Luigi Tansillo (15101 December 1568) was an Italian
Late Renaissance poet. Tansillo deserves a special place in the history of
Italian poetry
Italian poetry is a category of Italian literature. Italian poetry has its origins in the thirteenth century and has heavily influenced the poetic traditions of many European languages, including that of English.
Features
* Italian prosody is ...
, for he constitutes the link between the classical
lyric
Lyric may refer to:
* Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song
* Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view
* Lyric, from t ...
of the
Cinquecento
The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1500 to 1599 are collectively referred to as the Cinquecento (, ), from the Italian for the number 500, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1500. Cinquecento encompasses the st ...
and the
baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
lyric of the
Seicento
The Seicento (, ) is Italian history and culture during the 17th century. The Seicento saw the end of the Italian Renaissance, Renaissance movement in Italy and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque era. The word means "six hu ...
.
Biography
Luigi Tansillo was born in
Venosa
Venosa (Neapolitan language, Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Pala ...
in 1510, in a family of the
minor nobility, and spent the early years of his life in Venosa and
Nola
Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship.
...
. Around the year 1532 Tansillo moved to Naples, where he befriended the noted Spanish poets
Garcilaso de la Vega and
Juan Boscán. In 1535 he entered the service of the Spanish
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.
The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...
of
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
Pedro Álvarez de Toledo. From this point until 1553, Tansillo accompanied don Pedro and his son
don García (captain of the Neapolitan fleet from 1535) on numerous military and political missions in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
. In 1551 the poet married Luisa Puccio and published his first collection of poems, the ''Sonetti per la presa d'Africa''. In 1561 he was appointed governor of
Gaeta
Gaeta (; ; Southern Latian dialect, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a seaside resort in the province of Latina in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples.
The city has played ...
, a position he kept until his death.
[Elfinspell: Luigi Tansillo 1510-1568, Poem, Italian text and English translation with biographical Notes by Lorna de' Lucchi, from An Anthology of Italian Poems 13th-19th century](_blank)
/ref> Tansillo was in contact with Annibale Caro and Benedetto Varchi
Benedetto Varchi (; 1502/15031565) was an Italian humanist, historian, and poet.
Biography
Born in Florence to a family that had originated at Montevarchi, he frequented the neoplatonic academy that Bernardo Rucellai organized in his garden, the ...
, and became a member of the Florentine Accademia degli Umidi in 1544. He died in Teano
Teano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, northwest of Caserta on the main line to Rome from Naples. It stands at the southeast foot of an extinct volcano, Rocca Monfina. Its St. Clement's cathedral is ...
on 1 December 1568, aged 58.
Work
Tansillo began his literary career with the publication of the 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 ...
drama ''I due pellegrini'' (‘The two pilgrims’) in 1527. The "rustic" poem in ottava rima ''Il vendemmiatore'' (‘The Grape Gatherer’, 1532) combines a celebration of carnal love and enjoyment of life with elegiac evocations of the golden age and fleeting youth. The work was considered licentious enough to be placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...
by Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV (; ; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559), born Gian Pietro Carafa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death, in August 1559. While serving as papal nuncio in Spain, he developed ...
.nymph
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
who inhabits the country villa of Tansillo's protector as a pretext for descriptions of the natural setting and praise of don García's military prowes. Other works of interest inclucde the didactic poem ''La balia'' (‘The nurse’, 1552) and ''Il podere'' (‘The farm’, 1560), 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 ...
celebrating serene country life inspired by Columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.
His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...
. Tansillo's fame depends principally on the religious epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale
Epic(s) ...
''Le lagrime di San Pietro'' (‘The tears of Saint Peter’, 1585), a poem in fifteen cantos of ottava rima imbued with Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
moral and religious fervour which is now best known as the model for Malherbe's ''Les Larmes de saint Pierre'' (1587).
Legacy
Tansillo is considered the most important Southern Italian Petrarchist, and was admired 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 ...
and Giambattista Marino
Giambattista Marino (also Giovan Battista Marini) (14 October 1569 – 26 March 1625) was a Neapolitan poet who was born in Naples. He is most famous for his epic '.
The ''Cambridge History of Italian Literature'' thought him to be "one of ...
, no doubt for his anticipations of the Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
manner. His original reelaboration of Petrarchan and classical models expressed itself most significantly through his intensely sensual descriptions of natural landscapes, the musicality of his verse, and his virtuosic shows of technical ability, often through the use of unusual conceits. Tansillo's lyrics were anthologized in a famous volume published by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari in 1552 and carried throughout Europe by foreigners who had visited Italy. Jacquet de Berchem set some of his texts, as did Giovanni Tommaso Benedictis da Pascarola. François de Malherbe
François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator.
Life
He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms o ...
’s ''Larmes de Saint Pierre'', imitated from Tansillo, appeared in 1587, and in 1594 Orlando di Lasso
Orlando di Lasso ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierlui ...
also set '' Le lagrime di San Pietro''. William Roscoe
William Roscoe (8 March 175330 June 1831) was an English banker, lawyer, and briefly a Member of Parliament. He is best known as one of England's first abolitionists, and as the author of the poem for children '' The Butterfly's Ball, and th ...
’s translation of Tansillo's ''Nurse'' appeared in 1798, and went through several editions.
Works
*''I due pellegrini'' (1530)
*''Il vendemmiatore'' (1532–1534)
*''Stanze a Bernardino Martirano'' (1540)
*''Clorida'' (1547)
*''La Balia'' (1552)
*''Il podere'' (1560)
*'' Le lagrime di San Pietro'' (1585)
*''Liriche''
*''Il Canzoniere''. Tansillo's ''Canzoniere'', the result of a lifetime's work, was only published in 1711.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tansillo, Luigi
1510 births
1568 deaths
People from Venosa
16th-century Italian poets
Italian male poets
16th-century Italian male writers
Italian Renaissance writers