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ITALY (THEATRE.) 



natural gayety of the south, formerly the home ol 

 pleasure, is departing. How can it be otherwise 

 under the Austrian sceptre? Our limits do not per- 

 mit us to mention the writers of sonnets and operas. 

 Trite subjects ure brought up under forms a thousand 

 times repeated, and thus the miracle, that Sgrizzi can 

 astonish his audience with improvvisated tragedies is 

 partly explained. (See Improvvisatori.) The trea- 

 sure of the novelle, of which Shakspeare so happily 

 made use, lies before the Italian poets, untouched, 

 and seems even to be little known to the Italian 

 public at .large. Theatres like those of S. Carlo at 

 Naples, Pella Scala at Milan, Pergola at Florence, 

 where whole regiments might appear on the stage, 

 do not atlbrd much reason to hope for the restoration 

 of dramatic excellence. The historical novel, which 

 Sir Walter Scott has rendered so popular with all 

 nations, has been attempted in Italy, as in Livati's 

 Viaggi di Fr. Petrarca (Milan, 1820), Grossi's II- 

 degonde, Manzoni's Promessi Sposi, and the Monaco, 

 di Monxa. The history of Italian poetry, particularly 

 of the older periods, is to be found in the works of 

 Crescmbem, Quadrio, Tiraboschi, and also in Gin- 

 gnene's Histoire Litteraire d' Italic, Sismondi's work 

 De la Litterature du Midi, and hi Bouterwek (q. v.) 

 the two last of which works come down to our own 

 times. 



Italian Theatre. The political state of Italy, and 

 the easy, careless life of the people, in their mild 

 and beautiful climate, have co-operated in causing 

 the dramatic literature of Italy to remain in a very 

 backward state. It was revived, as has been shown 

 in the article Drama, earlier among the Italians than 

 among other nations, because they had the model of 

 the ancient drama before their eyes ; but this very 

 circumstance was one reason why a national drama 

 was not formed in Italy. The modern Italian, gene- 

 rally speaking, has not that reflecting turn of mind, 

 which is necessary for the composition and enjoyment 

 of a truly good drama ; nor has sufficient liberty 

 existed for centuries hi Italy to afford a fair field for 

 dramatic talent. If it be objected that the Spanish 

 drama attained its perfection under the stern sway of 

 an absolute government, it may be answered, that 

 the higher drama, with the Spaniards, is of a religious 

 castr a consequence of that religious gloom which 

 belongs to the Spanish character, but which the gay 

 Italian does not feel. The extemporaneous mask, 

 which is such a favourite with the lower classes of 

 Italy, is contemned for this very reason by the 

 higher classes; and whilst the people in general 

 relish nothing but the commedia dell 1 arte (see 

 Drama), the higher classes care only for the opera. 

