Improvvisatori

The ''Improvisatori'' (also spelled "''improvvisatori''") were a group of Italian improvisational poets who first appeared during the Trecento, and gradually disappeared around 1840. Although few written copies of their poems exist today,Lindsay Waters, "The Desultory Rhyme of Don Juan: Byron, Pulci, and the Improvisatory Style", ''ELH'', Vol. 45, No. 3, (Autumn, 1978), Johns Hopkins Press, p. 431 the importance of the ''improvisatori'' to Italian literature is significant for both their original poetic compositions as well as for the effect they had on the Italian madrigal and the role they may have played in preserving older Italian epics.James Haar, ''Essays on Italian Poetry and Music During the Renaissance, 1350–1600''. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1986. Print. pp. 76–99

History

James Haar traces the figure of the ''improvisatore'' (the singular male form of "''improvisatori''") back to the middle of the 14th century. Throughout the Renaissance (which Haar defines as the period spanning 1350 to 1600), an ''improvisatore'' or ''improvisatrice'' (singular feminine form of “''improvisatori''”) was unlikely to glean a living solely from performing improvised poetry (although some, like the Brandolini brothers of the 15th century achieved a modicum of renown). Instead, the ''improvisatori'' of the Renaissance were likely to have participated in religious festivals and community celebrations, performing mainly for their friends and neighbours. During this time, however, the ''improvisatori'' were closely linked with the performance of sung madrigals, as well as the recitation of Italian oral epics, and the survival of these songs and poems is due in large part to the ''improvisatori'' of the Renaissance.

During the Italian literary " period of decadence," which spanned most of the 17th century, Italian literature as a whole produced little notable work. Although the ''improvisatori'' likely continued to exist in some fashion during the 17th century, they did not contribute significantly to Italian literature for most of the century.

1690, however, marked the dawn of what Benedetto Croce dubbed a "Golden Era" ("''epoca d'oro''") of Italian improvisational poetry, which would last until around 1840. During this time, not only did the numbers of the ''improvisatori'' increase greatly, but their influence on Italian literature likewise expanded. During the first half of the 18th century, the French diplomat Charles de Brosses wrote about encountering a famous Florentine ''improvisatore'' named Bernardo Perfetti, and expressed admiration for Perfetti’s ability to express "true feeling"” in his extemporaneously-composed poetry. By 1754, the ''improvisatori'' were relevant enough within Italy that the Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni published a play titled ''Poeta fanatico'', in which the protagonist is an improvisational poet. During the second half of the 18th century, the importance of the ''improvisatori'' continued to increase.

By the dawn of the 19th century, the influence of the ''improvisatori'' had expanded beyond the realm of art, and improvisational poets like Corilla were receiving the laurel of Petrarch, Italy's highest poetic honor. Moreover, the ''improvisatori'' were by this time so widely respected that they were frequently lauded in foreign travel journals (see “ Significance outside of Italy”).

The ''improvisatori'' continued to enjoy widespread fame and success during much of the Romantic Era. ''Improvisatori'' like Tommaso Sgricci mingled with leading English Romantic poets, including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Early 19th century novels, like Germaine de Staël's ''Corinne, or Italy'' (1807) and Francesco Furbo’s ''Andrew of Padua'' (1820), featured ''improvisatori'' as protagonists. By 1840, however, the popularity of the ''improvisatori'' had begun to wane, likely due to some combination of stagnation in form and their overexposure to foreign tourists. However, academic interest in the ''improvisatori'' remained strong until the end of the nineteenth century, and numerous articles were published on topics ranging from the relation of the ''improvisatori'' to the German Meistersinger to the effect Sgricci had on the poetry of Shelley and Byron

The performance

In his ''Remarks on Antiquities, Art, and Letters during an Excursion in Italy...'', a work "cited as a travel classic for over a century", Joseph Forsyth describes an encounter with an ''improvisatrice'' as follows:

This lady convenes at her house a group of admirers, whenever she chooses to be inspired… She went round her circle and called on each person for a theme. Seeing her busy with her fan, I proposed the Fan as a subject. In tracing its origin she followed Pignotti and in describing its use she acted and analyzed to us all the coquetry of the thing. She allowed herself no pause…
So extensive is her reading, that she can challenge any theme. One morning, after other classical subjects had been sung, a Venetian count gave her the boundless field of Apollonius Rhodius, in which she displayed a minute acquaintance with all the Argonautick icfable.

This ''improvisatrice'' (Signora Fantastici) and her rival La Bandettini were street performers, who would frequently pass a hat around before, during, and after improvisations, into which appreciative listeners would make donations. However, there were other settings and styles in which ''improvisatori'' might perform.

