Ciao a tutti! We couldn’t possibly talk about Italian music without mentioning Italian opera. We’re sure that many of you are familiar with Luciano Pavarotti, an Italian operatic tenor (the term used to describe a higher male voice). He was one of the most successful operatic singers of all time and was particularly well-known for his performances in bel canto opera roles (Italian for “beautiful singing”, bel canto is the term used to describe this Italianate style of operatic singing).

Have a listen to Pavarotti’s performance of La danza, written by Italian composer, Rossini, in 1835. This energetic song is fun to listen to and the music perfectly describes what the title suggests – a dance!

For Coffee Break Italian learners, don’t be disheartened if you struggle to understand the fast lyrics at first. To help you, we recommend reading the lyrics as you listen, which you can find by clicking here. Or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

We’d love to hear what you think of La danza in the comments! To discover more songs of a range of genres and from many different countries, scroll down to find our full Spotify and YouTube playlists.