Jan 28, Valentina rated it it was ok. I received this book through the Goodreads giveaway program a couple of days ago. I wanted to love it. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it although many parts of it had me grinding my teeth. The main problem with the writing is its pompousness. I realize a book that is meant to be classified as "literary criticism" is bound to have a rotund sense of self-importance, but when every other sentence is a rather weak imitation of the revered author's style in this case Nabokov's , it I received this book through the Goodreads giveaway program a couple of days ago.
I realize a book that is meant to be classified as "literary criticism" is bound to have a rotund sense of self-importance, but when every other sentence is a rather weak imitation of the revered author's style in this case Nabokov's , it gets a bit hard to swallow. I should have realized this from the moment Ms. Zanganeh mentioned that she reads with a dictionary nearby. And then there is the convoluted feeling to the book. The author provides us with a cute little map to follow her through her "travels" but the lightness and Alice-in-Wonderland flavor goes stale when she begins her tedious repetitions of things we can already gleam from the quoted phrases.
Most of it was over-kill. I've always loved Nabokov's writing, and its a shame that after reading this book I have very little urge to pick up another of his stories. I am sated on the stuffiness of the words. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading it, I could very well be wrong and this book is a gem to which we should bow down, but this was my first impression of it, and aren't first impressions the ones that stay with you?
Jun 06, Nick Craske rated it really liked it. Charming, mesmerising and insightful this one. It has reinvigorated my love of Nabokov's writing and Inspired me to read his biography Speak, Memory. Aug 16, Luna Miguel rated it liked it. La primera es la de la propia autora. Su narrativa es la de los grandes placeres y las grandes ideas, su narrativa se dibuja sobre el laberinto sentimental que ha de cruzarse para llegar a ellas.
La de ella misma. De los que se habla mucho pero no se ha hablado nada. Lila y el placer. Vera y la dureza. Aug 03, rory rated it did not like it. Mostly in the form of empty metaphors arranged in endless series of incomplete sentences. The best parts of this book are the Nabokov quotations ie: I am not sure why some reviewers on the site are giving this book such a hard time. I wonder if it is because the cover has excerpts from reviews by Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk? This usually draws a certain kind of reader expecting to read a certain kind of prose.
Or may be because it is about Vladamir Nabokov and this book, is very true to Nabokovian style of writing - that is - purple, entwined but effective in its own way. It helped that I had heard the author speak about the book before I I am not sure why some reviewers on the site are giving this book such a hard time. It helped that I had heard the author speak about the book before I picked it up, and that I had read Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle a long time ago.
The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness by Lila Azam Zanganeh
So I was prepared for the heady prose. This book is not a biography. It is described in the title as an "adventure in the land of Nabokov" and is just that: In its style it reminded me more of W. Sebald than Rushdie or Pamuk, a rambling, outwardly purposeless tour that is deeply personal.
Here we meet Nabokov the amateur or not butterfly hunter, the author of Lolita, the husband and sometimes the father. But it is as a muse that Nabokov fascinates Zanganeh. The book is not easy reading in the conventional sense, but in its rumination on the nature of a writer-muse it takes us to a place where fascination, coincidence, biography and critique live in a natural order not unlike the work of Nabokov.
The book is big on the theme of happiness, and sometimes I found the message too heavy handed, but in a world where authors too often are expected to be more dark than light, more tormented than happy this is a refreshing look. I finished the book with a feeling of having conversed with a talkative, happy friend who in telling me about this writer she is fascinated by - slowly made me happy too.
May 11, Brent Legault rated it liked it. I found this book difficult to read. Not because it was difficult. Because of, I don't know, the tone? It was like watching someone do some sincere tap dancing en lieu of an elegy at a funeral. Or like, playing hacky sack at in the waiting room before a big job interview.
The dancer, the player, enjoys herself immensely, but the rest of us stand agape. Not that it matters, but I would have given this book a one-star review had Zanganeh not been so helpless I found this book difficult to read. Not that it matters, but I would have given this book a one-star review had Zanganeh not been so helplessly in love with the work of Nabokov. I don't often meet someone who loves his work as much as I do, and I was looking forward to a fine communion. But her idea of "play" and my idea of "play" and ultimately, I think, Nabokov's idea of "play," didn't cohere.
They just didn't cohere. Jan 28, Joelec rated it really liked it. I received an ARC copy of this book courtesy of W. I was planning to purchase the book when it was published, being an avid reader of Nabokov and even more so due to the fact that Dmitri along with several respectable authors Pamuk, Rushdie, etc Seeing that it was Zanganeh's first book, and that she was still quite young, I was slightly hesitant to put much hope in the final product.
However, when the book arrived I took my manila package to the local coffee shop and ordered my customary americano, withholding the thrilling pleasure of opening the envelope which I knew contained a new book months before anyone could see it, and that moment was just for me. The cover had a few butterflies on it, reminding one of Nabokov's love and great contributions to lepidopterology.
Seeing the classification as Literary Criticism, I was expecting the focus to be an interpretation of his works, but there is nothing about this book that is traditional in that sense. The book is a journey through both the life of Vladimir and the life of Zanganeh.
It is reminiscent of a memoir inspired by literature. A personal philosophy about great art and the reasons we seek emotion and understanding from art. It takes the author and humanizes him, something that is frowned upon in academia, where merit is determined by the value of the text and the author should not influence this. Despite my personal views on how criticism should be presented, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, although I think it is misclassified as Criticism and think it is more akin to a Creative Biography.
I was often reminded throughout it by an essay written by Professor J. Rivers after he traveled to visit Nabokov shortly before his passing. In it he speaks of the composed nature of the author, the side of perfectionism that considered every word, pondered every thought and action. Once during their interview, drinking cocktails and generally relaxing when the formal portion was over, Nabokov laughed at a comment and Rivers managed to take a photograph of him, clutching a tissue that wiped away tears of laughter.
The picture seems to have caught Nabokov in between the composure of the author and the joy of the person, the perfection of the words vs. That is what Zanganeh accomplishes with The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness, she is able to show us two sides by adding a depth to both the life and the art. It is a personal tale, and one which I encourage fans of Nabokov to go out and read despite the classification of the book, it is light reading and often times very beautiful.
May 26, Annie rated it it was ok Shelves: It's a hearty intellectual feast that's somewhat difficult to digest and, surely, daunting to eat. And don't think the author doesn't know it Thus the elements ot song, dance, and carnival are United in the form of these final lively Verses of the Orfeo. For a more detailed discussion of the metrics of this song, see below, Chapter 3. As for choosing between the February and June dates, Fiorato leaves "aux biographes de Politien le soin de trancher.
