Culture-arts,+society+and+music_Nathan


 * Culture: Arts, Society and Music**


 * Music**

Music has traditionally been one of the great cultural markers of what it means to be “Italian” and holds an important position in society, in general, and even in politics. The music of Italy range across a broad spectrum, from her renowned opera to modern experimental classical music; and from the traditional music of the many ethnically diverse region to a vast body of popular music drawn from both native and imported source. Historically, musical developments in Italy in the [|Middle Ages] and [|Renaissance] helped create much music that spread throughout Europe. Innovation in the use of [|musical scales], [|harmony], [|notation], as well as experiments in musical theater led directly not just to opera in the late 16th century, but to classical music forms such as the symphony and concerto, and to later developments in popular music. Today, the entire infrastructure that supports music as a profession is extensive in Italy, including conservatories, opera houses, radio and television stations, recording studios, music festivals, and important centers of [|musicological] research. Musical life in Italy remains extremely active.


 * Art**

Italian art describes the [|visual arts] in [|Italy] from ancient times to the present. In [|Ancient Rome], Italy was a centre for art and architecture. There were many Italian artists during the [|Gothic] and [|Medieval] periods, and the arts flourished during the [|Italian Renaissance]. Later styles in Italy included [|Mannerism], [|Baroque] and [|Rococo]. [|Futurism] developed in Italy in the 20th century.

