La Danza

"La danza" is a patter song by Gioachino Rossini, in Tarantella napoletana time, the eighth song of the collection Les [soirées musicales]. The lyrics are by Count Carlo Pepoli, librettist of Vincenzo Bellini's opera I puritani. "La danza" is a stand-alone chamber vocal piece, rather than part of a larger work.
Franz Liszt transcribed it for piano, and so did Charles-Valentin Alkan ; Frédéric Chopin used the song as inspiration for his Tarantelle in A-flat, Op. 43; and Ottorino Respighi featured it in La [Boutique fantasque]. "La danza" was loosely the original source of the popular wedding tarantella "C'è [la luna mezzo mare]" and its English versions "Oh! Ma-Ma!" and "Lazy Mary".