Street musicians in 19C Bristol

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musoproff
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Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by musoproff »

Hi,

I have just come across this wonderful website and hope that someone may be able to help me with a piece of research I am working on (I am at the music department at the University of Bristol). I am looking into the Italians who played (and made) barrel organs and barrel pianos in Bristol, although all Italian musicians in Bristol would be of interest. There are clearly some starting lines of investigation here, and Madge Dresser's book on ethnic minorities in Bristol has a short section on musicians in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. But I would like to find some earlier examples if possible; I suspect that Italian barrel organs were present in Bristol by about 1810. I have also recently heard of Italian barometer makers in the Montague St area (only a passing comment) and I wonder if the two are linked. Any help would be most gratefully received, or any suggestions as to where to look further. Many thanks, Nick
pink67
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by pink67 »

Hi Nick :D

I'm from Liguria region and I know that from my area (and from Emilia Romagna region) many young persons left since 1800 to go abroad and their only way to survive was to be organ barrel players (in italian suonatori di organetto)... I want to point you to these links:

http://www.valdaveto.net/pdf/Suonatori_ ... estero.pdf

http://books.google.it/books?id=iJS4zYS ... to&f=false

this is a museum I visited:
http://www.museogliorsanti.it/galleria

this is another interesting link:
http://cronologia.leonardo.it/emitot2.htm

Laura
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jamiecapaldi
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by jamiecapaldi »

I do!
My family lived on montague street and were street musicians!

Please get back!
NAMES: Capaldi-Tedesco-Tamilio-Minchella-Verrecchia-Tomasso-Franchitto-Innelli-Arpino-Caringi-Colacicco-Macari-Pinchera-Salera-D'Orazio-Ambrosino-Di Mambro-Sigliocolo-Masello
PLACES: Cassino- UK, USA, Ireland, Canada & Australia
http://www.cassino-families.co.uk
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musoproff
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by musoproff »

jamiecapaldi wrote:I do!
My family lived on montague street and were street musicians!

Please get back!
Hi, Jamie, This is great news; what more can you tell me? Would you prefer to discuss this outside the forum, or are you happy within?

What I am trying to link together are the Bristolian street piano makers and the players of these instruments, most of whom were Italians. However, any street musician is of interest as this forms quite an important part of my work on 'free' street music in the city.

The piano makers lived in Montague St, Griffin Lane, Trenchard St, Augustine's Place, Lower Park Row, and Lower Maudlin St at one time or another, so it seems the English makers were likely to be living alongside their customers; this would explain why I cannot find any advertising for the maker's trade. I am just off to look into the barometer-making link to see if that has any firm leads.

Let me know how you would like to discuss this.
Nick

PS To Laura/pink67 - Thank you for the links and, particularly, the Angelini article; it took me most of the afternoon to translate it but it has some very helpful information within it.
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jamiecapaldi
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by jamiecapaldi »

Hello Nick, i am quite happy to discuss on this site, as it is, as you say the best Italian Genelaogy site there is!
I can start by telling you what i know and if you didnt mind, i would really like any info you could possibly give me, as i have been looking for someone with information on street musicians in st. james for a long time!
Here is what i know about my Family:

My GGgrandfather Giuseppe Capaldi came to Bristol around the mid 1880's with his Brother Giovanni and Sister Rosa, along with many other Italian Families. They came from San Michele, Cassino, Frosinone, Lazio, Italy.
They were all Street Musicians. Unfortunately i am not certain what instrument they played, most probably the Accordion. In 1891 he was the head of a shared household in number 9 Lower Montague Street, consisting of other Italian Families, most being musicians also.
Towards 1900 my GGgrandfather became a Travelling Musician and went from City to Countries, like Liverpool, Edinburgh, Dublin and even back to Italy a couple of times. As he made his Family on his travells, some of his sons grew to also become Musicians. He eventually settled in Bristol. All this time his Brother Giovanni stayed in 9 Montague Street continuing to play his Instruments, until around 1905ish he had taken up the Fruit Vendor trade, and as his sons grew older, they started the fruit vendor trade also.

9 Lower Montague Street was next to a public house called 'The Beehive'. I wonder if there was any music played by the locals in there?

Below is the Musicians Family names that were residing with my Family between 1890 and 1900:

Capaldi
Di Giacca
Salera
Ballichilda(spelling?)
Valente
Risi
Fionda
Quatieri

Have you come across any write up's, photo's of street musicians or names, i really would appreciate a copy and any info on what you've seen?

Thanks Jamie
NAMES: Capaldi-Tedesco-Tamilio-Minchella-Verrecchia-Tomasso-Franchitto-Innelli-Arpino-Caringi-Colacicco-Macari-Pinchera-Salera-D'Orazio-Ambrosino-Di Mambro-Sigliocolo-Masello
PLACES: Cassino- UK, USA, Ireland, Canada & Australia
http://www.cassino-families.co.uk
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musoproff
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by musoproff »

Hi Jamie,

Thank you for the information on your family who, coming from Cassino, may well have been ‘Zampognari’; bagpipe players. However, they are part of they second wave of Italian musicians that settled; the first wave were children under their 'padrone' who returned to Italy after working in London and elsewhere for up to three years.

