With its predominantly Neapolitan overtones of sunshine and romance, the Italian canzone popolare, or canzonetta, has long held its place in the global market. The selections on this album are mostly survivors from the last Golden Age of this popular genre, which spanned a period of about one hundred years prior to the Piedigrotta and San Remo festivals of the mid-1950s. The best known, such as Cottrau’s Addio a Napoli, Tosti’s Non t’amo più and Mascagni’s Stornelli marini have been recorded over several decades by famous singers as varied as Caruso, McCormack, Mario Lanza and the Bulgarian-born Armand Tokatyan. Volume 1 of Italian Popular Songs is available on Naxos 8.110768.