Before the 19th century, summer had been understood, to put it very quickly, as a period in which to rest after the intensity of spring and in which to prepare for autumn. And it was marked, solely, by nature itself. And here comes Vivaldi: because that is the summer context of ‘The Seasons’ (Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, «L’estate») by Antonio Vivaldi
Little by little, that centrality of summer is withdrawn from its effects on nature. The romantics, in the 19th century, began to see in the summer an occasion for flirting, a little ahead of our contemporary festivals. A very clear example is Tchaikovsky, or rather, his editor Nikolay Bernard, who added the following text to the “June” piece of his composition The Seasons (op. 37a).
What we hear, by the way, is a barcarolle: we know it from the type of rhythm it uses, where it seems to imitate the movement of a small boat on the water, since its origin comes from the Venetian gondoliers. The best-known boat, I think, is this one written for the opera ‘Hoffmann’s Tales’ by Offenbach (and we listen to that boat with the chinchin-chinchin).
When was the song of the summer created?
One of the theories that are handled would have to go back to the end of the 19th century, with the development of American popular music, especially in vaudeville shows. Look at this text that appeared in the New York Tribune on June 5, 1910: it is a text in which the author wonders in these terms what the song of that summer will be that year. And he says: “Will it be humorous? Will it be sentimental? Will it be unmitigated garbage?
The previous year, in 1909, the song My Wife’s Gone to the Country! Hooray! Hooray!, written by Irving Berlin, Ted Snyder and Geo Whitting. The title anticipates well what the chorus says. It is a song of celebration of being “of Rodríguez”.
Elements that a summer song should have
Leaving aside the horror of the lyrics, it is that Irving established when describing it a kind of list of elements that a good summer song must have: treat common, familiar places; that is easily singable; and make it fun, simple. From then on, it began to be a common theme in summer publications to determine the “summer” character of each year’s musical hits.
For summer to exist as we understand it today, we need vacations. Vacations mean not working, but beware: paid vacations, this is a social achievement. Let’s not forget that before the 20th century, vacations, “retirements” were only enjoyed by the wealthier classes.
But little by little, the conquest of labor rights made it possible for the workers to also have access to them. And so, quite late in the last century, vacation spaces and consumer products associated with summer were created. For example: the urbanizations and hotels on the coast, the beach bars… and of course, the songs of the summer.
The success of Italian music
This was called the democratization of vacations, a phenomenon that occurred in the sixties. The Italian Disco per l’estate festival, which is considered the clearest precedent, started in 1964. That was a way of activating record sales in summer, just as the Sanremo Festival did in winter.
Basically, it was about each record company sending their proposals for songs (one, two or three) by Italian authors to RAI. They were broadcast on the radio and voted on. The most voted went to a televised final. And it was a great success. So much so that versions of this “Disco per l’estate” were soon adopted by creating lists or voting on the radio.
The first to win were Los Marcellos Ferial with a song called “Sei diventata nera”. Italian culture was warmly welcomed in the middle of the last century in many countries. In the United States, for example. Not only by crooners of Italian origin, such as Frank Sinatra, but also by other artists such as Elvis Presley, who did his own version of ‘O Sole mío’ in his ‘It’s now or never’.
But the definitive success of the Italian song came with Domenico Modugno’s ‘Nel Blu di Pinto di Blu’, which had won the 1958 Sanremo Festival. Like or Frank Sinatra, Modugno was a bit of a shouter.
That same year, in 1958, the Billboard Hot 100 began to be published, that is, the list of the 100 hits. Until that year, the list was divided into several sections: “the best sellers in stores”, “the most played”, “the ones that are most played on jukeboxes”. The 1958 list, however, matched all aspects. And it was important because it already allowed us to have some criteria to establish what the song of the summer was: the main candidate was, logically, the one that was number 1 between June and September. Thus, since 1958, it is possible to review what the songs of the summer have been.
The negative component of summer was abandoned
An important element of this “summer invention” is the gradual abandonment of the negative component that we heard at the beginning caused by the heat and languor. Now is the summer is a fun period, a time in which the heat is offset by the cool nights. There is a very clear example of this: the song “Summer in the city” by The Lovin’ Spoonful (1966), which begins very flat, complaining about the heat and sweat, about dead cities, but then it cheers up when it says ( but at night it’s a different world…, come on, dance all night, despite the heat everything will be fine…)
The 90s and the consolidation of the song of the summer
In the 90s, which is the definitive decade of the establishment of the summer song, something else happened: the emergence of choreographies. This has several explanations, but a basic one. We might know the song, but what were we supposed to do on the dance floor? Well that: now, in addition to singing them, we also wanted to dance them.
The great revolution was the Macarena, which is from 1992. And from there we have hundreds of examples: “El aserejé”, by Las Ketchup; the “Mayonnaise”, by Chocolate Latino, or “Saturday Night” by Whigfield. Do you remember that last time we talked about how in the current era we relate to the past in a retromanic way, this nostalgia thing, going to references from the past, from our childhood?
This is a long way off, but Aitana is now triumphing with ‘Las Babys’, which looks set to be this summer’s song. In that song, Whigfield’s “Saturday Night” is sampled (in fact, Aitana makes a direct reference to Whitfield’s in her video clip) and updates the song to partying with friends, removing the centrality of going out to flirt or with the flirt. (as in the original). He also speeds it up and strengthens production with more electronics.
2023-07-10 17:23:21
#invention #musical #summer #Vivaldi #Aitana
