30* Notices of Italian Literature. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 



SELECT NOTICKS of ITALIAN LITERA- 

 TURE, comprising original corre- 

 spondence, ANECDOTES, BIOGRAPHI- 

 CAL SKETCHES, POETRY, i^C. §C. 



OTTAVIO RINUCCINI. 



A DRAMATIC writer of great cele- 

 brity, flourished at tlie coinmence- 

 Uient of tlic seveiiteeiitli century, and 

 %vas the lirst to s've that higii polish to 

 the musical heroic drama, which has led 

 to tiie pf'rfection it lias since attained in 

 Italy. He had likewise the nurit of in- 

 troducing into his own country the bal- 

 lets, accom|>anicd by music, invented in 

 I'rance. lie is thus mentioned by 

 Arteaga, in his learned work on the revo- 

 lutions of the Italian musical thcate. 

 "Distrii)utii)f;' therefore the praise which 

 belongs to each, in the invention of the 

 serious opera, it will be seen that, in the 

 city of Florence, Giovanni Bardi and 

 Jacobo Corsi were the JMccenati; Giio- 

 lanio Mei and Vincenzo Galilei tiie pre- 

 cursors in the theoretic art ; Emilio del 

 Cavalicri iire-eminent in tiiat of noting 

 down the melodies; and Giulio Caccini 

 and Jacobo Pesi great in the execution. 

 The praise is, however, principally due 

 to Rinuccini, who, by the harmony and 

 Ibeauty of his verses, admirably adapted 

 to the views of the composer, and still 

 more by his authority, by his study of 

 the ancients, and by the dependence in 

 which he kept those with whom he was 

 associated, became the inventor of a new 

 species of dramatic composition, which 

 lias shed so high a lustre on poetry, on 

 jniisic, and on his country." 



His Euridice, which was considered 

 at the time as a prodigy of the dramatic 

 art, and was represented with so much 

 splendour and niagnifii enee as to be- 

 come one of the completest spectacles 

 then seen in Italy, was set to music by 

 Giulio Caccini, who, as he himself ob- 

 serves, employed no other art, in the 

 composition of his music, than the imita- 

 tion of the sentiments of the words, 

 touching those chords more or less for- 

 cibly, which, in his judgment, best ac- 

 corded w ith the grace more especially to 

 be consulted in good singing;, &.c. ? — Be- 

 side his dramatic productious, Rinuccini 

 •was the author of a variety of odes pen- 

 ned in the anacreontic style, and dis- 

 played the extent and fertility of his 

 genius in a great variety of poetic com- 

 positions. 



GIOVAMBATISTA STROZZI. 



There were scTCial distinguished lite- 



[NOT. 1, 



rary characters of this name, belongfiii^ 

 to the same family. The subject of this 

 notice was styled the younger, and also 

 the blind, on account of having been de- 

 prived of his sight. He was the most 

 celebrated among them, and may b(; con- 

 sidered as one of the princijial literati of 

 his age. He was patronised by the Me- 

 dicean family, and drew up a Descrip- 

 tion of the obsequies of Francis of 

 Medici, the second Duke of Tuscany— 

 a Work which is considered as the model 

 of that species of composition. He was 

 afterwards employed by t!ie Grand Duke 

 Ferdinand to compose a brief History of 

 the House of jMedici, to the end that its 

 lustre might be made known to all the 

 potentates of Europe. In 1583 he drew 

 up, for the instruction of the young 

 princes of 'I'uscany, his oiiKcrvations 

 on thcTuscan Dialect, as it ought to be 

 written and s|)okcn. The fame of hip 

 wisdom and prudence reached all the 

 cultivated nations of Europe, lie coii- 

 stantly promoted, with the utmost zeal, 

 the advancement of the belles lettres, 

 assisting in various modes the youth 

 who, rich in talents, but poor in fortune, 

 displayed an earnestness to cultivate let- 

 ters. To animate them still further, and 

 for the advancement of their studies, he 

 founded in his house, which might 

 rather have been styled an university 

 than a private study, the celebrated 

 Academy of llic AUerati, which, in con- 

 junction with that of la Criisca, brought 

 the Tuscan dialect to so great a degree of 

 perfection. His tianscendaut merits 

 procured him the high esteem and favour 

 of four Grand Dukes of Tuscany, from 

 Francis to Ferdinand II., from each of 

 whom he received not a few honours and 

 benefits. He was also beloved and es- 

 teemed by the three popes, Gregory 

 XIV., Innocent IX., and Urban Vlll., 

 by the latter of whom he was invited to 

 reside in bis pontifical palace, and was 

 beside honoured with a brief addressed 

 to the Grand Duke, in which his great 

 literary attainments were recapitulated. 

 This learned pope also wrote a poem in 

 his praise. The number of men of let- 

 ters with whom Stiozzi was united iu 

 friendship was very considerable ; and 

 his counsel v>'as oiten sought by thein 

 on subjects of literature. His scientific 

 attainments, and the incomparable 

 fondness he displayed for the belles^ 

 lettres, to the advancement of which he 

 bad himself so much contributed, while 

 he became the patron of all those who 

 were engaged in similar studies, ac- 

 quired him a credit, uuiversal as it were, 

 wkich 