On page of the same article the author calls Baccio Ugolini "Ugo Bracciolini. It seems likely as well that such celebrations would have been planned well in advance, and authors of plays or intermezzi given ample notice. In favor of the Carnival hypothesis are the arguments exposed above regarding the appropriateness in theme and form of the fabula and of its final bacchanale.
For the question of Baccio's whereabouts, one must consult both: Busta ; and Picotti, Ricerche, p. Both the citations and the letters bear further investigation. And of course the "continui tumulti" of which the author complains in his letter to Carlo Canale the caveat prefacing the play in the early editions and certain of the manuscripts would not have been lacking at Carnival time in Mantua of Two centuries of research and theorizing thus culminate in this eminently plausible thesis offered by scholars from two separate fields. Having established a reasonable chronology for the composition and performance of Politian's Orfeo, let us turn now to an examination of its theme.
Whereas the vehicle, the pastoral favola, may seem frivolous, even trivial in itself -- of interest only in historical terms, as a direct predecessor of opera -- the theme cannot be dismissed so lightly. This seemingly eternal myth, with parallels in 20 other, widely differing cultures and with applications in Western art and culture continuing from ancient times on into our present-day world, 21 contains elements which strike chords in the minds of people of widely varying times. Ribezzo, Saggio di mitologia comparata. La discesa di Orfeo all'inferno e la liberazione dl Euridice, Fonti protoarie del mito L6vi-Strauss, Du miel aux cendres, Paris, , p.
It can only correspond to our deepest wisb in the face of the knowledge of death: This overcoming, in the myth, would be accoraplished through art, through Orpheus' song. And for the cultivated rainds of the Renaissance the significance of this particular legend to their intellectual and artistic strivings was unavoidably apparent. The theme spoke on its many levels to the humanists, to the poets,musicians, painters, and to the patrons of the arts, even as it had from ancient times and throughout the Middle Ages, undergoing transformations according to the dominant currents of thought in the ages through which it passed, bending with the prevailing doctrine or literary fashion, and enduring as much because 22 of its flexibility as because of its universality.
Tracing briefly the fortune of Orpheus in the frame- work of Italian literature alone, one can begin with Dante, who in the Commedia places Orpheus in Limbo, in the Company of illustrious classical figures known to him, including Orpheus' fellow musician, Linus: For the myth's fortune in the Italian Renaissance, see A. I would add only one citation: The Orpheus myth is used in a simile to illustrate the meaning of the allegorical sense: Boethius, one of Dante's favorite authors, had used the Orpheus myth in the fifth Century A.
Vos haec fabula respicit Quicumque in superum diem Mentem ducere quaeritis. Nam qui Tartareum in specus 23 D. Vandelli, Milan, , p. In the Canzoniere, Orpheus appears first simply as a Superlative poet, worthy, as would be Homer or Vergil, of recounting the acts of his Laura: Giunto Alessandro a la famosa tomba Del fero Achille, sospirando disse: Che d'Omero degnissima e d'Orfeo 0 del pastor ch'ancor Mantova onora Ch'andassen sempre lei sola cantando, Stella difforme e fato sol qui reo Commise a tal che '1 suo bei nome adora Ma forse scema sue lode parlando.
Tester, London and Cambridge, Mass. Loeb Classical Library , Petrarca, II Canzoniere, note di N. I prefer his reading of line 9 to that of Carducci, "Ch6. Que cum ita sint, non tantum locus pestifer relinquendus, sed quicquid in preteritas curas animum retorquet, summa tibi diligentia fugiendum est; ne forte cum Orpheo ab inferis rediens retroque respiciens recuperatam perdas Euridicem. It is worthy of note that Petrarch has here chosen to follow the romance tradition of a happy ending, like that of the English Sir Orfeo, ca. This ending, or a Variation of the happy ending, occurs as early as the eleventh Century in the medieval "exercise poems" -- composed as practice in rhetorical figures -- of Thierry of St.
Trond, Godefroy of Reims, etc. The accompanying translation reads: Kas it Revised -- and Khy? Augustine is here teaching Petrarch the path to his soul's peace through renunciation; should he, while following this path, look back to the depths of Hell, he will lose his newfound ability to renounce his earthly love. Assuming a willfull looking back, he would thus renounce renunciation. Boccaccio dwells at some length on the Orpheus myth in 29 his Genealogia Deorum Gentilium.
He relates several versions of the tale, followed, as is his custom in this work, by various, primarily moral, interpretations -- his own and those of late Latin and Greek authors. His Genealogia was of the utmost importance as a mythological handbook and as a source for myths in the Renaissance, and we shall have occasion to2 9 29 G.
Boccaccio, Genealogie Deorum Gentilium Libri, ed. Romano, two volumes, B a n , Antonio Bertano and the earlier edition of -- is significant for its very existence. Perhaps it is not irrelevant that this translation was made in the North of Italy, for as is exemplified by the plays here studied, in the Northern courts absorption of the riches of humanist scholarship was often through vernacular versions of Latin works, suitable to the tastes and needs of the nobility.
On the Genealogia's treatment of Orpheus, see Friedman, op. And on this genre of handbook, A. Here the figures of Orpheus and Eurydice retain an allegorical significance, but it is not that of the Christian allegories of the Middle Ages. To Salutati, Orpheus represents, through his association with music, the Epicurean whose search for truth is by the senses and not by reason: Dicitur enim Orpheus, ut vult Fulgentius fMitologiae III, x] quasi 'Orpheaphone', id est 'optima vox', volens ipsum figuram musice, sicut dicimus, obtinere.
Verum si musicum significat, ut iste vult, quid convenientius nobis Epycurium dogma dicit, quandoquidem ipsum in rationem summi boni disputet vol- uptatem et inter honestas delectationes nichil voluptuosius concentu musico et quod Philosophie congruit maiestati nichil honestius? N6 altro vollono dire e' poeti che Orfeo potessi [sic. This "other" Orpheus was the figure central to the "Orphic movement,". He was supposed to have written the corpus of Orphica, including the Argonautica and the Hymni which Marsilio Fidino translated from Greek to Latin before Cited from F.
He uses the text of R. Another, orthographically quite different, Version is cited by Buck, op. This is the text as it appears in Miscellanea di cose inedite e rare, ed. Corazzini, Florence' , p. Orazione quando comincio a leggere in Studio i sonetti di M. Kristeller, Supplementum Ficinianum, two vols. I am indebted to Professor Kristeller for these, and other essential referenees on Ficino's Orpheus.
Trask, New York , p. Saepe graves pellit docta testudine curas Et vocem argutis suggerit articulis, Qualis Apollinei modulator carminis Orpheus Dicitur Odrysias allicuisse feras. Marmaricos posset cantu mulcere leones Quasque niger tigres semper Amanus habet. Harper Torchbooks, , Hoc enim seculum tanquam aureum liberalis disciplinas fermj iam extinctas reduxit in lucem, grammaticam, poesim, oratoriam, picturam, sculpturam, architecturam, nusicam, antiquum ad Orphicam Lyram carminum cantum.
