Composer
Biography
Ernesto De Curtis set his brother's verses to music, and one of those settings went round the world: Torna a Surriento, to words by the poet and painter Giambattista De Curtis, became an emblem of Italian song. Trained at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in his native Naples, he followed it with Non ti scordar di me, Voce 'e notte and Tu ca nun chiagne, all of which entered the repertoire of the great tenors. He spent long periods in the United States. He died in 1937. Torna a Surriento was performed for Prime Minister Giuseppe Zanardelli during his visit to Sorrento on 15 September 1902. Accounts of its origin differ: the Treccani biographical entry recounts a request for a post office, while the municipal history describes an earlier song adapted for the visit and rejects the post-office story as a later legend.