Vieni Sul Mar (Neapolitan Song)

[Martin Jonas]

This is one of the best-known Neapolitan songs, as arranged for mandolins by past members of our mandolin group, the Wirral Mandoliers. I'm not entirely sure who arranged it as it was already in the repertoire when I joined, but it's very effective as well as very simple.

I've borrowed everybody else's parts and have recorded them by multitracking:

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
1925 Zimmermann waldzither
Ozark tenor guitar
Suzuki MC0-815 mandocello



Martin

[Mandophile]

I'm going to be uploading precious Neapolitan arrangements of songs (canzone) that included the mandolin as the 'second' voice. I believe it will make sense to create a new topic in the forum for this special category of mandolin playing. That way those who wish to pursue the art of accompaniment can discuss the various challenges associated with shadowing a vocalist. So your Vieni sul Mar is exactly what we will scan. Much of the music can be bought elsewhere but these late 19th arrangements were the best--mandolinists who knew how and what to play. It was an art form, indeed!

[Martin Jonas]

This is one of the best-known Neapolitan songs, as arranged for mandolins by past members of our mandolin group, the Wirral Mandoliers. I'm not entirely sure who arranged it as it was already in the repertoire when I joined, but it's very effective as well as very simple.

Further to the recording I posted a few days ago, here is a scan of the parts for our arrangement -- two mandolins, mandola and guitar. If you have only a trio, the arrangement still works without the second mandolin, but not without the mandola. The mandola has the tune from bar 8 to bar 23, so if for some reason you can't cover the mandola part, the first mandolin must play the little red notes in these bars.

It's a pretty straightforward arrangement, and good basic Italian repertoire for anybody wanting to start up a mandolin group or ensemble.

Martin

[Martin Jonas]

I have been re-recording some of the tunes from our group repertoire in a more "live" setting for the past few months. Here is "Vieni sul mar", using the arrangement from the PDF I posted in 2014 in this thread. The new take is a more lively interpretation of this tune than my old 2014 video, and played more rubato.

This is the way we play it with our mandolin group -- I am not sure who arranged it for us, but I suspect it was the late (and much missed) Tony Judge. I am using a "quartetto romantico" line-up, i.e. a quartet of two mandolins, mandola in G and guitar (tenor guitar in my case). Played on a vintage Italian bowlback mandolin, made in Naples in the golden age of Neapolitan song.

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin (x2)
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin (mandola in G)
Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



Martin