Carmen ad Fontium, This Orpheus, because it describes Ficino's Orphic singing which falls in the mystical-philosophical tradition of Orphism in terms of the mythical Orpheus and his power of song, tends to unite the two distinct -- yet through the ages closely entwined -- Strands of philosophy and myth connected with Orpheus. Politian, however, being more drawn to literature 37 than to philosophy in his life's work, uses Orpheus in essentially the literary way we have been following, even in his Latin works, where, however, the figure of Orpheus 3 8 takes on more weighty meaning than in the favola.
II, , is attributed to Politian by"J. Juhdsz in their edition of B. Fontius, Carmina, Leipzig, Fiigel and Juhdsz are aware of the break, but do not date it; cf. Certainly, Politian was fond of referring to and playing on the concept of the musical voices, gravis and acutus, as is done in this passage. See for example Nutricia, It is tempting as Garin says to s'ee a similar difference in Politian's works. Opera, Basel, 15S3, p. Kristeller, Supplementum, II, Two words of this passage are especially noteworthy. Compare for example, in Friedman, op. In the former, Orpheus carries the lyre, in the latter a lute, or viol.
Salutati, De Laboribus, cit. Of course, it is not sharply Haec pueri pietas grata fuisse nimis. To this explicit reference to Orpheus. Nor is it even here, with the exception of the Argonautic Orpheus is added a Vergilian epithet: As if Orpheus is here pius Orpheus, and thereby endowed with the announcing the very importance of the figure of Orpheus to very virtues of Vergil's pius Aeneas -- reverence for the his life and work, Politian opens the Manto and thus all gods, loyalty to his people and fatherland, faithfulness to four Sylvae with Orpheus' song.
The Argonauts about his father. Certainly there is a relationship in Politian's whose voyage in the Argus Ficino's auctoritas "Orpheus" mind between the figures of Orpheus and Aeneas just as was supposed to have written are gathered on shore, waiting there was in Salutati's when he described both figures' for a wind.
They are hosted by Chiron, the Centaur and descents to Hades. Later in the Manto we see Politian Achilles' tutor, at his cave, where they have a rustic meal. Hauserit, infernas etiam descendet ad umbras, Conticuere viri, tenuere silentia venti; 0 pietas! Vosque retro cursum mox tenuistis, aquae: I Decurrunt scopulis auritae ad carmina quercus, Early in the body of the Manto text, Politian assumes Nudaque peliacus culmina motat apex. Et jam materno permulserat omnia cantu, a rhetorical pose, evoking again the Orpheus of the Argonauts Cum tacuit, querulam deposuitque fidem.
Occupat hanc audax, digitosque affringit Achilles, Indoctumque rudi personat ore puer. Del Lungo, Florence, hereatter "Prose " , Buck, Der Orpheus-Mythos in der italienischen 53, and below, pp. Renaissance, Krefeld, , p. Manto, 5 The subsequent reference to Orpheus in the Manto, which was written as an introduction to a course given in by Politian on Vergil's bucolic poetry, is strictly related to Vergil's Fourth Eclogue.
Manto, the mother of the founder of Mantua, Ocnus, is speaking.
Umberto Eco
Manto, 43 43 Prose, p. For Affected Modesty and related topoi, of which this is an example, cf. Fairclough, London, , p. Among other passages, we can compare The same sort of device can be seen in Politian's 1. There are other instances as well. But Orpheus himself was of but passing interest in this passage, and we will move on to the Nutricia, Argumentum de poetica et poetis , written four years later in , and containing some of the most mature and formed thought of Politian, as well as further explicit references to Orpheus.
While the reference, for the most part, is still to the powers of Orpheus' song, the context in which his name is evoked is far more complex than those previously cited in Politian's works: An vero ille ferox, ille implacatus et audax Viribus, ille gravi prosternens cuncta lacerto, Trux vitae, praeceps animae, submitteret aequo Colla jugo aut duris pareret sponte lupatis, Ni prius indocilem sensum facundia victrix Vimque reluctantem irarum flatusque rebelles Carmine mollisset blando, pronisque sequentem Auribus ad pulchri speciem duxisset honesti?
Quippe etiam stantes dulci leo carmine captus Submittit cervice jubas, roseamque dracones Erecti tendunt cristam et sua sibila ponunt; Ille quoque umbrarum custos, ille horror Averni, Cerberus, audita getici testudine vatis, Latratum posuit triplicem, tria sustulit hiscens Ora, novo stupidus cantu qui flexerat atram Tisiphonen, saevo lachrymas conciverat Orco: Ipsum fama Jovem, cum jam cyclopea magna Tela manu quatit insurgens tonitruque coruscat Horrisono et caecis miscet cava nubila flammis, Ut tarnen increpuit nervis et pectine pulcher Delius alternumque piae cecinere sorores, Placari totumque sua diffundere mundum Laeticia et subito coelum instaurare sereno.
Nutricia, 46 46 Prose, He has described man's savage state, without mores or laws, marriage or property And now Politian puts forth that man's untaught sense, his ire and his arrogance were then softened by eloquence and alluring song and he was led to the Vision of beauteous virtue , above. There follow further examples of the power of song, capable of subduing the lion and the dragon Interestingly the two works were composed at the same time. Politian's was the introduction to a course given at the Studio Fiorentino in on poetry and poets in history.
Maier, Ange Politien, cit. Thus the two friends were contemplating man's original state at the same time, undoubtedly with each other's knowledge, and were quite likely even discussing their ideas. His answer is Free Will. God explains this in addressing his new son, Adam: Tu, nullis angustiis coercitus, pro tuo arbitrio, in cuius manu te posui, tibi illam prae- finies. Medium te mundi posui, ut circum- spiceres inde commodius quicquid est in mundo.
Nec te caelestem neque terrenum, neque mortalem neque immortalem fecimus, ut tui ipsius quasi arbitrarius honorariusque plastes et fictor, in quam malueris tute formam effingas. Poteris in inferiora quae sunt bruta degen- erare; poteris in superiora quae sunt divina ex tui animi sententia regenerari. But is this certain? Whereas the Nutricia was first published on 26 May by A. Miscomini in Florence Cf. Ma'ier, Ange Politien, cit.
An English translation by E. Forbes appears in The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, cit. I 73 Garin sees an exact correspondence between Politian's Orpheus in the passage quoted above from the Nutricia and Pico's Adam in this passage. He says and here it will be well to quote in full the passage under consideration, to make the context of his Statement clear, and for reference in the discussion below: All'Adamo pichiano corrisponde esattamente l'Orfeo polizianesco.
