Our Musicthe Choir

The Tyrolthe Trentino had neither opera houses nor chamber music. Nonetheless, it had its own genre of musical expression that almost characterizes their persona, history and folklorethe choir. The expression, Do Trentini, un coroTwo Trentini, one choir sums it up neatly. Choral singing with its diverse folk songs and tales are truly part of the cultural history and treasures of the region. The songs are deeply rooted in each valley for so many of its occasions and are the very sound of the ancient fil while diverse due to the mountain effect that created the individual differences in its valleys. The songs were literally an archive of their love, struggles and life in general. The continuity and survival of their choral songs were handed downbecoming their heritage and deeplyrooted form of cultural expression. This cultural heirloom was enhanced at the turn of the century by the advent of traveling and singing song writers, troubadours if you will, who also served as gazetteers. In the absence of media, these troubadours/gazetteers moved from village to village, to country fairs, sagre (village feast days) bringing news of current events, songs that combined fantasy and stories with snippets from the ancient ballads. These song/tales were reproduced on sheets and circulated among our Trentini soldiers who served in the Austrian Army .These soldiers were uprooted from their villages and culture and were thrust into contact with other cultures, places and traditions. They exported and interchanged their traditional songs which they had heard in their villages and their nightly fils. There developed the so-called soldier songs that derived less from their war experience than from their village traditions of the songs that focused on work, love or life. It was after the war, that all the ancient popular traditions and the new developments came together to launch the Trentino choral folksong. It was May 25, 1926 at the Castel di Buon Consiglio in Trento, ten singers led by the Pedrotti brothers introduced the soundwith their historic choral group---the SATSociet degli Alpinisti Trentini. While the songs were none other than the age-songs that one heard at the fil, campfires and the mountain rifugi, there was indeed a development. The harmonization by four voices: tenors, counter-tenors, baritones and bases was the old forms renewed and reflected the deepest cultural roots of the Trentini people . This new yet old style resonated with the people who saw and heard in this the essence of who they were and warmly embraced it. It was almost like Glen Miller discovering the sound for Moonlight Serenade, the exemplar of the great bands of the 40`s.
Gianna and Lou

The SAT launched a movement; choirs sprung up everywhere in the Trentino and elsewhere. The members of these groups are mere amateurs gathered by their love of singing, good fellowship and their traditions. There is a federation of over 100 choirs in the Trentino. Some of these choirs have become famous and celebrated performing throughout the world while others perform at village festivities, in refugi or simply as friends. The Fil expects to continue this narrative of the individual choirs and groups in future editions.

Choir of the SAT

19