Performances
"Giovinezza" was played "with the slightest pretext" at sporting events, films, and other public gatherings, and often carried adverse (even violent) consequences for those who did not join in. Even foreigners were roughed up by blackshirts if they failed to remove their hats and show respect when "Giovinezza" was played.
In the 1930s, "Giovinezza" was made the official anthem of the Italian army. The school day was required to be opened either with "Giovinezza" or "Balilla", the song of the Opera Nazionale Balilla. A faint, recorded version of the hymn played in the background of the Chapel of the Fascist Martyrs in the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution.
There was a German song with German lyrics, set to the same tune as Giovinezza; "Hitlerleute" (Hitler's people) replacing "Giovinezza."
Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli recorded "Giovinezza" in 1937, although the anthem is noticeably excluded from his "Edizione Integrale," released by EMI. "Giovinezza" followed the inauguration of the Fascist parliament in 1924 (following the Acerbo law) and preceded the Nazi radio broadcast announcing the creation of the Italian Social Republic. "Giovinezza" was even played at the coronation of Pope Pius XII on 12 March 1939 by the Palatine Guard.
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Famous quotes containing the word performances:
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“This play holds the season’s record [for early closing], thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinee. By an odd coincidence it ran just five performances too many.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)