France Italy and EnglandBy: Jennifer Lovell, Nashay Washington and

Julissa Lecky

France

French Music HistoryFrench music is a mixture of a variety of music styles. It

has, for example a bit of Latin America, Africa and Asian music. Corsica and mountainous Auvergne are two of the regions that preserve folk and traditional French music, which uses the piano accordion as its main instrument. Auvergne, Limousine, Morvan, Nivernais, Bourbonnais and Berry all form the Central part of France, and is where the French bagpipe tradition and the hurdy gurdy are still present. The hurdy gurdy is a combination of the piano accordion and violin, and the result is a magnificent melody. This musical style can also be found in Spain, Hungary and Russia. The southern part of France also has its own music, which is called troba muffin, which is Occitan ragga muffin, and is played by the Massilia Sound System, a well known reggae group.

French Is Known for.... The first opera is thought to be "Akébar roi du

Mogol", with Jean-Baptiste Lully as the best known composer of this style of music. Hector Berlioz was one of the greater and original composers of the nineteenth century. Himself and Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy were the pioneers who revitalized French music. Nowadays, the most important advanced kind of music developed in France is that called "spectral music", which is very popular in Europe and in the United States.

France Fashion FrenzyFashion has been an important industry and

cultural export of France since the seventeenth century, and modern "haute couture" originated in Paris in the 1860s. Today, Paris, along with London, Milan, and New York City, is considered one of the world's fashion capitals, and the city is home or headquarters to many of the premier fashion houses, including Céline, Chanel, Dior, Donna Karan, Givenchy, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès, Rochas, Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent

Fashion At its Best...Post War Contemporary

Italy

Musica ItalianaItaly is the home of opera music. Opera music was created in Italy in

the 17th century by Italian music composer Claudio Monteverdi. He wrote his first opera in 1607 named L’Orfeo which was composed to commemorate the annual festival of Mantua. Since then opera music has become an institution in the world of Italian music and widely appreciated around the world. Italy has produced a consistent stream of some of the world’s best opera singers, conductors and composers up to the present day.

The most famous names in the contemporary world of Italian opera music are probably Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli who are both singers of opera music. Italy also houses some of the best venues for performing opera music in the world. Examples of fantastic opera houses in Italy can be found in Milan, Venice, Naples and Verona to name only a few. Italy has produced a few very significant names in the world of classical music over the past few hundred years. One of Italy’s major contributors to classical music is Antonio Vivaldi who is the musical composer widely credited as having created concerto music.

Modern Music ItalianaThe most well-known form of popular music in Italy during the

past few decades has been rock music. Although no Italian rock music bands have ever had much success in the English speaking countries, there are several very popular Italian rock music bands inside Italy. Popular 1980s rock singers and songwriters include Gianna Nannini, Zucchero and Vasco Rossi. There has also been quite a significant punk music scene in Italy since the 1970’s and there even seems to be a resurgent new punk music scene developing in Italy today.

Popular music in Italy often takes its cues from the USA and this appears to be how rap music has developed in Italy. There is today a significant rap music scene in Italy with accompanying fashions and lifestyles that mirror those of rap musicians in America. While the beats of Italian rap music may seem to be a close copy of rap music in the US, the lyrics often found in Italian rap music seem to concentrate on social reviews that are entirely Italian.

Moda ItalianaItalian fashion has amongst the world's most

important fashion designs, such as those of France, USA, Great Britain and Japan. Fashion has always been an important part of the culture of Italy, and its society, and Italians are well known for their attention to dressing-up well, and "la bella figura", or good impression, remains traditional in the Italian way of living.

Italian designs began to become one of Europe's main trendsetters ever since the 11th-16th centuries, when artistic development in Italy was at its peak. Cities such as Venice, Milan, Florence and Vicenza started to produce luxury goods, hats, cosmetics, jewelry and rich fabrics. During the 17th-early 20th centuries, Italian fashion lost its importance, and Europe's main trendsetter became France.

When all fails, Dress Like Italians...Then Now

England

Music In EnglandEnglish music has been an instrumental and

leading part of this phenomenon, at the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s. The achievements of the Anglican choral tradition following on from 16th century composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner and William Byrd have tended to overshadow instrumental composition. figures such as Edward Elgar and Arthur Sullivan in the 19th century showed a new vitality in English music. In the 20th century, Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett came out as internationally-recognized opera composers, and Ralph Vaughan Williams and others collected English folk tunes and adapted them to the concert hall. Cecil Sharp was a leading figure in the English folk revival.

Modernizing England's MusicA new trend emerged out of Liverpool in 1962. The

Beatles became the most popular musicians of their time, and in the composing duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, popularized the concept of the self-contained music act. Before the Beatles, very few popular singers composed the tunes they performed. The "Fab Four" opened the doors for other English acts such as The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Hollies, The Kinks, The Who, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Pink Floyd to the globe.

Fashion in EnglandVictorian fashion comprises the

various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and grew in province throughout the Victorian era and the reign of Victoria, a period which would last from June 1837 to January 1901. Covering nearly two thirds of the 19th century, the 63 year reign would see numerous changes in fashion. These changes would include, but not be limited to, changes in clothing,  architecture, literature, and the decorative and visual arts.

Fashion Hits EnglandVictorian Style Modern Style