Origins: Funiculi Funicula

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 03:35 AM

Is there any truth in the story we were told by an Italian guide on a recent visit to Vesuvius that the song was commissioned by the builders of the railway as an advertising jingle to draw custom away from the donkey drivers who, up to then had brought visitors to the top of the mountain?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Lighter
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 09:27 AM

The English translation posted by campfire at the top of this thread appeared prominently in "The Fireside Book of Folk Songs" in 1949. As many American 'Catters may recall, this was an extremely popular book for elementary schools.

It's loaded with great old songs, melodies, and illustrations, and appears on eBay all the time for about $10.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 12:25 PM

A good source for this and other Neapolitan songs, easily searchable. In many cases, the translation into Italian also is given.
http://medivia.sele.it/inglese/canzoni
Neapolitan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 09 - 09:18 PM

See Jerry Silverman's "Folk Song Encyclopedia" Vol. I pg. 294.

Subject: Lyric Pronunciation Required
From: GUEST,PixelHead777
Date: 10 May 10 - 12:18 PM

Blatantly ignoring any form of date,

Having all these different lyrics is good and all...

You know what would be really nice?

I have a vocal book, "Pavarotti Forever". It has this song in it.

It doesn't have how to pronounce it.

And NEITHER DOES THE INTERNET. I look up pronunciation of the song, nothing, I look up the song on youtube at fifty percent speed to make it translatable, nothing.
I look up the language of Neapolitan, to hopefully find pronunciation.
NOTHING.

Help a singer out, will you?

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OmVRQGMKAg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 May 10 - 10:22 PM

I don't speak Italian, but I've heard that Italian is a phonetic language; that is, if you know how a word is spelled, then you know how it is supposed to be pronounced, and vice versa. That's assuming you have learned a few simple rules about how various letters and letter-combinations are pronounced.

I don't know, but I would guess the various dialects of Italian work the same way—that is, they change the spelling as necessary to indicate how each word is pronounced in each dialect, but they still follow rigid rules.

In addition, there might be some vowel shifts that are too subtle to be represented with spelling changes, but you might be able to ignore these without being too far wrong.

So what you probably need to do is (1) learn how to pronounce standard Italian, (2) get a reliable printed text written in Neapolitan, and (3) apply the rules you have learned to the text.

Look here: Italian alphabet and Italian phonology at Wikipedia. (That last article is disappointingly technical. Maybe you can find something easier.)

On second thought, maybe you can skip that article and go directly to this one, which looks easier: Neapolitan language (What? They call it a language instead of a dialect? Shows you how much I know!)

Also, look at the links at the bottom of those pages.

Don't take anything I have said as gospel, but I hope it's good enough to get you started.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Aug 13 - 05:09 PM

There's a fine video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44UC6muN8KY

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 02 Aug 13 - 06:41 PM

The liner notes for the album Suitcase Serenata by the Australian band I Viaggiatori say,

When the new funicular railway was built to go up Mount Vesuvius, no one wanted to travel on it, fearing for their lives. The owners, worried about losing business, commissioned Peppino Turco and Luigi Denza in 1880 to compose a song to commemorate, and encourage people to use, the railway.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 13 - 08:12 PM

I found this interesting entry, dated February 2004, at travelmole.com. Sounds hopeful.

Vesuvius railway to reopen after 60 years

Some 60 years after it was last used, the famous Thomas Cook funicular railway on Italy's Mount Vesuvius is set to reopen. The railway, which was opened in 1880, and had to be rebuilt after the volcano erupted in 1910, was shut in 1944, when the last major eruption happened. Now, according to The Times newspaper, the railway is to be restored to its former glory following an agreement between the Campagnia region of Italy, the Vesuvius National Park and the Vesuvius Observatory. Amilcare Troiano, of the Vesuvius National Park, reportedly told the newspaper that the railway will initially run from San Vito to the observatory, some 200 metres from the top of the famous mountain, and that eventually it would be extended to the very top of the volcano. Thomas Cook and Sons owned and operated the railway from 1888. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
Friday, February 13, 2004

---

this not-so-hopeful entry in the Telegraph, dated 15 May 2007:

£20m railway line under the cloud of Vesuvius and mafia war

By Malcolm Moore in Naples12:01AM BST 15 May 2007
A £5.5 billion transport project in Italy that includes a railway to ferry tourists to the top of Vesuvius has become mired in controversy amid warnings of an imminent volcanic eruption and a mafia war at the foot of the mountain.

