Additional Calendars
Calendar Views
All
Athletics
Conferences and Meetings
Law School
Special Events

Assunta Spina: Film with Live Musical Accompaniment

When: Thursday, April 6, 2017
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Where: > See description for location
Cost: Free
Description: Location: Woodland Commons, Room 3
Time: 7:00 PM on Thursday, April 6
Parking: Lot 13
Admission: Free

Salvatore Di Giacomo's Assunta Spina (1915) will be presented with a newly composed score by John T. LaBarbera performed live to enhance the realism experience.

Considered to be the first film that invented realism, Bertini's performance set a new standard for Italian cinema. Based on Salvatore Di Giacomo's play, Assunta Spina was filmed on location in Naples in 1914 and was produced and released by Caesar Film in 1915 in Italy. It features the Queen of Italian silent screen Francesca Bertini, who is credited with directing the film together with her co-star, Gustavo Serena. It is an operatic tale of love and sacrifice in working class turn of the century Naples and can be considered to be one of the first films of Italian Neorealism.

For this score, arranged for mandolin/violin and guitar, LaBarbera creates an intimate atmosphere by keeping an accompaniment of emotions found in the melodic themes of the characters in a leitmotif style to highlight the melodramatic and picturesque style of the film. As the film captures glimpses of life on the streets of Naples, references to popular traditional music can be seen in the background shots. From dancing the polka accompanied by serenading musicians to pastoral shepherds playing bagpipes for Christmas, he presents a glimpse into this period by using the rhythms of tarantella, polka, tango, waltzes, and pastoral serenades, to enhance the realism surrounding the circumstances of Assunta’s tragic and passionate story.

For more information, contact Prof. Rose Facchini at rose.facchini@umassd.edu.
Contact: > See Description for contact information
Topical Areas: Faculty, General Public, Staff and Administrators, Students, Students, Graduate, Students, Law, Students, Undergraduate, University Community, College of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Literature and Languages, Films, University Marketing