The child beggars (begging IS what they did, basically) began arriving with the padroni after the Napoleonic wars had ended, post-1815. They were known at first as the 'white mice boys' because the padrone rented them a mouse, rat, or other small animal to aid them in their begging. They had to bring back enough money to pay for the animal's rent or they were beaten or were not fed; any more money they made over and above the animal's rent was theirs to keep. Some were also given a drum or a triangle to bang to attract attention. Later the padrone used the children to play instruments; barrel organs are the most famous accessory as they caused so much trouble, particularly in London (Charles Dickens and Charles Babbage wrote a great deal, all of it complaining about the noise of the machines). The children then became known as the 'organ boys', for obvious reasons. Bristol was remarkably tolerant of street musician instrumentalists, but street singers could be arrested for begging.

Most of the children, and their padroni, came from specific regions of Italy. Your family came from Cassino, the ‘Zampognari’; organ-grinders came from the Duchy of Parma, especially between Bardi and Borgotaro, and also from the hills around Chiavari in Genoa. Other areas supplied harpists, or violinists.

All of the musicians were economic migrants. Most were from rural communities and increased industrialization meant that many families 'rented' a child to the 'padroni' in return for training, feeding and clothing the child, plus a cash payment. This was accepted Italian practice into the 1860s. From the 1860s, though, the 'padroni' system gradually became morally unacceptable. But Italians still came to Britain (they traveled all over Europe, Asia, and America) but this time they settled. Your family will have naturally gone to St James's at this was Bristol's 'little Italy', just as Clerkenwell had been London's 'little Italy' since the 1770s. This is when some Italian tradesmen began settling in England having moved on from Paris and Amsterdam. This is also where barometer makers come into the picture; they formed the Italian enclaves in English cities prior to 1800.

I am still working on the Bristol barometer-musician-instrument maker connections, but I hope I have given you at least a part of the picture as I understand it at present. I am currently writing a paper that involves the Italians and the street organs and pianos but still have some way to go with the research. However, for a reasonable introduction to child musicians in particular, try John E Zucchi's book 'The Little Slaves of the Harp'. This has a decent introduction and a chapter on London's child musicians. For adult street musicians look up Henry Mayhew's 'London Labour and the London Poor'. This is available online either through Google Books or archive.org, but there are several editions; try Vol.3, 1861 on archive.org. Mayhew interviewed several London Italian street musicians around 1850 and you will get a good idea of what they were doing from these accounts. Of the traveling musicians there is a good piece by Enzo Venicio Alliegro, 'Les voyages des Musiciens de rue', but it is in French and I can't bring a source to mind (google it). Madge Dresser also included a two-page insert in her book, 'Bristol: Ethnic Minorities and the City, 1000-2001' (published 2007 - on the shelves in the city library); this has one or two photos.

I hope this helps. Your family's name, and their neighbours may bring up some more links, so thank you for setting those out for me. Do let me know if I can help with any questions.

Nick
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by carolinechurch »

Thanks, this reminded me of an article, link to the complete page below. Whoever invented the word tatterdemalions!?

"There always was an Italian colony in the neighbourhood indicated, from a time so remote as to be beyond the memory even of the oldest inhabitant. Saffron Hill, with the adjacent squalid little thoroughfares and blind alleys, including Back Hill, Eyre Street Hill, and Summer Street, have been known, at least to the police, as the haunts and nightly abiding places of the majority of the organ grinders, as well as of the bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy players, and the whole host of musical tatterdemalions. The reader is possibly likewise aware that from time out of mind the invariable system pursued by the whole race of peripatetic instrumentalists was to quit their sunny clime unattended by their wives and families, and sojourn amongst us only for so long as sufficed for the scraping together of a certain sum, and then to make their way home again, thus giving place to new adventurers, their kith and kin, who were eagerly anxious to try their luck in the same direction."

http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications4/low-09.htm
Searching for my great x3 grandfather Raffaele CIACCIA, also known as Raphael/Ralph CHURCH. He was born in Napoli around 1792 and arrived in London before 1812 with his brother Saverio CIACCIA, where they married sisters Ann and Jane FURNEAUX. He switched between CHURCH and CIACCIA all his life, which has made it difficult enough to pin him down. I want to find his origin in Italy.
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Re: Street musicians in 19C Bristol

Post by jamiecapaldi »

Thanks nick, That is very interesting. I can add your info you gave me, and i will have a look at madge dressers book.
I you ever come across any pictures related to Montague Street, Bristol Street Musicians etc, please contact me?

Thanks again jamie
NAMES: Capaldi-Tedesco-Tamilio-Minchella-Verrecchia-Tomasso-Franchitto-Innelli-Arpino-Caringi-Colacicco-Macari-Pinchera-Salera-D'Orazio-Ambrosino-Di Mambro-Sigliocolo-Masello
PLACES: Cassino- UK, USA, Ireland, Canada & Australia
http://www.cassino-families.co.uk
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