Abstract
This chapter examines an alms-seeking song (canto di questua) from the late 1910s that I recorded in 1995 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, during an interview with the late Giovanni “John” Persichetti. After providing a brief description of the nature of my research, I will offer some historical background to both Mr. Persichetti’s village of origin in the Abruzzo region, Italy and the town of Jean- nette. I will then examine the text of the song itself and posit that it reflected the worldview of immigrants of peasant origin and that its performance in American context altered the meaning and purpose of the song in a manner that ultimately contributed to the demise of the very tradition.
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© 2009 Luisa Del Giudice
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Virgilio, M.D. (2009). The Alms-Seeking Tradition of Sant’Antonio Abate in 1920s Western Pennsylvania. In: Giudice, L.D. (eds) Oral History, Oral Culture, and Italian Americans. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101395_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101395_11
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