ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the adventures of Italian American musical culture: the traveling of the Italian musical heritage—high and low—to America; the translation of Italian conventions and techniques into American terms; the various border crossings and hybridizations that have produced the Italian American musical identity. People in Italy probably do not realize it, but their country’s most popular cultural export to the world is opera. Italian opera does in fact reflect the character of the people. Italians are extroverted, their gestures are broad, and they are more overtly emotional than Anglo-Saxons. They dress beautifully, with style and taste, and have no desire to pass unnoticed. Concert life in New York was thriving, however, and a surprising number of the most celebrated European artists were beginning to appear there—in addition, many of them spending two years or more traveling the length and breadth of America.