Thus Garin can draw the conclusion that the two figures fill the same role, albeit, as he says, in the context of two very different approaches: Garin brings out another element of Politian's scheme which contributes to the rela- tionship between Orpheus and Adam: Thus Garin sees Politian's Poet as construc- tor, formulator of man's world, and Poetry as the Creative synthesis which dominates even the sacred heavenly realms. All of this serves to enhance for us the depth of Politian's passage, indeed to illuminate it.
Yet is it not perhaps too beautiful to be able to say that Adam and Orpheus correspond exactly to one another? Orpheus, in my reading of Politian's passage, is rather but one of two exempla of those who have used song to overcome obstacles. If we allow his identification with the Poet, we must also allow it for the second exemplum, Apollo. But Orpheus himself is not here depicted, really, as the constructor or civilizer of man. He is instead cast in his usual role as the subduer of Hades by his song. Orpheus, by means of his seng, can cause or at least attempt to cause only a positive outcome: Thus even metaphorically he could only and only if we extrapolate quite far from the text represent by association the advantages to man of civilization by Poetry or Song.
Pico's Adam, on the other hand, is given the terrible onus of free will: As the Creator's gift of Poetry stimulates Politian's early mankind to crystallize his humanity and to civilize himself cf. A later allusion to Orpheus in the Nutricia bears witness to the intimate linking of poetry and song which is fundamental to Politian's thought, and fundamental to the Orpheus legend as well. In the early portions of the Nutricia, poetry Poetica is almost interchangeable with song Carmina.
Illius argutis etiara patuere querelis Tartara, terrificis illum villosa colubris Tergemini stupuere canis latrantia raonstra: Tum priraura et lachrymas, invita per ora cadentes Euraenidum, stygii conjunx mirata tyranni, Indulsit vati Eurydicen; sed muneris usum Perdidit: At juvenem postquam thressarum injuria matrum, Frustra suave melos frustra pia verba moventem, Dispersit totis lacerum furialiter agris, Cum lyra divulsum caput a cervice cruenta Heu medium veheret resonans lugubre per Hebrum, Relliquias animae jam deficientis amatam Movit in Eurydicen, tarnen illam frigidus unam Spiritus, illam unam moriens quoque lingua vocabat: Lesboum stupuit vulgus, cum flere natantes Sponte fides atque os domini vectare cruentum Vidit et heu lassis velut aspirare querelis.
Improbus hanc stulte chelyn affectare Neanthus Ausus, apollinea pendentem substulit aede; Quem tarnen, indocto ferientem pollice cordas, Vindice discerpsit rictu nocturna canum vis. Quin et, pellaei quondam presaga triumphi, Delicuit sudore sacro libethris imago. Tantus honor getico fuit, et post funera vati! The selection and emphasis is quite different, however.
Instead the emphasis is on music: The weight given song in the lines thus emphasizes further the close bond in Politian's thought between poetry and song. Just as we have seen Politian veer away from philoso- phy to literature and scholarship so too we can discern in his portrayal of music- a concern more with the practice of music and its effects than with concepts like that of the harmony of the spheres. Politian's music in the form of song as a civilizing agent is similar to Ficino's music as a healing agent: The practice of music, then, judging from the references to music in the Sylvae, the Miscellanea, and apparently in certain of Politian's letters, as well as from the amount of poetry he wrote for music, was of paramount importance to him.
The latter rather debunks the legend, and emphasizes altogether different things. This too, however, is primarily a nonphilosophical account of music theory, S8 drawing on the ancient sources and some more recent ones. Such analysis would present us with a clearer picture of Politian's musical knowledge and interest. It is evident from the passages that his scholarship even in this area presaged modern work, for example on distinguishing between the two instruments the Nabla, or Naulia a sort of harp and the Nablo, or Nab1um Ca psalter , a question which he approaches Tn Miscellanea, I, xiv, according to Bonaventura.
See especially Chapter 1, pp. Accounts of his death, too, indicate the importance of music to him. Bridgman La Vie musicale au Quattrocento. Politian does of course mention the principle. Maier, Ange Politien, , and Aristoxenus. Tinctoris espoused this approach and incidentally also cited Ptolemy in his treatises of the s, Proportionale musices and Liber de arte contrapuncti cf.
New York, , pp. I 79 The next two explicit references tc Orpheus in the Nutricia are brief but of interest.
Near the beginning of Politian's enumeration of the Greek and Latin epic poets, the ancient Thracian Orpheus is mentioned as model for the author of what we now know to be a late Argonautica fourth 59 Century, A. Ecce alii primo tentatum remige pontum, Palladiamque ratem, tabulasque dedere loquaces: Quorum threicio personam primus ab Orpheo Accepit, genitus Miscelli gente salubri; Nutricia, 60 D.
Walker has pointed out61 that "Renaissance scholars were aware that many of the Orphic poems must be of widely different dates; they knew, from the Suidas Lexicon, that several different authors had written under the nane of Orpheus. Thus there are three references common to Tinctoris and Politian: Ptolemy, Aristoxenus and Aristotle's Ethics. Furthermore, Gaffurio's Theoricum opus armonice discipline [sic. IV, Milan, , p. In this context it would be of interest to compare Politian's Panepistemon passage to Tinctoris' and Gaffurio's works to see lf there are other points of contact.
The whole question of Politian and music is one which requires further s tudy. Walker, "Orpheus the Theologian," cit. He identifies this Greek writer of Argonau- tica there are two mentioned, the second, in In Politian's mind, then, this poet, writing in the persona of the early Orpheus, was later than the Thracian Orpheus, but could nonetheless have been quite ancient.
Suidas, nunc primum integer latinitate donatus. Ion of Chios to have attributed some of his writings to Orpheus Nilsson, art. Walker says that the humanists knew the Suda. Politian's familiarity with other sources on the subject remains to be investigated. Emicat, hesperio, trifidum ceu fulmen, ab orbe Qui, vix puber adhuc rudibusque tenerrimus annis, Haemonios iterat currus auroque repensum Hectora; tartareasque domos; dirumque Neronem; Orpheaque;.
Thus it would fall into the category of public spectacle. Other works composed for public spectacles -- theatri- cal works -- are discussed in the Nutricia as well, for Politian's interest in theater did not end, and probably did not begin, with the Orfeo in , although it is the first item in a list of evidence for such interest.
The second item is a passage in Politian's unedited Introduction to a course on Statius' Sylvae, given in , Politian's first year of teaching at the Studio Fiorentino after his return from Mantua. According to one editor of Politian's notes, the passage contains a sketch of the history of theater which foreshadows Politian's treatmer.
