Music in nineteenth and early twentieth-century periodicals published in Palermo

Abstract

The distribution of periodicals on musical topics in Italy during the nineteenth century evidences a notable geographical homogeneity, including also Sicily. The lines along which the newspapers of Palermo developed are significantly similar to those of the most representative journals in Milan. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, both in Palermo and in Milan, the reports on music were limited to generical information supplied by the political newspapers. The first "politico-literary", "informative-entertainment" and "fashion, variety and theatre" periodicals with ample music sections (like the "Passatempo per le dame" or "Il vapore") appeared in Palermo during the Thirties, concurrently with the affirmation of similar journals in Milan ("La moda", "Il pirata"). During the decade following 1848, many periodicals of fine arts, literature, theatre and variety (first and foremost "La lira") began to give preference to music, adapting themselves to the new public demand. The first magazines devoted entirely to theatrical news ("Corriere dei teatri", "Corriere teatrale") appeared in Palermo only after Italy had become one nation and were short-lived; their premature demise was due to the brevity of theatrical seasons and to the scarcity of theatrical agencies. The first periodicals dedicated entirely to music appeared even later still; in fact, it was not till 1894 that a publisher, Luigi Sandron, first issued "Sicilia musicale" which survived until 1910 despite financial difficulties. The publication of the "Gazzetta musicale di Palermo" (1874-76) and "La musica" (1886), like the later "L'arte musicale" (1898), was due to the individual enterprise of musicians connected with the Conservatoire.
Several magazines of varied subject-matter appeared at the end of the century giving ample space to music ("Psiche", "Flirt", "La Sicile illustré"), an essential feature of the intense life of fashionable society in the belle époque, and proved more permanent. With these elegantly illustrated publications, Palermo shared the new Italian predilection for the image. During the first years of the twentieth century, the city ranged itself with the national trend through the proliferation of newspapers of theatrical advertising, published by agencies in this sector, while occasionally specialized magazines of a more intellectual character were also published ("Rassegna d'arte e teatri", 1922-36). The periodicals of musical interest have been catalogued in alphabetical order, accompanied by the data held to be more important for musicological research; in addition, a chronological list has been compiled of the same periodicals to assist in following their development. Separately, newspapers of general interest with music features are listed which were published during the same period.