Letizia Belmondo & Zsolt Czetner - Giovanni Caramiello: Operatic Fantasias for harp and piano and solo harp (2015)

The harp and the Kingdom of Naples: an ancient bond that can be traced back to a period much before the introduction of the pedal harp in Italy. A history that was always poised between 'popular' and 'cultivated' tradition, between the streets and the theatres, between the churches and the drawing-rooms, and was characterised by a great mutual permeability of two musical worlds that, all too often, are regarded as separate and distinct.

The great popularity of the harp in Naples began in the sixteenth century, during the period of the Spanish rule. In Spain the harp was highly appreciated and was often used in the choirs of religious institutions, noble families and the royal family; its popularity soon spread to the Neapolitan musical culture (but not to other Italian regions under the Spanish rule or to Milan).