Herculaneum, a town at the foot of the volcano, is to be the first stop on a £20 million reconstruction of Thomas Cook's 19th-century funicular railway. However, there is a "one-in-two" chance of the volcano erupting in the next few years. A survey of the volcano last month warned that 300,000 people could die in an eruption.
"The rule is that the longer the period of inactivity, the bigger the eruption," said Augusto Neri, of the National Geophysical and Vulcanology Institute.
Vesuvius erupted eight times in the 19th century, and in 1906, 1929 and 1944. The last eruption destroyed the original railway.
The new project, to be completed in 2009, is to be financed mostly by the European Union.
Alessandro Crocetta, a spokesman for the regional transport authority, was relaxed about the apparent threat. He said: "Well, if it erupts, it erupts." The decision is all the more remarkable considering that only four years ago, the city council launched a £500 million compensation scheme to move villagers away from the volcano.
A law was passed forbidding further construction within 1.5 miles of Vesuvius, about five miles from Naples.
The 550,000 people who lived in houses inside the "red zone" were offered £20,000 towards the cost of a new house somewhere else.
Almost half of Herculaneum's population took the offer and abandoned their homes. The departure of locals left the way open for the Camorra, the local mafia, to move into their homes.
The area is now regarded as one of the most dangerous parts of the city as gangs wage a turf war.

However, the regional transport authority, headed by Ennio Cascetta, insists that the railway will help regenerate the area.
"It will have an effect on crime in the city, because the economy will improve," he said.
The funicular railway is part of a larger project to improve the underground system of Naples.
Lord Rogers, Sir Norman Foster, Anish Kapoor and Zaha Hadid are among the architects who have designed stations for the metro.
However, there are fears that the project may benefit the Camorra.
According to Italy's anti-mafia commission, 12 per cent of Italy's construction companies are tied to the mafia. A further 12 per cent of firms providing cement and building materials are run by organised crime syndicates.
In Naples, the local council has taken steps to award public contracts to non-Camorra companies. However, firms are suspected of either paying protection money or buying concrete from the gangs. The anti-mafia commission said the "entrepreneurial capacity" of the mob in the construction sector was growing fast and assisting their laundering of drug money.
Last week almost 100 gangsters were arrested in Nola, near the foot of Vesuvius, to investigate "links between local and national politicians and public contracts".
Meanwhile, at Herculaneum, where work is already beginning to restore Thomas Cook's original station, six people have been gunned down in the past week.
Nevertheless, Mr Cascetta said a railway line to the top of Vesuvius was "something romantic".

---

So, any news since 2007??

You'll find a very nice Pavarotti recording here (click)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 13 - 02:05 PM

At present, a bus to the Park will take one 200 meters from the summit. Moderate fitness required, according to websites.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Oct 18 - 07:43 PM

The way we sang the last line was "Life would be so sweet if you would only beat your meat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Oct 18 - 05:11 PM

I think I learned the masturbation version before I knew the original was about a funicular railroad - before I even knew what a funicular was. I think the nearest funiculars to my home in Milwaukee, were in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 14 Oct 18 - 07:45 PM

Joe:
Pittsburgh, yes.
Next closest (possibly, but not in USA)would be Quebec. Definitely closer than LA
I travelled on it last week.

Cheers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Funiculi Funicula
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 01:32 AM

Wikipedia, of course, has a list of funiculars all over the world. They say it's not complete yet.