Lattanzi Roselli in her introduction to A. Poliziano, La commedia antica e l'"Andria" di Terenzio, Florence, , p. According to Lattanzi Roselli, it appears in MS. Also cited are passages from the Miscellanea I, 63; II, 40, 41, Lattanzi Roselli, Introduction, op. Sabbadini II metodo degli umanisti, Florence, , pp. Khereas the work was alluded to by Salutati ca. He goes on to say pp. Ma le sue due prelezioni omeriche, sia la prosastica sia la poetica Ambra del [sic. Il Poliziano pertanto venne molto tardi in possesso di quel testo.
However, if it is the case that Politian refers not at all to Aristotle's Poetics in a work of in which he would presumably have had occasion to eite the Poetics, then we must reconsider Lattanzi Roselli's dating of for the Preface to Terence's Andria, where Politian virtually translates long passages from the Poetics. If, in other words, Politian did not know the Greek text in and this remains to be studied then he clearly could not have written a treatise making heavy use of it in In the orderly way in which he approaches musical theory in the Panepistemon -- obviously geared to pedagogy -- Politian here sets forth the major divisions of a particular facet of his subject, then deals with each, one by one.
The major arguments of the treatise can be broken down as follows: Pickard-Cambridge, Dithyramb, Tragedy and Comedy. Second Edition, revised by T. Henceforth Pickard-Cambridge -- Webster. Epps, Chapel Hill, N. The Latin concentus used by Politian can also mean a concordant acclamation of people in a theater C. Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford, , s. Politian devotes a long passage It is divided into types of drama, from Greek tragedy and comedy through Latin tragedy and comedy to mime, with representative authors of each presented, often by means of biographical incidents taken from such sources as Valerius Maximus and Plutarch.
One point of interest, particularly relevant to a discussion of the Orfeo, is the initial emphasis on Bacchus' or Dionysus' role in the origins of tragedy: Multi, Bacche, tuo proculcavere cothurno Fortunas regum ambiguas, et sceptra tyrannis Extorsere feris, totumque tremore metuque Horribiles totum luctu opplevere theatrum. Nutricia, S5 '2 That there was a tradition connecting Dionysus with the origins of tragedy -- through dithyramb -- is known, and was apparently known to Politian, perhaps in part through the Suidas Lexicon's denial of the connection a denial which was something of a topos in ancient sources on the origins of 72Prose, In any event, Politian made the connection, both here and in his Andria preface, where he associates Dionysus with comedy as well.
The tone and even the verse scheme are imitated from Plautus. Yet there is an almost Terentian polemic in the text. Politian inveighs against Contemporary writers of Latin comedies in prose, as well as against frati who condemn the performance of classical theater. But the evidence for this all postdates the writing of the Orfeo. Perhaps 73Pickard-Cambridge -- Webster, pp. Poliziano, La commedia antica, cit. But the Dionysus-dithyramb connection is assumed by such grammarians and lexicographers as Pollux and the author s of the Suda.
These latter were Politian's sources in the Preface Pollux and in the Nutricia Suda , as we have seen. PTckard-Cambridge -- Webster, pp. See too the Italian translation, and especially the introduc- tion by A. In terms of the development of the Orpheus figure in Politian's work, it may be well to regard the Orfeo as an intermediate Step away from Ficino's Orpheus and toward the use of the more complex image which is entirely his own.
The Orpheus of the Orfeo is a composite of classical references, rather than a mature concept, and from this fact result all the ambiguities in the play which have bothered critics, and which in all likelihood did bother Politian to an extent. Rather, therefore, than ask too much of this brief play, it will be well to regard it and its central character as marks of a turning point in his thought.
Politian is here beginning to shape the Orpheus figure to his own needs -- away from the Neoplatonic philosopher-theologian Orpheus which held Ficino's interest, and toward the more literary and "historical" exemplum Orpheus which would characterize his own references to the figure. The Orpheus myth, for all the reasons examined above, must have presented itself readily to the poet, but in a form that began a process of clarifi- cation of his own reading of the myth. Suggestions of the theme in other art forms were, moreover, by no means absent from the Mantua of There, in the Camera degli Sposi of the palace -- which was surely a showplace, then as now, and brought to the attention of any visitors -- were three small paintings of Orpheus.
These lunettes had been painted just six years earlier by Mantegna and his assistants, above the remarkable family groups of the Gonzaga. They depicted Orpheus playing his lyre, his descent to Hades, and his destruction at the hands of the Maenads. Suffice it to say, with Pirrotta, that they were there, along with the many other factors we have discussed above.
To give a clearer idea of their Situation in the room: In the center of the flat ceiling is the famous dome in perspective, "opening" onto the heavens, with cupids and heavenly beings gazing down into the room. Moreover, the theme of the bacchanale in Mantegna's work is seen by Eugenio Battisti to be inspired in at least one instance by Eclogue X of Calpurnius; Ida Maier has brought out the close relationship between the first scene of Politian's Orfeo and the third 78 Eclogue of Calpurnius.
At work, then, on the mind of the Florentine poet, were the tastes of a world different from that to which he was accustomed. This was the world of the courts of Northern Italy, one less intellectually oriented and more attuned to the myth of Orpheus the poet and musician, than to Orpheus the philosopher-theologian. This was a world where Orpheus figured as the bearer of a platter, or as the 79 announcer of a course at a sumptuous banquet.
Furthermore, miraculous powers of song. Tietze-Conrat, Mantegna, London, ; plates 62, ; E. Arte pensiero e cultura a Mantova nel primo Rinascimento in rapporto con la Toscana e con ll Veneto. Sforza e Camilla d'Aragona, Florence, Tristano Chalco, Residua, pp. Vergil explains how to regenerate a swarm of bees from the carcass of a young bull. Whence came this device to man? Aristaeus, the shepherd, lost his bees, and he sought the reason from his mother Cyrene, the river nymph. The seer relates to Aristaeus the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice: Aristaeus pursued Orpheus' bride, thus causing her to flee, not seeing the serpent before her.
He enters the gates of Dis, and the Furies, Cerberus, the shades and Tartarus itself are stunned. Now he retraces his Steps, Eurydice following behind as Proserpina ruled. There all his labor is wasted; the pact with Pluto is broken, and thunder is heard three times throughout Avernus. Yet again the cruel fates 25 call me back, and sleep covers my swimming eyes. I am carried surrounded by great night, and -- alas no longer yours -- Stretching out to you weak hands. She is taken suddenly from his eyes; like smoke mixed with insubstantial air, she flees away, nor does he see her 30 again.
