Il Fanciullo del West: Shorty Joe Quartuccio’s Country Western Sound
His 1910 La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), set in the Sacramento Valley during the Gold Rush, mines images of the American frontier and subtle western-tinged sounds to create what the San Francisco Opera in their centennial production dubbed the first Spaghetti Western. Indeed, the history of the opera—involving Enrico Caruso and Arturo Toscanini, Puccini’s family’s emigration history, and David Belasco (the San Francisco Sephardic Jew often misidentified as Italian) who wrote the original play—is ripe for a serious Italian American transnational critique.
Enrico Caruso at The Metropolitan Opera, NYC, La Fanciulla del West
And it wasn’t just any kind of country music, but a West Coast-inflected variety that he connected with. One of his earliest influences was Dude Martin, né Stephen McSwain, the San Francisco Bay Area cowboy singer who created an entire “cowboy” persona. As Martin describes, “And though born in California, I spoke with a Texas drawl, or as reasonable facsimile as I could muster.” Indeed, even before World War II, a young Quartuccio started his first country trio, mimicking Dude Martin’s style and sound.
Today his band’s recordings are housed at the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina. Shorty Joe and his music will be honored as a “living legend” at the San Jose Italian American Heritage Foundation on Sunday, October 23, 2011 (see attached PDF), where nephew Anthony Quartuccio (and current assistant opera conductor for the acclaimed San Jose Opera Company) will also be in attendance.
i-Italy
Facebook
Google+
This work may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission.
Questo lavoro non può essere riprodotto, in tutto o in parte, senza permesso scritto.