 The drama, therefore, properly so called, does not 

 appear like a natural part of Italian literature, and 

 we trust it will not be considered an arbitrary divi- 

 sion, if we treat the Italian drama separately from 

 the body of Italian literature. The dramatic writers 

 of this country started with so close an imitation of 

 the ancients, that no Italian, down to the last quarter 

 of the fifteenth century, wrote a tragedy in any 

 language except Latin ; and the Orfeo of Angelo 

 Poliziano, of that time, is a series of lyrical poems 

 dramatically attached to each other a tragedy 

 merely in name. The Sofonisbe of Trissino imitates 

 in every point the ancient model, even to retaining 

 the chorus ; it is not without merit, but, on the 

 whole, is a pedantic work ; yet, in the time of Leo 

 X., in 1516, it was received with so much applause, 

 as to be represented in Rome with great pomp. Ruc- 

 cellai (1525) bears the same marks of imitation and 

 want of poetical invention ; even Tasso's Torris- 

 mondo (about 1595), though particular passages re- 

 mind us of his immortal poems, is stamped with the 

 same character. Amidst the minute and anxious 



observance of the rules of Aristotle, closely followed 

 by many Italian writers of tragedies not worthy of 

 mention, count Prospero Buonacelli deserves credit 

 for venturing to omit the chorus ; on the other hand, 

 the lawyer Vincenzo Gravina once more attempted 

 to show that imitation of Seneca was the only way to 

 tragic perfection. After Mortello, in the beginning 

 of the eighteenth century, had finally attempted to 

 improve the Italian drama by the imitation of Racine 

 and Corneille (lie even endeavoured to introduce the 

 French Alexandrine), Maffei, in his Mcrope, aimed at 

 a middle course, and, without imitating either, to 

 unite the excellencies of Seneca and of the French 

 theatre. In this absence of real tragedies, the seri- 

 ous operas, the musical dramas of Metastasio born 

 1C98), may be properly mentioned. Their tone had 

 been settled by the attempts of Apostolo Zeno. 

 Without marked character or free play of imagina- 

 tion, they always preserve the decorum of the French 

 theatre; but in elegance and melody of language, 

 and in musical softness of expression for the common 

 places of passion, particularly of love, they are un- 

 rivalled. Alfieri, who wrote towards the end of the 

 last century, is, throughout his writings, a contrast 

 to Metastasio. (See Alfieri.) He does not satisfy a 

 German or an Englishman in his conception of dra- 

 matic excellence. Among his followers are Vincenzo 

 Monti of Ferrara, Alessandro Pelopi of Bologna, and 

 particularly Giambattista Niccolini of Florence, whose 

 Polyxena received a prize in 1811. The pastoral 

 dramas of Tasso and Guarini, viz., the Aminta of the 

 former, and the Pastor Fido of the latter, form a 

 novel kind of dramatic poetry. They entirely 

 eclipsed those of Niccolo of Coreggio, Agostino 

 Beccari, Cinthio Giraldi, Agostino Argenti, and 

 Buonarelli. Tasso succeeded in uniting the sweet- 

 est tones of Theocritus, Anacreon, and of the 

 eclogues of Virgil, without injuring his originality. 

 In comedy, the Italians also began with a close imi- 

 tation of the ancients, not, however, of the comedy of 

 Aristophanes, but of the Romans, Plautus and the 

 calm Terence. These productions were called, in 

 contradistinction from the extemporaneous comedy, 

 commedie erudite (learned comedies). The comedies 

 of Ariosto and the Clizia of Machiavelli exhibit this 

 imitation. The other comedies of the latter are 

 altogether Florentine in their character, but we must 

 admit that they are deficient in that elevated tone of 

 comedy, which we admire in Shakspeare. We men- 

 tion Tasso's Gli Intrighi d'Amore only on account of 

 the author's name. The Tancia, by the younger 

 Michael Angelo Buonarotti (1626), is one of the 

 most remarkable Italian comedies, on account of the 

 Florentine nationality so well portrayed in it. Gol- 

 doni endeavoured to put an end to the commedia 

 deli' arte, by his grave moralizing comedies. On the 

 other hand, Gozzi strove to save the extemporaneous 

 comedy, by elevating its character. In comedies, 

 the subjects of which were taken from fairy tales, and 

 in tragi-comedies, the materials of which were from 

 Calderon and Moreto, without, however, having their 

 poetical execution or genius, he only wrote the chief 

 parts, and these in very easy verses. In the less im- 

 portant parts, which were intended for the standing 

 masks, he was satisfied with indicating merely the 

 leading ideas, leaving the execution to the talent of 

 the actor. He remained without a follower. Among 

 the latest writers of comedies, we may mention Al- 

 bergati, whose Prisoner received a prize at Parma, 

 and who wrote a number of agreeable farces ; the 

 Venetian Francesco Antonio Avelloni, surnamed it 

 Poetino, an imitator of the French ; Antonio Simone 

 Sograsi; the Neapolitan Gualzetti; the abbate Chi- 

 ari ; the Piedmontese Camillo Federici ; the Roman 

 Gherardo de' Rossi; count Giraud; Giovanni Pin- 