Charon prevents him from passing the swamp. For seven months he weeps and sings his tale, charming the tigers, the oaks, like the lone nightingale. He is not tempted by love or marriage. The Ciconean women, whom his devotion spurned, during their sacred noc- 35 turnal orgies to Bacchus scatter the dismembered youth far and wide across the fields. Then the Hebros carries in its midst the marble head murmuring Eurydice. When Proteus has told this tale to Aristaeus, he dis- appears.
But Cyrene counsels Aristaeus to sacrifice four 40 choice bulls to the nymphs who had been Eurydice's com- panions, on the ninth day to offer funeral sacrifices to Orpheus and to sacrifice a calf to Eurydice. On the ninth day, Aristaeus' bees are restored to him once more. Eurydice wan- ders from the feast with a group of naiads; a snake pierces her ankle, killing her. Orpheus sings his loss on earth, then enters the world of the dead and pleads in song, which S he accompanies with his lyre, that his young wife be re- stored to him, for he is prey to Love who is known to Pluto and Persephone as well.
Since all must come in the end to Hades, since Pluto's is the longest reign over man- kind, and she too will come under his sway in due time, then 10 Orpheus asks to have her with him in life once more, eise he will stay with her in Hades. As they near the border of earth, loving Orpheus, afraid lest she stop, and avid to see her, turns his eyes back and, as suddenly, she falls back.
Orpheus Stretches out his arms to her, but she sinks back, her "farewell" barely reaching his ears.
He tries then to return to Hades, in vain, and he sits on the banks of the Styx, squalid and listless, pain and tears his only nourishment, for seven days. He goes to Mount Rhodope and Mount Haemus, and avoids female love, either because of his 25 ill fortune, or out of faith previously bestowed. Object of many women's love, he gives his love to boys. But the Cicon- 30 ean women find him and begin their attack. For a while his song shields him from their stones and weapons, but soon these find their mark, his song being overcome by the wo- men's cries and din.
The birds and animals flee, and Orpheus falls victim to the women, who attack him with 35 implements of farming, with rocks and thyrsi, and scatter his limbs. He is mourned by the beasts, the stones, the trees and rivers. But his head and lyre float down the Hebros River, miraculously making music. They gain the shore of Lesbos, 40 where a serpent attacks Orpheus' head, but Apollo turns the serpent to stone.
The poet's shade goes to Hades, where he embraces Eurydice. Now they walk together, and Orpheus may safely look upon Eurydice. The attempt will be nade, through analyses of the texts, to further insert them in the context of their age, to examine them as theater, and to trace an unmistakable development among them. Let us begin with the three Orpheus plays, on whose theme we have dwelt at such length. L'Orfeo of Politian we have seen to be clearly insert- able in a carnival atmosphere. Because documentation for an actual performance is still lacking, the precise time and place must remain hypothetical.
Basically, Politian's plot is a reworking of Vergil's and Ovid's telling of the Orpheus myth, with the emphasis falling selectively now on one, now on the other account. Maier, Ange Politien, pp. Her valuable analysis is based on Politian's use of the classics and of his own work. Pernicone which appears in Antologia della letteratura italiana.
II, Milan, , pp. There follows a pastoral scene at the foot of a mountain beside a fountain or spring. It is an eclogue the first part of which is based on Calpurnius' Eclogue, III in which the shepherds Mopso and Aristeo dis- cuss a lost young bull of Mopso's. Mopso counsels him to extinguish this flame while'it is new, but Aristeo says it is already too late. He suggests that Mopso accompany him with his zampogna, and there follows a bailad, "Udite, selve, mie dolce parole," probably sung by Aristeo to Mopso's accompaniment.
Mopso compliments Aristeo's singing, assuring him that if the nymph hears his song, she will come to him. Tirsi returns, running down the mountainside, with the news that he has retrieved the calf, and that he has also seen a lovely maiden, surely as beautiful as Venus, gathering flowers about the mountain. Aristeo, convinced that it is his beloved, determines to follow her upon the mountain.
Probably as Aristeo begins his ascent, Mopso suggests to Tirsi that he reason with his Where I eite from the more available edition of N. Sapegno Angelo Poliziano, Rime, Rome, Pirrotta cites from the text edited by F. Aristeo is suddenly heard from again perhaps the path leading up the mountain circles it, and he had momentarily disappeared on the other side , singing to Eurydice who may also have appeared gathering flowers on the mountainside the frottola "Non mi fuggir, donzella," and praying, in the final line of his song, that Amor may lend him his wings for the pursuit.
Orfeo is revealed atop the mountain, unaware of these events, and commences his singing of a Latin ode in honor of the patron of the play, accompanying himself on his lyre, or lira da braccio. He is interrupted after a few stanzas by a shepherd announcing the death of Eurydice, and narrating in one octave how she was fleeing Aristeo, when at the river's edge she was pierced in the foot by a venomous serpent, and died instantly. The court of Pluto is then revealed, and Pluto inquires who this is who has caused the torments of Hades to cease with his laraent.
Minos, judge of the underworld, responds that it is a living soul, which, judging from other visits from the living, bodes ill. Orpheus pleads with Pluto in song, or partly in song: Orpheus prays this in the name of the rivers of the afterworld, of Chaos, of the pomegranate eaten by Proserpina, keeping her in Hades; and should his wish not be granted, he asks for death [Ovid summary, Proserpina is moved by pity, and marvels at the presence in Hades of such a Sentiment, for she sees Orpheus' tale has moved not only the tormented, but Death itself; thus in the name of song, of love and of just prayers, she begs her husband to bend his law.
Orpheus returns, singing Latin verses of triumph, from Ovid. But he looks back though we are not told so explicitly , for the next words are Eurydice's lament that loving too much has undone them both, for she is taken with great swiftness, and though she extends her arms to him, it is of no avail. She bids him farewell.
Orpheus calls after her, and bewails his loss, then deter- mines to return to Hades once more. But a Fury blocks his way with firm and harsh words [Vergil summary, Orpheus, probably in the rustic scene at the foot of the mountain once more, mourns in great pain, and resolves because of his bad fortune never again to love woman, but to love boys instead.
Nor does he wish to hear of feminine love again: Let all men flee woman's Company [Ovid summary, They all pursue Orpheus perhaps into the wood and around to the back of the mountain , and the first Bacchant returns carrying his head, giving thanks to Bacchus: Orpheus has been dragged through the wood, staining every stick with his blood, he has been dismembered; now let anyone slander the marriage bond; may Bacchus accept this victim!
Pirrotta with regard to music, and of E. Povoledo with regard to Staging, referring to their joint work, Li due Orfei, cit. I make use of Povoledo's ideas on the action of the play Li due Orfei, in the summary, but building on her hypotheses and on the textual indications, I have added cer- tain conjectures of my own. My specific objections to Povoledo's analysis of the action are given below pp. There are certain dis- crepancies between my account and Pirrotta's as well, but these are mainly the result of the adoption of different editions of the text.
