“An impressive volume of essays, realized on primary music sources and personal correspondence, that documents the contributions of French-Neapolitan entrepreneur, composer, and editor Guillaume Cottrau to the history of Neapolitan songs with his collection of canzoni, Passatempi musicali, published in the first half of the nineteenth century. An important addition to the annals of Neapolitan song.”

Luigi Bonaffini, Brooklyn College

The first full account on the origins of the Neapolitan canzone, a genre still alive and popular nowadays. A book that presents a rich interdisciplinary discussion of the fascinating repertory of Neapolitan vocal chamber music, as well as of the life and culture on nineteenth-century Naples at the dawn of music industry.

Guido Olivieri, University of Texas Austin

“This book shows how even before the rise of the Tin Pan Alley music industry in New York City, Guillaume Cottrau created a model that had all the essential elements for the launching of a popular-song market that targeted the middle classes. This wonderful collection of essays helps us to better understand the early development and dissemination of Neapolitan song, its power to bridge highbrow and lowbrow musical and literary cultures, opera, salon music, art song, street song, the emerging international publishing market of sheet music, and the parallel development of the piano manufacture industry.”

Pierpaolo Polzonetti, University of Notre Dame