Etruscan bronze figures and terra-cotta funerary reliefs include examples of a vigorous northern Italian tradition which had waned by the time Rome began building her empire on the Italian peninsula. The Roman period, as we know it, begins after the Punic Wars and the subsequent invasion of the Greek cities of the Mediterranean. The Hellenistic styles then current in Greek civilization were adopted. The cultic and decorative use of sculpture and pictorial mosaic survive in the ruins of both temples and villas. As the empire matured, other less naturalistic, sometimes more dramatic, sometimes more severe, styles were developed -- especially as the center of empire moved to eastern Italy and then to Constantinople With the fall of its western capitol, the Roman empire continued for another 1000 years under the leadership of Constantinople. Byzantine artisans were used in important projects throughout Italy, and Byzantine styles of painting can be found up through the 14th Century. The [|Gothic period] marks a transition from the [|medieval] to the [|Renaissance] and is characterised by the styles and attitudes nurtured by the influence of the [|Dominican] and [|Franciscan] order of monks, founded by Saint [|Dominic] ([|1170] to [|1221]) and Saint [|Francis of Assisi] ([|1181] to [|1226]) respectively. It was a time of religious disputes within the church. The Franciscans and Dominicans were founded as an attempt to address these disputes and bring the [|Roman Catholic] church back to basics. The early days of the Franciscans are remembered especially for the compassion of Saint Francis, while the Dominicans are remembered as the order most responsible for the beginnings of the [|Inquisition]. //[|Gothic architecture]// began in northern [|Europe] and spread southward to Italy. The earliest important monument of the Italian Gothic style is the great church at Assisi. The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi (St Francis) is a [|World Heritage Site]. The Franciscan monastery and the lower and upper church (Basilica inferiore e superiore) of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in [|1228], and completed [|1253]. The lower church has [|frescos] by [|Cimabue] and [|Giotto di Bondone]. In the Upper church are frescos of scenes in the life of St Francis by Giotto and his circle. Cenni di Petro (Giovanni) Cimabue (c.[|1240]-[|1302]} and [|Giotto di Bondone] (better known as just Giotto) ([|1267]-[|1337]), were two of the first painters who began to move toward the role of the artist as a creative individual, rather than a mere copier of traditional forms. They began to take an interest in improving the depiction of the figure. The Byzantine style was unrealistic and could be improved upon by a return to forms achieved in ancient Greece. Other terms sometimes applied to describe the artists of this period are //The Primitives// and the //Early Renaissance//. The [|Renaissance] is said to have begun in [|14th century] Italy. The rediscovery of [|Ancient Greek] and [|Roman] art and classics brought better [|proportions], [|perspective] and use of lighting in art. Wealthy families, such as the [|Medicis], and the [|papacy] served as patrons for many Italian artists, including [|Leonardo da Vinci], [|Michelangelo Buonarroti], [|Donatello], and [|Raffaello] ([|Raphael]). The focus of most art remained religious. Michelangelo painted the [|Sistine Chapel], and sculpted his famous [|Pietà]. Leonardo painted the [|Monna Lisa] and [|The Last Supper]. Raphael painted several [|Madonnas]. Both [|Michelangelo] and [|Donatello] sculpted visions of [|David]. The gothic period was also known as the baseline for the modern era of art, followed by the remaining articles of faith. As the Renaissance had moved from formulaic depiction to a more natural observation of the figure, light and perspective, so the subsequent, [|Mannerist], period is marked by a move to forms conceived in the mind. Once the ideals of the Renaissance had had their effect artists such as [|Giulio Romano] (ca [|1499]? to [|1546]) were able to introduce personal elements of [|subjectivity] to their interpretation of visual forms. The perfection of perspective, light and realistic human figures can be thought of as impossible to improve upon //unless// another factor is included in the image, namely the factor of how the artist //feels// about the image. This emotional content in Mannerism is also the beginnings of a movement which would eventually, much later, become [|Expressionism] in the [|19th century]. The difference between Mannerism and Expressionism is really a matter of degree. Vango was also a famous Italian artist. Guilo Romano was a student a protege of [|Raphael]. Other Italian Mannerist painters included [|Pontormo] and [|Rosso Fiorentino], students of [|Andrea del Sarto]. The Spanish Mannerist [|El Greco] was a student of the Italian Renaissance painter [|Titian]. The most famous Italian painter of the Mannerist style and period is [|Tintoretto] (Jacopo Robusti) ([|1518]-[|1594]). From Mannerism onward there are more and more [|art movements] representing tides of opinion pushing in various different directions, causing art philosophy over the centuries from about the [|16th century] onward to gradually fragment into the characteristic //[|isms]// of [|Modern art]. The work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, better known as [|Caravaggio] ([|1571]-[|1610]), stands on its own as one of the most original and influential artists who ever lived. He did something completely controversial and new. He painted figures, even those of classical or religious themes, in contemporary clothing or as ordinary living men and women. This in stark opposition to the usual trend of the time to idealise the religious or classical figure. Caravaggio set the style for many years to come, although not everyone followed his example. Some, like [|Agostino Carracci] (or Caracci) ([|1557] to [|1602]) and his brothers were all influenced by Caravaggio but leaned toward the idealism and spirituality from which Caravaggio was perceived to have strayed. A movement to "reform" Mannerism, Italian [|Baroque] art saw Mannerism as excessive and tried to bring it back to [|Christian] [|piety]. Nevertheless, this reform took place within the context of the Mannerist attempt to introduce more movement and passion and is part of a conceptual [|dialogue] with Mannerism. [|Rococo] was the tail end of the Baroque period, mainly in [|France] of the [|18th century]. The main artist of the Rococo style in Italy was [|Giovanni Battista Tiepolo] ([|1696] to [|1770]). Italy produced its own form of [|Impressionism], the //[|Macchiaioli]// artists, who were actually there first, before the more famous Impressionists. The great Italian [|Expressionist] was [|Amedeo Modigliani] ([|1884] to [|1920]). Across all forms of art, architecture, literature, painting etc. new approaches were taken. [|Futurism] was the Italian movement contemporaneous with [|Cubism]. Futurism was started by the poet [|Filippo Tommaso Marinetti] in [|1909]. Marietti influenced Italian painters and suggested that the paintings seen in Parisian Cubist exhibitions were examples of the direction Italian painters should be taking. The most famous Italian Cubist/Futrist painter was [|Gino Severini] ([|1883]-[|1966]). As Cubism attempted to modernise perspective [|representation] by adopting not one but several points of view, so Futurism attempted to modernise all the arts and imbue them with force and dynamism by multiple methods. The Futurists loved movement and dance. The Futurists were also great enthusiasts of science and machines. Their love of machines was mercilessly parodied by the [|Dadaists]. Much of Dada's style and methods came originally from subverting Futurism. [|Giorgio de Chirico] ([|1888]-[|1978]) was the Italian painter who founded the [|Metaphysical] school of painting and was an enormous influence upon the [|Surrealists].
 * Etruscan:**
 * Romans:**
 * Byzantines:**
 * Gothic Period:**
 * Renaissance:**
 * Mannerism:**
 * Modernity:**
 * Baroque:**
 * Rococo:**
 * Impressionism and Post-Impressionism:**
 * Expressionism:**
 * Cubism, Futurism, and Dada:**
 * Metaphysical painting and Surrealism:**

At the beginning of the 20th century, Italian sculptors and painters joined the rest of Western Europe in the revitalization of a simpler, more vigorous, less sentimental Classical tradition, that was applied in liturgical as well as decorative and political settings. The leading sculptors included: Libero Andreotti, [|Arturo Martini], [|Giacomo Manzù], Emilio Greco, and Lello Scorzelli. Leading painters included [|Antonio Donghi], [|Corrado Cagli], [|Gianfilippo Usellini], [|Pietro Annigoni].
 * Classical Modernism of the 20th Century:**

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Italy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Italy
 * Society**
 * References**: