''Aminta'' is a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

written by

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

in 1573, represented during a garden party at the court of

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

. Both the actors and the public were noble persons living at the Court, who could understand subtle allusions the poet made to that style of life, in contrast with the life of shepherds, represented in an

idyll An idyll (, ; ; occasionally spelled ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus's short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). Unlike Homer, Theocritus did not engag ...

ic way.

Text

The text is written in

hendecasyllabic In poetry, a hendecasyllable (as an adjective, hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) poet ...

and

septenary There are many different numeral systems, that is, writing systems for expressing numbers. By culture / time period "A ''base'' is a natural number B whose ''powers'' (B multiplied by itself some number of times) are specially designated w ...

verses; it is divided into five acts. The play has a

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

theme, and is set in the time of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. The characters are shepherds and nymphs. The story is about Aminta's love for the beautiful nymph Silvia, who does not return his attentions and prefers hunting. She risks rape at the hands of a

Satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr (, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( ), and sileni (plural), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. ...

but Aminta saves her; however, again she flees from him. Aminta, finding her blood-stained veil, attempts to kill himself. Now Silvia is remorseful, comes back to cry over Aminta's body who is still alive, and the two can happily marry, following the advice that older and wiser friends had been giving them.

Musical settings

It was the basis for several

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

s, such as: * The libretto by

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Met ...

on which

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

based his opera ''

Il re pastore ' (''The Shepherd King'') is an opera, K. 208, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Metastasio, edited by Giambattista Varesco. It is an opera seria. The opera was first performed on 23 April 1775 in Salzburg in the Rit ...

'' (Salzburg, 1775) * The libretto by

on which

Antonio Mazzoni Antonio Maria Mazzoni (4 January 1717 – 8 December 1785) was an Italian composer.Mozart Briefe und Aufzeichnungen: Gesamtausgabe Wilhelm A. Bauer, Leopold Mozart - 1971 -"„Maestro Mazzoni": Antonio Maria Mazzoni (1717 bis 1785), Schüler Predi ...

based his opera ''Aminta, il re pastore'' (Madrid, 1756) * The plot of Delibes' ballet '' Sylvia'', as re-written by

Jules Barbier Paul Jules Barbier (; 8 March 182516 January 1901) was a French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré.

(Paris, 1876).

Recording

A phonautogram of the play's opening lines is the oldest known audible record of human speech.

Translations into English

''Aminta, the Famous Pastoral, translated into English verse, with divers Ingenious Poems''
Trans.

John Dancer John Benjamin Dancer (8 October 1812 – 24 November 1887) was a British scientific instrument maker and inventor of microphotography. He also pioneered stereography. Career By 1835, he controlled his father's instrument making business in ...

. London: John Starkey, 1660.
''Amyntas, A Tale of the Woods''
Trans.

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

. London: T. and J. Allman, 1820.
''Aminta: A Pastoral Play''
Trans. Charles Jernigan and Irene Marchegani Jones. New York: Italica Press, 2000.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Brand, Peter (2002)
"Aminta"
In Hainsworth, Peter and Robey, David (eds.). ''The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature''. Oxford University Press. * Patterson, Michael (2015)
"Aminta"
In ''The Oxford Dictionary of Plays''. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

External links

* * * Hayward, Malcoln (1997)

Retrieved 10 April 2022. {{Authority control 1573 plays Italian plays Works by Torquato Tasso