Beyond using the streets as theatres, some ''improvisatori'' performed at private shows. The less-famous of these ''improvisatori'' frequently performed at private residences, in which "a small table with writing implements, and an old shattered jingling piano, occupied one side of the room, and a small space was left in front for the poet." Other, more famous ''improvisatori'' like Tommaso Sgricci and Bernardo Sestini, could sell out entire theatres, and had to be accompanied by retinues of bodyguards. In both types of private performances, the ''improvisatore'' or ''improvisatrice'' would still take suggestions for topics to perform on. However, rather than listening to the audience call out themes, the poet requested that audience members write down suggestions on spare pieces of paper and deposit them in a box before the show. The suggestions would then be read to the poet and the audience at the same time, and seconds later, the poet would begin his composition (these readings could elicit significant audience reactions in their own right – Lord Byron reports that, upon hearing "the apotheosis of Vittorio Alfieri" suggested as a topic for Sgricci to improvise upon, "the whole theatre burst into a shout, and the applause was continued for some moments").

In addition to private performances, nationally-celebrated ''improvisatori'' (like Sgricci, or Corilla Olimpica, the ''improvisatrice'' whose fame and high repute in Italy inspired Madame de Staël's novel ''Corinne, or Italy'', before him) could be called upon to improvise for state functions and national celebrations, while lesser-known ''improvisatori'' might solicit donations from wealthy foreign travellers. Moreover, rural ''improvisatori'' continued performing for family and neighbours in Tuscan villages, just as their predecessors in the Renaissance used to do. Whatever the occasion or setting, the ''improvisatori'' rarely failed to impress their audience. Forsyth writes:

An Italian ''improvisatore'' has the benefit of a language rich in echoes. He generally calls in the accompaniment of song, a lute, or a guitar, to set off his verse and conceal any failures. If his theme be difficult, he runs from that into the nearest common place, or takes refuge in loose lyrick icmeasures. Thus he may always be fluent, and sometimes by accident be bright…
Such strains pronounced and sung unmediated, such prompt eloquence, such sentiment and imagery flowing in rich diction, in measure, in rhyme, and in musick ic without interruption, and on subjects unforeseen, all this must evince in he ''improvisatore''a wonderful command of powers…

Significance outside of Italy

Despite the significant role the ''improvisatori'' played in Italian literature from the Renaissance onward, non-Italian recognition of the medium was slow to crystallize. The first French mention of the ''improvisatori'' came in de Brosses's letter, which was written circa 1750. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the first published English mention of the word “''improvisatori''” or any of its variants came in 1766, with the publication of Tobias Smollett's ''Travels through France and Italy''. During the Romantic Era (c. 1785–1830), however, the ''improvisatori'' were frequently mentioned in published travel journals. French writers interested in the ''improvisatori'' included Madame de Staël (author of ''Corinne, or Italy'' ublished 1807 a novel in which the protagonist is an ''improvisatrice'') and Antoine Claude Pasquin (better known as Valery; he mentions no fewer than four ''improvisatori'' in his ''Historical, Literary, and Artistic Travels in Italy…'' ritten between 1826 and 1828, while the Dutch had Hans Christian Andersen (author of ''The Improvisatore'', published in 1835), and the Germans had Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (whose ''Italian Journey'' was written between 1786 and 1788, but not published until 1816).

Despite heavy Continental European interest in the ''improvisatori'', the poets were most enthusiastically admired in England, where they influenced the poets Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Laetitia Landon, among others. The ''improvisatori'' naturally appealed to Romantic writers captivated by concepts like William Wordsworth's "spontaneous overflow of emotion" and the broad Romantic concept of untutored genius.

Criticism of the Improvisatori

Although the ''improvisatori'' were almost universally admired, the degree of admiration varied considerably. Some writers, like Mary Shelley, believed that extemporaneous composition seemed to connote "a divine inspiration" in the performer. Others, like Byron, were more skeptical. Esterhammer notes "available paradigms for representing the nineteenth-century improvisatore… ranged from Romantic genius to manipulative professional, and responses varied from ridicule to rapture."

It is important to note that while some criticism was directed at the quality of an improvised poem, most critiques were instead focused on the incompatibility of improvisation with the written medium. So, while Caesar notes that the Anglo-Irish diarist Anna Jameson classified one particular improvisation of Sestini’s to be "a failure", and Forsyth discusses an improviser unable to satisfactorily end his performance ("with each verse, he further complicated his plot, frustrating himself and his audience ntilhe cursed 'Maledetto!’ and ran off"), these sentiments are exception, rather than rule. Instead, it is far more common for writers to complain about the supposed inconsistencies of improvised works – inconsistencies that usually appear once an improvised poem is examined in a written medium. For example, Byron told Shelley " gricci’sprinted poetry is tame stuff" during a conversation about the phenomenon of improvisational poetry. Similarly, Forsyth lamented

Lady Fantastici asa wonderful command of powers; yet, judging from her studied and published compositions, which are dull enough, I should suspect that this impromptu exercise seldom leads to poetical excellence. Serafino d'Acquila, the first improvvisatore that appeared in the language, was gazed at in the Italian courts as a divine and inspired being, till he published his verses and dispelled the illusion.

The notion that improvisers were skilled performers who possessed "skill, practice, ndtalent; but none of the felicities of higher art"Forsyth 60 frequently accompanied accounts of improvisation, forming a curious contrast with prevailing opinions that improvisers exemplified the Romantic notion of untutored genius.

Further reading

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References

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Italian poetry
Improvisation