Farewell to Maestro Roberto De Simone

Maestro Roberto De Simone

Noted Neapolitan scholar and maestro Roberto De Simone died in his home in Naples on 6 April 2025 at the age of 91. De Simone was born in Naples on 25 August 1933 and studied piano and composition at the famous San Pietro a Majella Conservatory. Beginning in 1957 he performed on piano and harpsichord, including in the Domenico Scarlatti Orchestra. He conducted intense activities in the field of ethnomusical studies and completed significant research in the Neapolitan, Campanian, and Southern Italian folk traditions, with emphasis on music and songs performed at seasonal and religious feasts and funerals. He also specialized in 18th-century Neapolitan composed music. In the 1960s he co-founded the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare group which performed and recorded a significant repertoire of the Neapolitan folk song tradition. He brought to life for modern audiences many songs such as Jesce Sole, Canto dei Sanfedisti, Canto delle Lavandaie, Cicerenella, Lo Guarracino, La Canzona de Zeza, Quanno Nascette Ninno, Vurria Ca Fosse Ciaola, Si Tu Nenna M’Amave N’Autro Anno, Pastorella Siciliana, as well as arrangements of Di Giacomo and other’s songs.

Among De Simone’s memorable groundbreaking works was his famous 1976 La Gatta Cenerentola (based on the folktale famously preserved in its Neapolitan telling by Giambattista Basile), which he wrote, composed and directed, and which was acclaimed in Italy and abroad. He taught music history at the Accademia di Belli Arti di Napoli and served as artistic director at the San Carlo Opera House. De Simone also composed music scores for films.

A mentor for many musicians and ethnomusicologists, De Simone also published many important works, including Immagini della Madonna dell'Arco, with A. Rossi (1973); Chi è devoto, feste popolari in Campania (1974); Testo verbale e strutture musicali nei canti popolari, in L'etnomusicologia in Italia (1975); Carnevale si chiamava Vincenzo, with A. Rossi (1977); Canti e tradizioni popolari in Campania (1979); Racconti e storie per i 12 giorni di Natale (1987); Il mito del S. Carlo nel costume napoletano (1987); Il Pentamerone di G. B. Basile tradotto da R. De Simone in napoletano moderno (1989).

De Simone was a visible living icon in Naples and well-known to the public. Watching his performances and collaborations was a part of life for the last three generations. Naples mayor Gaetano Manfredi issued a statement saying, “We are profoundly saddened by the death of Roberto De Simone. Naples lost a cultural reference point that brought our city around the world over decades, marrying ancient traditions with an extraordinarily innovative attitude. We were closely linked to De Simone, conscious of his artistic greatness: for his 90th birthday, during the New Year’s celebrations in San Domenico Maggiore, we dedicated an homage to him in the context of the “Naples City of Music” project. The “Christmas at the Court of Charles of Bourbon” concert by La Nuova Polifonia orchestra directed by Alessandro De Simone together with the Ensemble Vocale di Napoli choir- represented a very emotional moment. Naples and the Municipal Administration will remember De Simone as he deserves, for his contribution to Italian and international culture. For the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of Naples, we had already planned an exhibition commemorating his productions at the San Carlo.”

By Erasmo Russo