"La Storia e La Bellezza"
"The history and the beauty" title of the song of the italian singer and songwriter Maldestro, subject of this exhibit
Introduction
to the Exhibit
"La storia e la bellezza" is the story of an encounter. An encounter with the papers and with the souls contained in them. The story of a place where it is impossible to leave as one enters, a sign of the enormous evocative power of the museum. Some of the stories contained in the folders of the Banco di Napoli Historical Archive come to life in Maldestro's notes that carry out the ilCartastorie musical residency project which aims to enhance the immense heritage of the Archive, in collaboration with AreaLive and Campania Music Commission.
"The first time I entered I felt small compared to the amount of stories present, so I decided not to tell just one of many, but to create a song that would collect the meaning of the entire Archive, moreover - said the Neapolitan singer-songwriter - I hardly write for projects or on commissions, but this place fascinated me to the point that I could not do without it "
Maldestro - La storia e la bellezza (Official Video) (2017-06-26) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
Reasons
for the Residence
The piece constitutes Maldestro's musical residence at the Banco di Napoli Historical Archive. The initiative is part of the project to enhance the writings of the ancient Neapolitan public banks, ilCartastorie museum. The title recalls the evocative beauty of a world made of paper and all the stories contained in the pages and between the walls of the largest historical bank archive in the world.
Maldestro Spot Interview 01 (2017-07-28) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
What was your first impression the first time you entered the Archive?
Maldestro Spot Interview 02 (2017-07-28) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
How was the song "La storia e la bellezza" born?
Maldestro Spot Interview 03 (2017-07-28) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
How much of Maldestro is there in the Banco di Napoli Archive and how much Archive is in Maldestro?
Backstage Maldestro La sotria e la bellezza - III (2017-05-29) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
Sono la storia e vivo qui,
piena di ruggine e di polvere,
ho la memoria delicata
ed ogni istante la fa evolvere.
E mi ricordo le battute
dei grandi attori di una volta
e le migliori pennellate
e il cuore impavido di una rivolta.
Penso alle strade calpestate
e ne conosco tutte le cadute,
sono la storia e la bellezza
delle fanciulle derubate.
Vieni via con me
tra gli scaffali inesplorati.
Tu vieni via con me,
fortuna che ci siamo incontrati.
Vieni via con me
che qui c’è tempo da sbrigare.
Tu vieni via con me,
ti devo ancora raccontare...
Conosco i furbi e i mestieranti,
l’approvazione delle leggi,
le commissioni dei mercanti
e la saggezza dei più vecchi.
Ho visto i martiri piegarsi,
quelli di corte bere vino.
Conservo tutte le passioni
di ogni amore clandestino.
Ti ho visto vivere
e poi morire,
ti ho visto piangere
prima di partire.
E vieni via con me
tra gli scaffali inesplorati
tu vieni via con me...
fortuna che ci siamo incontrati.
Vieni via con me
che qui c’è tempo da sbrigare.
Vieni via con me,
ti devo ancora da raccontare...
La vita che si muove intorno
tutto quello che contiene un solo giorno.
Sono la storia e vivo qui,
piena di ruggine e di polvere,
ho la memoria delicata
ed ogni istante la fa evolvere...
"And
I remember the jokes of the great actors of the past"
Payment order - Diego Velázquez (1630-11-09) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
"And
I remember [...] the best brushstrokes"
The traces left by the artists in
the documentation produced by the public banks are manifold. Artistic
commissions and wealthy patrons are often the protagonists of very detailed
payment reasons. How can we not give in to the suggestion of a detail, so
desired by the client that it is remembered to the artist at the moment of the
down payment, or the charms of the signature of a great painter?
In a payment slip directed to the great Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, in addition to the exact amount in the various coins (gold scudi, ducats of Naples, giulii of Rome) destined for the artist, the composed autograph signature of Diego de Silva Velázquez himself stands out below.
"I
think of the trodden streets and I know all the falls"
Sometimes history seems to go fast, like the panorama peeked from behind a window. Probably because the similarity between history and travel, between time and physical distances is too strong. Thus the documents concerning the construction of the great roads in the Kingdom of Naples, especially under the government of the French (1806-1815), capture the songwriter's imagination.
In a single sentence Maldestro sews both the essence and majesty of great works, as well as the image of every type of street, from the alley to the suspended bridges over the narrow streets of Naples.
"I
am the history and beauty of robbed girls"
In the first register of the Monte and Banco dei Poveri, dated 1573, there is the accounts dedicated to pious works with lists of female names. These are orphans or poor girls who, since the origin of the Neapolitan public banks, received small sums of money for their livelihood or for their dowry.
"I
keep all the passions of every clandestine love"
These are the last hours of the Neapolitan Republic, a small handful of patriots still barricaded in Castel Nuovo signs the surrender with the royalist troops, in exchange for a sure exile in France. Among the exiles there are also General Oronzo Massa and his companion of Spanish origin, Serafina Vargas. At the fall of the Republic, despite the pacts, their love will be sadly broken with the shooting of Oronzo in Piazza Mercato and the denial of any economic subsidy to Serafina.
Payment order - Banco di Napoli Emigration Service (1913-09-05) by ilCartastorie foundation ©ilCartastorie | Museo dell'Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli
"I
saw you cry before leaving"
A section of the Banco di Napoli Historical Archive
bears the name of Position XIX. In this portion of the archive are kept the
documents relating to the immigration service of the Banco di Napoli, active
from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1930s.
Here
there are documents often less rich in the details described, but which are
sufficient for the names of the thousands of emigrants who used the services of
the Banco di Napoli to send and receive money. The long journeys to the United
States, Brazil, Argentina and Canada echo from the accounting documents that
record the sending of sums from Italy abroad, often responding to a request for
support from those who had left full of hopes, tears and expectations.
"I
am history and I live here, full of rust and dust, I have a delicate memory and
every moment makes it evolve ..."
Sense
of the experience
A world of dust that contains the beauty of a unique place in the world, a cultural heritage that preserves the history of Naples and the South. It is in the dialectic between these two terms, in the suggestion of Maldestro's notes that the Archive comes out of itself to tell its richness, its belonging to the city, to the community, to the world, even to the outside world.
