La secchia rapita | |
---|---|
by Alessandro Tassoni | |
Translator | John Ozell James Atkinson |
Written | 1614–1617 |
First published in | 1622, with revisions in 1624 and 1630 |
Country | Duchy of Modena |
Language | Italian |
Subject(s) | War of the Bucket |
Genre(s) | mock-heroic epic poem |
Form | epic poem of 12 cantos |
Meter | ottava rima [1] |
Rhyme scheme | abababcc |
Publication date | 1622, 1624, 1630 |
Published in English | 1714, 1825 |
Media type | print: hardback |
La Secchia Rapita (The sad kidnapped bucket) is a mock-heroic epic poem by Alessandro Tassoni, first published in 1622. Later successful mock-heroic works in French and English were written on the same plan.
The invention of the heroic-comic poem in the Baroque period is usually ascribed to Alessandro Tassoni who, in 1622, published in Paris a poem entitled La Secchia Rapita. [2] Written in ottava rima, his "poema eroicomico" consists of twelve substantial cantos and deals with the regional rivalry between Ghibelline Modena and Guelph Bologna in the 14th century. To avoid giving offence in a still divided Italy, the book was first published from Paris under the name of Androvinci Melisone, [3] but was soon afterwards reprinted in Venice with illustrations by Gasparo Salviani, and with the author’s real name. [4]
The subject of Tassoni's poem was the war which the inhabitants of Modena declared against those of Bologna, on the refusal of the latter to restore to them some towns which had been occupied ever since the time of the Emperor Frederick II. The author mischievously made use of a popular tradition, according to which it was believed that a certain wooden bucket, kept in the treasury of Modena cathedral, came from Bologna, and that it had been forcibly taken away by the Modenese. Every episode of the poem, though beginning in the epic manner, ends in some hilarious absurdity. [5]
The poem twice received operatic treatment under its original title. The first was Antonio Salieri's comic three-act La Secchia Rapita, first performed in Vienna in 1772. [6] Then in 1910 the work was reinterpreted as an operetta by Giulio Ricordi under his musical pseudonym Jules Burgmein. [7]
Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, in his Istoria della Volgar Poesia (1698), records his doubt whether the invention of the heroicomic poem ought to be ascribed to Tassoni, but instead to Francesco Bracciolini. Though the latter's Lo Scherno degli Dei (The Mockery of the Gods) was printed four years after La Secchia, he claimed in the epistle prefixed to it that he had written his some years earlier. Crescimbeni adds that, because Tassoni had severely ridiculed the Bolognese, Bartolomeo Bocchini (1604-1648/53), to revenge his countrymen, published from Venice in 1641 a poem in the same vein with the title Le Pazzie dei Savi (The Madness of the Wise), or alternatively the Lambertaccio, in which the Modenese are spoken of with contempt. [8]
Tassoni's mock-heroic manner was also found a fruitful model by Boileau, whose Le Lutrin (The Lectern, 1674–83) recounts a feud between the priest and the choirmaster of a French church. There the priest tries to position a reading-desk so as to obscure his rival from the sight of the congregation in a conflict that ends with champions of both sides gathering in a bookstore to pelt each other with books. [9]
Boileau's work has been seen as the model for Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock . [10] Pope was also familiar with John Ozell's English-language translation (made in 1710) of Tassoni's poem, which was originally entitled The Trophy Bucket. [11] [12] It has been surmised that this translation of La Secchia Rapita may have influenced Pope, and might conceivably have served as a more direct model for The Rape of the Lock. [13] Following the public acclaim of Pope's five-canto version of The Rape of the Lock in 1714 (a two-canto version had been published anonymously in 1712), in 1715, Ozell's publisher took the opportunity to retitle the translation as The Rape of the Bucket. [14]
In 1825 the linguist James Atkinson published an ottava rima translation of the whole of Tassoni's poem. In his introduction, he acknowledged the general assumption that the poem is known "as the model upon which the Rape of the Lock of Pope, and the Lutrin of Boileau are conceived", but opined that "there is little of similarity among them. The Secchia Rapita indeed differs essentially from the Rape of the Lock, both in spirit, and execution. There is nothing in the latter that can be compared with the humour of the former, or with the admirably grotesque pictures with which it abounds". [15]
Modena is a city and comune (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, often known simply as Boileau, was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the prose. He was greatly influenced by Horace.
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope. One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque, it was first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations in two cantos ; a revised edition "Written by Mr. Pope" followed in March 1714 as a five-canto version accompanied by six engravings. Pope boasted that this sold more than three thousand copies in its first four days. The final form of the poem appeared in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's speech on good humour. The poem was much translated and contributed to the growing popularity of mock-heroic in Europe.
Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works either put a fool in the role of the hero or exaggerate the heroic qualities to such a point that they become absurd.
Alessandro Tassoni was an Italian poet and writer, from Modena, best known as the author of the mock-heroic poem La secchia rapita.
Francesco Bracciolini was an Italian Late Renaissance poet.
The Battle of Zappolino, the only battle of the War of the Oaken Bucket, was fought in November 1325 between forces representing the Italian towns of Bologna and Modena, an incident in the series of raids and reprisals between the two cities that were part of the larger conflicts of Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Modenese were victorious. Though many clashes between Guelphs and Ghibellines loomed larger to contemporaries than to historians, the unusually-large encounter involved 4,000 estimated cavalry and some 35,000 foot soldiers, and 2,000 men lost their lives. The location of the battle, at the foot of a hill just outside the castle walls, is now a frazione of the municipality of Castello di Serravalle, Emilia-Romagna.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Camillo Baldi, also known as Camillus Baldus and Camillo Baldo, was an Italian philosopher.
Sacripante is a character in the Italian romantic epics Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Sacripante is the King of Circassia and one of the leading Saracen knights. He is passionately in love with Angelica and fights to defend her when she is besieged in the fortress of Albracca. His horse Frontino is stolen from underneath him by the cunning thief Brunello. In Orlando furioso he offers to become the wandering Angelica's protector but she evades him.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
The War of the Bucket or the War of the Oaken Bucket was fought in 1325 between the rival city-states of Bologna and Modena. It took place in the region of Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. The war was an episode in the over 300-year-long struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Modena won the Battle of Zappolino, the only battle of the war.
The Polverara, also known as Schiatta (Italian) or S'ciata (Venetian), is an ancient breed of crested chicken from the area of Polverara in the province of Padua, in the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy.
Albertino Barisoni was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Ceneda (1653–1667).
The Accademia degli Umoristi founded in 1603 was a learned society of intellectuals, mainly noblemen, that significantly influenced the cultural life of 17th century Rome. It was briefly revived in the first half of the eighteenth century by Pope Clement XI.
Carlo de' Dottori is an Italian writer, best remembered for his autobiographical Confessioni and his tragedy Aristodemo, considered by Benedetto Croce one of the masterpieces of Italian Baroque literature.
Il Malmantile racquistato is a mock-heroic epic poem by Lorenzo Lippi (1606–65) first published posthumously in 1676.
Federigo Nomi was an Italian poet and translator.
Antonio Querenghi or Quarenghi was an Italian lawyer, theologian and poet. A native of Padua, he belonged to the same intellectual circle as Galileo. Most of his career was spent in Rome, where he served several cardinals and popes. He composed poetry in both Neo-Latin and the Italian vernacular.