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Brignoli Gianfranco
(pifferaio)

Buscaglia Stefano
(pifferaio)

Domenichetti Marco
(pifferaio)

Ferrari Fabrizio
(pifferaio)

Ferrari Roberto
(pifferaio)

Losini Ettore
(pifferaio)

Sala Ernesto
(pifferaio)

Sala Giacomo
(pifferaio)

Valla Stefano
(pifferaio)

Piffero music in the Quattro Province area

One of the most important and vital musical heritages in northern Italy can be found in the area known as the "Quattro Province" (Four Provinces), an ancient crossroads of meetings and cultural exchanges on the boundaries of four different regions: Emilia Romagna (Piacenza), Lombardy (Pavia), Liguria (Genoa) and Piedmont (Alessandria). In this area one of the most important expressions of musical tradition from the Apennine area is still alive: piffero music. The piffero is a musical instrument belonging to the oboe family, and more in general to the double reed category. It is a solo instrument, but back in the period between the two wars it was played together with the zampogna (double chantered pipe), known locally as the müsa, which over time was replaced by the accordion.
Piffero players were once the cultural leaders of the Apennine mountain area and were called to different places to play. This professional 'wandering’ placed them in contact with different realities that contributed in placing them above the social class they belonged to, and out of the restricted cultural limits of their own community. Among the piffero players, some stand out as legendary, as is the case of Draghino, considered to be the first great piffero player, the central character of legends, tales, anecdotes and songs throughout the whole Quattro Province area. Ernesto Sala from Cegni, the last great peasant interpreter of this tradition, inspired a generation of young musicians who still today follow and renew this tradition.
The piffero and accordion repertory includes a corpus of traditional dances, for example Monferrine, Alessandrine, Jigs, Perigurdine, Sestrine and Piane, and a corpus of more recent dances called “liscio” (ballroom) such as Waltzes, Polkas and Mazurkas. The first are group dances with a precise choreography that has some variations according to the place where it is danced, while the second are the most famous pair dances, introduced at the start of the 20^th century. These dances are danced on different traditional occasions: during town festivals or during ritual festivals such as weddings and carnival.
In Val Staffora, Val Curone and Val Borbera, an ancient piffero dance called the “Povera donna” (Poor woman) is still danced. At Cegni, in the upper Val Staffora, this dance has maintained its carnival frame, representing the most evident allegoric moment of the whole event.
In addition to instrumental music, there is an older part of the repertory where the piffero player accompanies singing. Piffero songs are one of the oldest types of popular vocalism in northern Italy. Under an executive profile, as they are suitable for piffero extension and largely sung by male singers, they are in tune with strong, high-pitched voices. They mostly have very few verses, alternated with an instrumental 'break', adaptable to different pieces and used freely in other melodies. The most interesting pieces are for weddings and calendrical celebrations.
The ‘Levar della sposa’ and ‘Levar di tavola’ are still played today during weddings. The first is a series of songs (Bride, Luigina, Bella Nova) that accompany the start of the ceremony, from when the bride leaves her home and following the bridal and wedding parade route, until they all reach the church. The Levar di tavola is a single piece, very long, that is played when the wedding meal has ended.
Among the calendrical piffero songs, some are sung during spring festivals in the Trebbia and Tidone Valley areas, such as the Galìna grisa and the Carlin di Maggio. Among the songs accompanied by piffero there are also some narrative songs such as Carolina di Savoia, I falciatori and Ratto al ballo. We also find, under the form of modern dances, adaptations of songs such as E qui comando io, Piemontesina, O campagnola bella, O Bacicin, troubadour pieces such as Brunetto or again on the Pavia side, I disertori. These pieces do not always have a singing part: it is quite common for them to be played as instrumental pieces.
The repertory of the piffero from the Quattro Province has the special and characteristic style of the instrument as its main support. The style, namely the total and combination of timbric variations and embellishments used to give the instrument greater expression differs in the various places and acts as a division between the players from the Pavia area and those from the Piacenza area.
Piffero music still lives today, thanks to the participation of the community, and it currently has widely-known players such as Stefano Valla from Cegni, Marco Domenichetti, Ettore Losini, Roberto Ferrari, in addition to a new generation of piffero players. Currently, as in the past, the players are extremely busy when dance celebrations and rituals are held, keeping the traditional music and culture of this area alive, renewing it thanks to contemporary cultural stimuli.

