The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Baroque style · 1600–1750

The named Neapolitan tarantella takes its public 6/8 type and print life from the Baroque dance book: guitar and keyboard strains, city and court function.

Influence
Escuela bolera tradition · 1780–

Bourbon and Spanish Naples puts theatrical Spanish couple-dance (bolero-school steps, fandango-adjacent theatre) on the same city floor as the tarantella.

Influence
Renaissance court dance practice · 1450–1600

The city tarantella keeps the couple-dance job of the late Renaissance hall — named steps, social floor, professional musicians — and gives it a Neapolitan 6/8 name.

Influence

Tarantella napoletana

practice · 1600–

Also called Neapolitan tarantella

Named Neapolitan couple-dance in a fast compound duple, in the city festa and, from the seventeenth century, in guitar and keyboard books. It is a practice, not Canzone napoletana (the song school) and not a leftover umbrella for the whole South. It hears Baroque and Renaissance court dance. Spanish-Naples theatre dance is a contested third hop (Escuela bolera). It already gives the named Calabrian, Sicilian, and Salentine dances a city-name hearing (Tarantella calabrese, Tarantella siciliana, Pizzica). Tammurriata leftover as a Campanian sibling, not a child. Notte della Taranta leftover as festival billing, not Worldbeat. Empty extra Received/Given is historically checked.

Listen

  1. Tarantella napoletana Neapolitan festa tradition YouTube
  2. La danza (tarantella) Gioachino Rossini (1835) YouTube
  3. Tarantella Neapolitan street and theatre bands (19th century) YouTube

Passed on

Pizzica practice · prehistoric–

If the city name and 6/8 type left Naples, Pizzica hears that label.

Influence
Tarantella calabrese practice · 18th century–

If the city name and 6/8 type left Naples, Tarantella calabrese hears that label.

Influence
Tarantella siciliana practice · 18th century–

If the city name and 6/8 type left Naples, Tarantella siciliana hears that label.

Influence

Baroque → Tarantella napoletana

meter and grooveform and structurefunction and contextstrength: highscholarly consensus1600–1750notationdanceoral

Mechanism

The named Neapolitan tarantella takes its public 6/8 type and print life from the Baroque dance book: guitar and keyboard strains, city and court function. Strength high for the named city dance, not for every Southern village 6/8.

Evidence

Seventeenth-century Italian and Spanish guitar books; Grove on the tarantella as an early-modern dance name; Neapolitan festa continuity.

Debate

Whether village Southern dances are this hop. Those are separate files, some contested. Do not hang Canzone napoletana here.

Mediators

community: Neapolitan musicians and dancing-masters

Escuela bolera → Tarantella napoletana

performance practicefunction and contextmeter and groovestrength: mediumcontested1780–1860dancepatronage

Mechanism

Bourbon and Spanish Naples puts theatrical Spanish couple-dance (bolero-school steps, fandango-adjacent theatre) on the same city floor as the tarantella. Strength medium, certainty contested: how much the city 6/8 absorbed that school versus remaining a local dance.

Evidence

Spanish theatre in Naples; escuela bolera as the named Spanish stage school; overlapping festa and theatre bills.

Debate

Whether this is a real recoding or coexistence. Keep the edge; do not treat tammurriata and pizzica as automatic children of this hop.

Mediators

institution: Spanish Naples theatres

Renaissance court dance → Tarantella napoletana

function and contextmeter and grooveperformance practicestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1580–1650dancepedagogyoral

Mechanism

The city tarantella keeps the couple-dance job of the late Renaissance hall — named steps, social floor, professional musicians — and gives it a Neapolitan 6/8 name. Strength medium. The print type is the Baroque hop.

Evidence

Continuity from Italian ballo/manual culture into seventeenth-century named dances; Grove on tarantella as an early-modern social dance.

Debate

Saltarello as the medieval parent. That alias stays on Medieval dance; do not hang folk saltarello here.

Mediators

community: Italian dancing-masters

Tarantella napoletana → Pizzica

meter and groovefunction and contextstrength: lowcontested1750–1900danceoral

Mechanism

If the city name and 6/8 type left Naples, Pizzica hears that label. Strength low, certainty contested. If these are older local dances that later borrowed the name, this hop dies.

Evidence

Shared family name; print and tourist “tarantella” radiating from Naples; De Martino’s warning that tarantella is a family, not one content.

Debate

Sibling versus donor. Consensus is not settled. Keep the edge; do not mint a tarantella umbrella to tidy it.

Mediators

community: Southern festa and touring Neapolitan musicians

Tarantella napoletana → Tarantella calabrese

meter and groovefunction and contextstrength: lowcontested1750–1900danceoral

Mechanism

If the city name and 6/8 type left Naples, Tarantella calabrese hears that label. Strength low, certainty contested. If these are older local dances that later borrowed the name, this hop dies.

Evidence

Shared family name; print and tourist “tarantella” radiating from Naples; De Martino’s warning that tarantella is a family, not one content.

Debate

Sibling versus donor. Consensus is not settled. Keep the edge; do not mint a tarantella umbrella to tidy it.

Mediators

community: Southern festa and touring Neapolitan musicians

Tarantella napoletana → Tarantella siciliana

meter and groovefunction and contextstrength: lowcontested1750–1900danceoral

Mechanism

If the city name and 6/8 type left Naples, Tarantella siciliana hears that label. Strength low, certainty contested. If these are older local dances that later borrowed the name, this hop dies.

Evidence

Shared family name; print and tourist “tarantella” radiating from Naples; De Martino’s warning that tarantella is a family, not one content.

Debate

Sibling versus donor. Consensus is not settled. Keep the edge; do not mint a tarantella umbrella to tidy it.

Mediators

community: Southern festa and touring Neapolitan musicians