Close reading of the text brings into relief further confirmation of sung passages, for example, "Mopso. But only Pirrotta's study of the play from a musicological point of view, based on sound knowledge of musical practices and metrics of the time, has brought out the fact that indeed long portions of the work were sung. Pirrotta has been able to advance well- founded conjectures on the forms of music used as well, and even to provide examples of closely related compositions. The result, even accepting Pirrotta's conservative estimate,6 is that well over half the work was sung.
And if we take into account Pirrotta's allusion to a style "tra quello della but this specification is omitted in the Pernicone edition to which I refer see note 4. The question of manuscripts followed by either editor has not been approached here because we await the appearance of a critical edition being prepared by Antonia Tissoni Benvenuti.
See a Problem?
This edition, which will take into account all known manuscripts the number of which has increased in recent years to twelve , is slated to be published by Antenore, Padua. Mo longer have we a strangely brief work, with choppy shifts from one scene to another. How much of the poetry we now read of this epoch was written to be sung? And given the fame of the principal actor, Baccio Ugolini, as a virtuoso performer and improviser, the music may well have been even more than Support for the words whose sense it was intended to convey, even one hundred years before Bardi's Camerata: Pirrotta's study has then enriched our view of the q Orfeo a thousand-fold.
Yet as he himself suggests, it is a suggestive rather than a definitive analysis, though based on his firm command and knowledge of the music of the Italian Renaissance. The decisions he has made on the basis of his textual analysis are sound, yet one may be permitted certain doubts. One such doubt occurs in regard to his rejection of the singing of Orpheus' lament after Eurydice's "second death.
The scenic picture has, however, been brought to life to an extent as well, by Elena Povoledo44 on the basis of her knowledge of Staging of the times. Recent exhibitions can also help us to visualize with some success one or several possible settings for the play. In this work, he postpones a dis- cussion of the distinction of the strambotto from other forms of ottava rima, at the same time deeming it necessary to distinguish between them. Indeed, such a discussion might provide us with an important tool for discovering just what percentage of all octaves, and which ones, were destined for song, and thus for answering the questions posed above note 7 with regard to compositions like the Stanze per la giostra.
II luogo teatrale a Firenze, Milan, cited above in Chapter 2. It is not altogether clear that the rotation of the mountain would be necessary. The gates of Tartarus might instead be revealed in another way, such as the parting of shrubbery, or they might appear within the entrance to the cave mentioned above. The problem then arising is one of visibility to the audience. The interior of the mountain would have to be illuminated, of course, but were Hades recessed beyond gates of normal proportions there would be a tunnel effect, and only those in line with its projected sides would see Hades.
Then a gate might be placed in the convex side of the mountain adjacent to this concavity. Nonetheless, Povoledo's analysis, based as it is on her extensive work in the field, provides us with a skeleton on which to attempt to build a clearer picture of the set and of the progress of the action as has already been done to some extent in the summary above.
While it must be borne in mind that the proposals presented here are hypothetical -- being based on close reading of the text, and on hypotheses from the field of the history of staging -- this attempt may nevertheless be of some value as we try to gain a clearer picture of Politian's play and to make it come alive as theater. II luogo teatrale a Firenze, cit. Molinari, Spettacoli fiorentini del Quattrocento, Venice, , cites the use of a monte in several different types of spectacle. The still earlier laude of Umbria, for example, may have called for at least a "token" mountain, even if not a large structure; cf.
D'Ancona, Florence, , vol. The side first toward the audience would be a natural- looking mountainside, partly wooded, perhaps with crags and 18 other hiding places. Perhaps toward the rear at one side would be the gates of Hades, visible once the mountain was rotated somewhat. The gates would open to reveal a concavity: There might be a path leading up the partly wooded side of the mountain, and perhaps appearing to encircle the mountain. As has been suggested in the summary of the play, this would permit the dialogue between the two shepherds to occur while Aristeo is out of earshot presumed by the audience to be on the part of the path ascending the back of the mountain and would also explain the apparent interrup- tion of his presence between his command to Mopso to remain near the fountain while he goes up the mountain in search of Eurydice The Orfeo, and the Ascension, present cases of the latter type.
Were the wood on a level with the shepherds, not only would the temporary absence of Aristeo, testified to by the text as Mopso and Tirsi converse alone , be difficult to explain, but there would have to be a wood at platform or floor level into which Aristeo and Eurydice could then disappear, for there is no textual indication that they do anything but enter the wood. That is, they do not climb or descend from where they are at the end of Aristeo's frottola "Non mi fuggir, donzella;" Eurydice flees "drento alla selva" between Seguitando Aristeo Euridice, ella si fugge drento alla selva, dove punta da serpente grida; et simile Aristeo.
It seems likely that rather than following the medieval tradition of a fiery inferno, the interior cavity would be decorated and lighted to convey the more severe idea of Hades. Orpheus addresses a raging Cerberus, and the roaring Furies at the threshold, so there at least, was room for co'lorful action, perhaps reminiscent of the spectacular and literally fiery infernal scenes of some 20 sacre rappresentazioni.
Within the realm itself there may be visible the figures of Ixion, Sisyphus, the Belides, Tantalus, perhaps miming the cessation of their torments, as described by Pluto Certainly there are the three figures of Pluto, Proserpina and Minos. Stegagno Picchio, quoting D'Ancona at an unspecified location but presumably in Origini, cit.
Stegagno Picchio and E. What comes most naturally to mind on a reading of the text are the figures of Pluto and Proserpina seated together judging Orpheus' case -- for they both take part in the judgment -- with Minos Standing by as an adviser of sorts, w a m i n g of ulterior motives. Povoledo, touching upon the appearance of Politian's Hades, suggests a parallel with certain "carri" or floats used to 22 introduce courses at banquets, but the relationship between these floats and the Tartarean scenes of the Orfeo is not clarified.
The final scene with the Maenads pursuing Orpheus refers again to the wood. Thus the mountain if it is on wheels has been rotated to its original position. The bacchanal could be danced or enacted on and at the base of the mountain, making use of the whole structure. It is 21Li due Orfei, cit. The scenes proceed as has been cutlined in the above summary pp.
However, reconstruction of the action of the spectacle, like hypotheses concerning the role of music and the Staging, must be tied strictly to what we know, and thus to our only source of evidence to date: Nowhere in the text is there an indication, for example, that Orpheus sings his Latin ode while descending the mountain as Povoledo indicates. Certainly this might have been the case if the play was at any time presented in the streets of a city, as did on occasion happen in the case of profane as well as sacred spectacles. More likely might be the Start of his descent after the messenger brings him the news of Eurydice's death and after the first stanza of his lament.
