantly, Michael Kamenski, Director of Liturgy and Worship at St. Sebastian (Milwaukee, WI), developed rich arrangements, and, working with the choir and local musicians, he created a magnificent sound, capturing the songs’ sincere piety and deeply felt devotion and breathing new life into this traditional music. Maestro Kamenski has choral octavos, PVG sheet music, assembly format for worship, and instrumental arrangements available for purchase (he can be contacted at [email protected]).
There are individuals in Italy and in my native Republic of San Marino applauding our efforts to preserve and celebrate this sacred music, as well as all it represents. It is my hope that this recording, which we dedicate to Our Lady, will enable these powerful hymns to continue to move people to prayer and praise, as they have for many generations.
Marisa Gatti-Taylor, Ph.D.
