14 First steps, first problems
As we have seen, we cannot know when and how the Music of Darfo faced the public for the first time, but we can try to immagine.Perhaps, the musicians first played for their audience playing by heart, and with enough success to push them forward and continue with their commitment to improve. To learn music, now, was just a matter of patience and constant efforts.Perhaps the groups was born from some passionate players who were already used to reading music and playing an instrument, maybe trained by that Master Zucchi (hired, as it is stated in article 6, since july 9th, 1851 and temporary teacher of the musicians of the band of Breno since 1850), thus obtaining successful results from the very beginning.However, there were quite a few details to complete, among which the adoption of a uniform to make the players recognisable; the buying and fixing of instruments to satisfy the growing demand from the enthusiastic people of Darfo who wanted to join the group after enjoying their music; the increase of the music archive due to the necessity to learn more scores and the need of a place where all the musicians could rehearse, the salary for the conductor. Apart from this…money was needed too.The association had just begun, it had to find its identity, and it was premature to ask Institutions for contributions. Apart from some help from philantropists, the musicians had to impose a tax on themselves, a necessary but painful solution, for the people playing in the band were quite poor.As the code stated, the contribution for each player had to be one or more “svanzeghe” (the name of the currency of the time, up to 1857) per month, according to one’s own possibilities.Being a musician, then, was an honour and a duty, a duty in terms of time and effort but also in money; at least not Darfo could count on its own band for any civil or religious ceremony.We cannot exclude that in the first years of activity the band didn’t also go to some town nearby, as confirmed by some episodes we have described before (Pisogne, 1857, Angolo, 1887), and also seeing as at the time there were not many bands (Lovere, 1840, Breno, 1850, Pisogne, 1857).Time passes…and in 1896 we know that “..the Music of Darfo is well formed, well trained and directed by Master Peci from Borno”, whose biography we haven’t been able to reconstruct.The repertoire and the quality of the gigs were rapidly evolving; the conductor was occupied transcribing the scores for each instrument, arranging them from scores for piano that could be found on sales in any town. A musician would then copy the scores for each instrument (what photocopiers do now) and thus the music library would grow richer.In 1900 there were about 30 members, among which the Abondio and the Fiorini brothers; the Caprinali brothers, in their directing roles, would assist the conductor and lead the group with energy, even by anticipating consistent sums of money.In 1914 Isidoro Caprinali’s premature death (58 years) left a hole in the society, but also the will to continue the work in his memory and honour.The beginning of the first world war and the spread of the “Spanish” plague stopped abruptly and upset the whole life of the town. A lot of musicians left to fulfil their duty for the Country, by changing uniform and instrument, while those who were left behind (too young or too old) tried their best to keep the band alive, who was then ready to start back at the end of the war.The group was going back to normality when Massimiliano Caprinali died too, in 1921.By now the association was well defined for the Institutions too, who provided them with someone who could well replace the two directors, thus avoiding the group from dissolving.The first to be nominated were Fortunato Bontempi, together with Giovanni Biondi, the secretary. They were given a letter, in july 1st 1919, with the following wording: “…We undersigned Caprinali brothers declare to renounce their credit towards the Music of Darfo, resulting from the payment by a bill for the amount of L. 463,50 = four hundred sixty-three and fifty cents to the agricultural society of Darfo-Esine, signed by our defunct brother Medoro for the above mentioned Music Association. They also declare to leave as property of the music association the instruments exclusively belonging to their brother Medoro. All this, to honour the memory of our beloved. Faithfully…”. There aren’t many comments for this document…After Fortunato Bontempi’s premature death (june 9th, 1925), Giovanni Biondi was elected president of the Music Association, and he continued with this commitment and effort until 1928, when he died.Battista Cemmi was the next president, and, like Biondi and Bontempi, he was an important figure of the town for the culture and the civilian tasks he was after. The only type of bond between the directors and the musician was the passion for music, but as for the rest, the directors were not involved in the daily life of the Music, since they had never been part of it. This kind of structure continued until the 50’s and 60’s, when at last the players gained the right to manage their Band themselves.