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Piano sheet music for kids · Folk song · Level 6: Moving on
Santa Lucia
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 3/4, 16 bars. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
The Neapolitan boat song, in Italian, a gentle waltz. Two things are new: the first black keys, a G flat in bar 6 (“l’on-da”) and an F sharp in bar 12 (“mi-a”), each a passing note on the way to its neighbour, and a hand that moves between two places, around G for the verse and up to the E above the C for the refrain (“Ve-ni-te”). The long notes are minims and dotted crotchets. The left hand plays a waltz bass through C, G7, F, A minor and D minor.
Practice tip: Find the G flat and the F sharp before you start; each is the black key between F and G. Sing “San-ta Lu-ci-a” in bars 13 to 16 and let the left hand rock like the boat.
The words
Sul mare luccica l'astro d'argen to, placid'è l'on da, prospero è il vento; Venite all'agile barchetta mi a, San ta Lu ci a, Santa Lucia.
A short history
Santa Lucia is a Neapolitan song published in 1849 by Teodoro Cottrau, a Naples music publisher and composer, with words by Enrico Cossovich. It is often described as the first Neapolitan song to be given Italian words, Cossovich’s, in place of the Neapolitan original by Michele Zezza, which helped it travel.
The words are a boatman’s invitation: the sea sparkles under the silver moon, the wind is fair, come aboard my nimble little boat. Borgo Santa Lucia is the old fishermen’s quarter on the Naples waterfront, named for the saint whose chapel stood there.
The song went around the world with Italian singers; Enrico Caruso recorded it in 1916. In Sweden it was given new words and became the song of the St Lucy’s Day processions on 13 December, so Swedish children know the tune as a Christmas carol.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Teodoro Cottrau, 1849
- Words
- Enrico Cossovich
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Length
- 16 bars
- Tempo
- Like a boat, crotchet = 116
- Difficulty
- Level 6: Moving on (piece 178 of 201)
- Type
- Folk song
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
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