Roberto De Simone (born 25 August 1933) is an Italian stage director, playwright, composer and

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

Life and career

Born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, after graduating in piano and composition at the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatory De Simone started an intense concert activity, performing as an

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

in the

Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti (26 October 1685-23 July 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the devel ...

Orchestra.Ascarelli, Roberta (1991).
De Simone, Roberto
. ''

Enciclopedia Italiana The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' ( Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language ...

'', V Appendice.

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' ( Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language ...

. At the same time he started being active as an ethnomusical researcher and essayist, mainly focused on the southern Italy folk music of oral tradition, with also some interest in

tarantism Tarantism is a form of hysteric behaviour originating in Southern Italy, popularly believed to result from the bite of the wolf spider '' Lycosa tarantula'' (distinct from the broad class of spiders also called tarantulas). A better candidate c ...

and funeral laments.Assante, Ernesto (1990). "De Simone, Roberto". Gino Castaldo (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore.pp. 538-40. In the second half of the 1960s he met some musicians who shared with him an interest in traditional music, and this encounter led to the foundation of the

Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare The Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare (literally "New Company of Folk Song"), also known by the acronym NCCP, is an Italian folk group, founded in Naples in 1969. History The musical project was founded by musicians Eugenio Bennato, Carlo D’An ...

, with whom De Simone collaborated for a decade. In 1976 he made his debut as a playwright (also serving as librettist, composer and director) with the stage musical ''

La Gatta Cenerentola ''La Gatta Cenerentola'' is a 1976 three-act musical, in Neapolitan language, adapted by Roberto De Simone from the sixth fable ('' Cinderella'') of Giambattista Basile's '' Pentamerone''. It debuted in Naples and later premiered in the United ...

'', which was first staged at the

Festival dei Due Mondi The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conc ...

in Spoleto and later enjoyed national and international success. Other notable stage works include ''Mistero napoletano'', ''L'Opera buffa del Giovedì Santo'', and ''Stabat Mater''. He served as artistic director of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples and director of the Naples Conservatory. He also composed several film scores.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Simone, Roberto 1933 births Living people People from Naples Italian theatre directors Italian dramatists and playwrights Italian musicologists Italian male composers Italian film score composers Ethnomusicologists