Here he sings "Andar convienmi alle tartaree porte" 1. A similar objection must be raised to Povoledo's assumption that a Fury physically draws Eurydice 25 back to Hades. The words "indreto son tirata" are all we are told of Eurydice's recall to Tartarus. We are thus likely to imagine some invisible, supernatural force -- against which perhaps she mimes a straining toward Orpheus as she is drawn backward -- just as we do on reading the Vergilian Eurydice's words "iamque vale: There is no reason to think Politian wavers from the Version of his sources. It would be absurd, of course, to insist on the words "tra' vivi" among the living in a literal sense, on the other hand it is made clear that she must be beyond the passageway and beyond the gates before Orpheus may gaze upon her, and it is equally clear that he does not wait for this to be the case.
It can be seen 28 in the summary with which this chapter began. Perhaps now that we have examined the Orfeo from the musical and scenographic points of view and accepted Carni- val as the most likely occasion for its performance, the form of the play becomes more acceptable and easily under- standable. It is based on a number of types of drama: The eclogue at the Start of the action is in keeping with the sung eclogues, or "capitoli," in terza rima with which manuscript miscellany of the time are replete, and which evoke Theocritean eclogues as well as their Latin imitations.
Carrara, La poesia Pastorale. Grelle, Ancora degli elementi classici. Sapegno, Rome, , pp. Theocritus was cited as early as by Francesco Barbaro in his De re uxoria: Sabbadini, Le scoperte, I, p. True, we find in the Orfeo many sets of octaves, the preferred metric form of sacre rappresentazioni; the lack of division resulting in sudden transitions from scene to scene which, however, as we have seen, may have been attenuated by musical transitions ; the mountain as locus of action. But we also find the terza rima which was both the meter of eclogues and capitoli, and the preferred meter for translation of Latin coraedy into Italian.
We find a canto carnascialesco at the end, as well as a frottola, a ballad, and a sapphic ode in the course of the action. Moreover, we find a prologue which is not really that close to prologues of sacre rappresentazioni. In reality, while the insight was an important one, and telling in terms of the origins of profane drama in Italy generally, it by no means presents the whole story. On the sacred and liturgical origins of Italian drama see C. Molinari, Spettacoli, passim, and V. De Bartholomaeis, Le origini della poesia drammatica italiana, Bologna, Sanesi La commedia, Milan, is of the same opinion.
There is no other element in the lines, but the command for attention: Mercury can be said to correspond only superficially to the "angelo annunziatore" of sacre rappresentazioni, in that it is he who announces the Start of the play. The medieval "angelo annunziatore" itself, however, can be better seen as a phenomenon more closely related in kind and function to the prologue of Latin comedy than to that of the Orfeo. These too were extremely succinct tellings of the plot, though it is not clear that they were written to be spoken, lacking as they do the spontaneous flow of a p r o l o g u e.
Those attached to Plautus' plays are anonymous and of two types: Ashmore thinks Apollinaris may have written the nonacrostic argumenta to Plautus as well. Terenti Afri Comoediae, ed. Ashmore, New York, , Notes, page 3. Besides the common occurrence of religious spectacle in Politian's Florence, there had been at least one per- formance in Latin of Roman comedy: There had also been at least two performances of Latin comedy written on a Terentian model, the Licinia now lost of Piero Domizi in , and another perhaps also by 37 Domizi, and certainly produced by him, in On the Licinia, cf.
Note the fact that it is precisely Terence's Andria which Politian later chooses to comment in his teaching at the Studio Fiorentino: Of course Politian does not paint his Tirsi in so bald a manner; Tirsi is instead rather simple, preferring to stay out of trouble and to lead a quiet pastoral life: The audience before which they were recited was, after all, composed of signori, and Politian himself was subj. These lines, then, can be seen as a light but specific allusion to the rhetorical device of flattery, frequent in the patron-artist relationship.
Plautus, The Rope and Other Plays, trans. Watling, Baltimore, Maryland, , Introduction, p. Sapegno considers this to be an exaggeration A. Poliziano, Rime, ed, cit. The same rhetorical device, without the irony, is found in portions of the Latin Sapphic ode The ode contains obsequious praises of the Cardinal Gonzaga, Politian's new patron, or would-be patron: Orfeo sings first to his lyre: D'Ooage, Boston, , p.
It is, in fact, the meter of Horace's Ode on Orpheus I, Pirrotta Li due Orfei, pp. Ecce Maecenas tibi nunc Maroque contigit uni! The general populus could not be expected to know Latin, and thus the words of the Latin ode would have been directed only to the cultivated persons among the audience. In this case the flattery contained in the ode 42 Carlo Canale was a menber of the Cardinal's entourage.
Del Lungo, Florentia, cit. Del Lungo himself suggests the ode was not sung at the original performance of the play, but was composed for a separate and presumably more exclusive occasion. This is an attractive idea, but is given inadequate documentary Support: The letter is itself a complex document probably a mixture of literary pose and fact. The whole forms a disclaimer which Politian wished attached to any copies made of his Orfeo. The letter will be more fully analyzed at another time. Such a multilevel play on language seems in keeping with Politian's character, although it does little to attenuate the obsequious quality of the flattery contained in the ode.
While we are considering the Latin ode, it is interesting to look at it more closely as a document of Politian's development as well. The final stanzas of the song have to do with the founding of Mantua: Iamque vicinas tibi subdat undas vel Pacjs multo resonans olore, quamlibet flentes animosus alnos astraque iactet. Candidas ergo volucres notarat Mantuam condens tiberinus Ocnus nempe quem Parcae docuit benignae conscia mater. Because Politian probably was uncertain of how those months would end, or of whether or not they would end, his stay in Mantua can not have been an unmixed blessing.
But the location must have been important to him; in fact, it seems likely that it played an important role in his choice of exile residence. Two years later, we find him offering his course on- Vergil's Bucolics, and in his intro- duction, the Manto, he invokes once again the founding of Mantua: Venit et Elysio, venturi praescia, Manto; Manto quae juvenem fluvio conceperat Ocnum, Ocnum qui matris dederat tibi Mantua, nomen.
But it is Ovid who assumes control of the final spectacle, the bacchanal. Whereas Vergil's telling of the story minimizes, insofar as possible, the destruction of the poet [Vergil suimnary Moreover it is the more explicit Ovidian reference to Orpheus' homosexuality [Ovid summary, The comparison of the three above passages is suggested in a note by Sapegno in his edition of Politian's Rime, cit.
Tn a sense, on his Vergilian pilgrimage, Politian never left Tuscany -- for Mantua was once the only Tuscan city north of the Po. Quel si vede ondeggiar; quei par che 'nciampino: