THE BALLAD - Federico Volpe

THE BALLAD – History of a literary and musical form

What could Guido Cavalcanti and Robin Hood have in common? What is the similarity between Arabic poetry and Tuscan-Umbrian poetry? And how can one begin a story with Homer and end it with Fabrizio De Andrè? Reconstructing a history of the ballad, as a literary and musical form, allows us to answer these strange questions and is the purpose of this book. In a boundless journey through time and space, from ancient times to the twentieth century, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Baltic Sea, the author traces the main stages in the evolution of the ballad, introducing its various protagonists, citing significant texts from various literatures, and offering a special focus on Chopin's piano ballads. This volume offers a summary and overview of the studies conducted over the decades on the ballad genre. It aims to inspire readers to reflect on the shared roots of European cultures and the interdependent and international nature that literary, musicological, and, more generally, historical, and artistic research can sometimes assume. A CD of Chopin's four ballads, performed by Samson François and Claudio Arrau, is included.

Page 190 Includes CD

FEDERICO VOLPE He is very young, born in 1998. He studied piano at the L. D'Annunzio Conservatory in Pescara and the GB Martini Conservatory in Bologna, graduating with honors from both. He studied conducting at the International Academy of Imola, the Coccia Theatre Foundation in Novara, and the Spazio Musica Association in Genoa. He is a scholar of ancient and modern languages ​​and holds a degree in Historical and Oriental Sciences from the University of Bologna. La Ballata is his debut opera.