NOTIZIE STORICO-CRITICHE

Given its morphological characteristics, the Apennine piffero can be considered as an instrument that belongs to the double reed instruments.
Double reed instruments seem to have originated from the Medieval Islamic oboe, which reached us after radical and multiple transformations, even if similar instruments were already used in Roman Italy. These transformations produced three different types of oboe, each one with its own variations: the Indian surna, the European Renaissance bombard and a category that includes the piffero from the Quattro Province. The piffero we are talking about is part of an archaic group of instruments, which have been renewed and changed in shape without losing the original characteristics. Having developed in Europe during the Middle ages, they lived beside but separate from the wooden reed instruments widely used in "cultured" Renaissance music.
The piffero was used at rituals, ceremonies, festivals, dances. There are numerous iconographic and literary sources that often present it together with the zampogna, or accompanied by drums.
In the 1960s, the bond with the repertory history of the piffero and accordion from the Quattro Province weakened, but did not break, because in those years Ernesto Sala kept the repertory alive at festivals and ceremonies. Young people such as Stefano Valla were enticed to learn the local repertory and strongly desired to keep it alive and preserve it. As a result, from Valla onwards a new generation arose which, following the example of Stefano Valla and his predecessor Ernesto Sala, are still learning the melodies and ceremonies of the musical heritage of the piffero. Currently, just like in the past, piffero players work most at dance festivals and for ceremonies. On these occasions piffero and accordion players are paid by the municipality and are greatly appreciated by dancers. This is why playing the piffero can be considered as a real job. In the past, the need to increase one’s income pushed some to play the piffero in addition to carrying out their own daily work.

APPRENDIMENTO E TRASMISSIONE

Learning the techniques to become a good piffero player generally began at an age of from fourteen to twenty. Usually the repertory and techniques were taught by family members. This was also for economic reasons, because in an extremely poor reality such was that of the Apennine mountains, only a very small number of people could purchase an instrument and pay for lessons.
Dance music was learned exclusively by mouth, therefore a good memory was essential.
The first stage of learning, in fact, consisted of memorising the melodic line. A way to help memorising was to learn the verses of the songs, the melodies of which were transformed into dance music. The learner would sing them using a special technique which, imitating practice of the piffero, considered also embellishments, expression and breathing.
Once the piece had been memorised, the player would study the fingering on a “zufolo” (flute), an instrument which even though it did not have similar fingering as that of the piffero, required less physical commitment and allowed longer practice times. In the past, the turners who made pifferos also made flutes; now this production has disappeared and a normal soprano flute is used. Once the melody and the correct fingering had been learned, the player began to play it directly on the piffero.
The repertory today is passed on through real teaching. Piffero masters tend to set a method for learning the repertory, in which knowledge is transferred directly from master to student.

COMUNITÀ

In the Quattro Province there are still a consistent number of piffero players, makers and dancers who work during dance festivals and during the main ceremonial moments. In parallel, there are also many musical formations that have been inspired by traditional piffero music, and they play at festivals, town festivals and folk concerts. The music, however, is in a more modern key and has been contaminated by music styles that are not traditional. The participation of the local communities is high. Often dance groups follow the various destinations of the piffero players for the dance festivals.

AZIONI DI VALORIZZAZIONE

In the Quattro Province area, Municipalities, Associations, folk music bands and tradition upholders work together to preserve, inform and improve the musical culture of this area by organising dance festivals, seminar initiatives and events for this purpose.

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Per sapere di più

Siti web

• Dove comincia l'Appennino. Note culturali e naturalistiche sul territorio delle Quattro Province
  
• Stefano Valla e Daniele Scurati. Piffero e fisarmonica delle Quattro Province
  

Bibliografia

• Giovannetti Giovanni
  L'albero del canto. Storie, mestieri, melodie - La casa della fisarmonica. Autobiografia di Amleto Dallapè
  Formicona 1985
  
• Gianotti Marta
  Il piffero delle Quattro Province nel repertorio attuale: l'esperienza di Stefano Valla
  Università degli Studi di Pavia 2003
  
• Citelli Aurelio, Grasso Giuliano
  Canti e musiche popolari dell'Appennino pavese. canti rituali, i balli, il piffero.
  Associazione culturale Barabàn 1989
  
• Pianta Bruno, Leydi Roberto, Stella Angelo
  Pavia e il suo territorio
  Silvana Editoriale 1990
  
• Leydi Roberto
  Quattro strumenti popolari italiani: organetto/ launeddas/ piffero/ violino.
  Tipografia Editrice Cesare Nani. 1976
  

Beni materiali

Ancient pifferi and müsas are kept in the homes of players and in the artisan laboratories of their makers, in addition to some Museums. The Museo Ettore GuatelliOzzano Taro (PR) preserved an ancient müsa and a piffero made by Nicolò Bacigalupo u Grixu from Cicagna, in addition to tools owned by the famous instrument maker.

A cura di

Regione Lombardia - Archivio di Etnografia e Storia Sociale - Fabia Apolito

Data di pubblicazione

22-LUG-2015 (Fabia Apolito)

Ultimo aggiornamento

27-FEB-2020 (Agostina Lavagnino)

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