Antonello Tannoia, La musica nel cinema muto dalle origini a Luigi Laterza: un musicista dimenticato nella sua terra, ma conosciuto nel mondo, edizioni nordsud, Massafra 2026

A fascinating journey to the origins of cinema, when images were never truly silent and music represented the emotional heart of the show. This volume offers an original reconstruction of the relationship between silent film and music, intertwining historical research, cultural analysis, and territorial memory.

From the early forms of musical accompaniment to film screenings, to the dialogue between cinema, theater, and the emerging phonographic industry, the book reflects the complexity of an era in which the cinematograph established itself as a new art of modernity. Also central is the focus on symbolic figures like Charlie Chaplin, capable of blending musical sensitivity with cinematic storytelling in immortal works such as *The Kid* and *The Circus*.

Alongside the international dimension, the strong connection to the Apulian and Southern territory emerges: itinerant cinemas, provincial theaters, the farming world, and local spectacular traditions become protagonists of a cultural history often overlooked by official historiography. Particularly significant is the reconstruction of the theatrical and cinematic life of Massafra, with the Comunale Theatre, the San Marco Arena, and the Spadaro Cine-Theater as places where music and images helped shape the collective imagination of the twentieth century.

The volume also stands out for recovering lesser-known yet fundamental musical figures, such as the Taranto composer Mario Pasquale Costa and the Massafra Maestro Luigi Laterza, whose personal story symbolizes the intertwining of art, spectacle, and everyday life.

More than just a simple research project on silent film, the book represents an important work of valorization of local cultural memory, capable of narrating how music, cinema, and territory together contributed to the construction of modern sensibility.

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“… Being accustomed to the massive sounds of the “plastic music” that overwhelms us daily has made us forget the magic of sound. That simple and crystal-clear sound capable of crossing our hearts and minds, just as Luigi Laterza might have experienced when he brought the magic of silent cinema to life with his piano or accordion…
… Through this volume written by his great-grandson, Maestro Antonello Tannoia, we discover a great treasure of Apulian popular music: an extraordinary story that has traversed family events and, starting from a small town in Taranto, has crossed the world, enriching itself with exceptional, unrepeatable, at times unimaginable experiences…”
Ambrogio Sparagna

A book that sheds light on the roots of popular music in our territory!!

“… Antonello Tannoia, undertaking a research journey through history, testimonies, and images, reconstructs an era in which music kept pace with the dawn of a new age, accompanying moving cinematic images…
… The figure of the author’s great-grandfather, Luigi Laterza, an extraordinarily talented musician but almost unknown in his own land, emerges from the work. Thus, the volume becomes a tribute to the artistic and cultural memory of a forgotten protagonist "in his homeland," whose legacy, however, continues to resonate within the international music landscape today…”
Francesco Laterza