Temi, Strutture E Linguaggi Nel Canzoniere Di Isabella Andreini (1601)
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Temi, Strutture e Linguaggi nel Canzoniere di Isabella Andreini (1601) by Katia Tiziana Radaelli A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Italian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Katia Tiziana Radaelli 2012 Themes, Structures and Language in Isabella Andreini’s 1601 Collection of Lyric Poetry Katia Tiziana Radaelli Doctor of Philosophy Italian Department University of Toronto 2012 Abstract This study seeks to present a philologically accurate and complete edition of Isabella Andreini’s collection of lyric poetry published in 1601. The collection comprises a total of 368 poems: 196 sonnets, 125 madrigals, 6 canzoni, 10 canzonette morali, 2 sestine, 2 epithalamia, 2 centoni, 3 capitoli, 9 scherzi, 4 versi funerali and 9 egloghe boscherecce. The investigation conducted on Andreini’s poems has led us to discover that the variety of metrical structures that make up her collection are perfectly in line with the trends of the century, as confirmed by both Chiabrera’s lyric poetry and the second part of Marino’s Rime. The present study highlights Isabella’s unique poetic personality and her innovative position in literary history. The interpretation of Isabella Andreini’s poetry in the entire thesis revolves around the statement of poetics she makes in the very first poem of the collection. In fact, in her proemial sonnet Andreini declares the non- autobiographical nature of the fervours expressed by her poems, thus declaring that her compositions are simply a poetic exercise. This is made clear further when she states that following her ability as an actress, she wrote in varying style a thousand pages, thus making reference to the variety of styles and metrical schemes she adopted in her poems. Using similar language, she warns the readers of the different narrating voices in the collection, stating that just as on stage she played different parts as woman and others as man, so she did in her poems. It is clear that the special feature of Andreini’s lyrical style is amenable to her talent as an actress, and it was in fact due to her acting skills that she could ably impersonate a man, or conceal the identity of the narrator in her poems, using this ‘invention’ as a key element in her creative process. ii Themes, Structures and Language in Isabella Andreini’s 1601 Collection of Lyric Poetry Katia Tiziana Radaelli Doctor of Philosophy Italian Department University of Toronto 2012 Summary This study seeks to present a philologically accurate and complete edition of Isabella Andreini’s collection of lyric poetry published in 1601. Critical studies on Andreini are not scarce, but they inevitably tend to focus on her as a dramatist and actress rather than lyric poet. Her canzoniere has never been studied in its entirety, but often referred to for the most ‘theatrical’ poems, topics or images. But a Petrarchan collection of this magnitude, consisting of 368 lyrics, published in 1601, six years after Torquato Tasso’s death, and one year before Giovan Battista Marino’s first publication (Rime 1602) could not be regarded as a playful digression from the stage work of a famous actress. The basic critical assumption for this thesis is that Isabella Andreini was totally committed as a lyric poet following the great Petrarchist tradition as well as the Mannerist innovations consolidated in Tasso’s poetry. The present study begins by highlighting the context in which this poetry originated. The dedication to Cinzio Aldobrandini indicates that this context included the most influential people of the time. If it is true that the Comica Gelosa’s primary context was the theatre stage, the erudition she displays in her Rime as well as in her other written works demonstrates that her talent as a writer was comparable to her talent as an actress. The first chapter of this thesis presents a critical introduction that consists of three parts: Isabella’s biography, a study of the critical fortune enjoyed by Isabella’s poetry, and an investigation of the bond that links Isabella Andreini to the musical production of her time. It is useful to present Andreini’s biography at the beginning of this study considering that it is through the reconstruction of her life, the analysis of her works and the testimonies that have been handed down, that an image of Isabella emerges which goes well beyond the one perpetuated to this day, which is closely linked to the theatre scene and her talent as an actress. We have in fact formed iii the image of a woman who was well integrated into the literary and academic culture of her time. For this reason this study presents a clear illustration of the working and affective relationships that bound Andreini to the most influential contemporary personalities, paying special attention to the many people mentioned in her collection of lyric poetry of 1601 and the historical and literary events related to them. Isabella Andreini was undoubtedly the most celebrated actress of her time. Important intellectuals and famous poets became her friends, correspondents, and admirers; members of the clergy as well as Italian and French rulers enjoyed her company and applauded her talent. Her creativity, wit and grace, combined with her majestic stage presence, were defined by many to be without comparison and won the support of popular audiences and court spectators alike. She was praised as much for her beauty as for her honesty and talent. The investigation on the critical fortune attained by Isabella’s Rime and her other written works has proved her importance in both the literary world and the history of theatre, but it has also emphasized the originality of this work, as the only one of its kind. The need for a philologically established text of the canzoniere was felt because of the insufficiently reliable extant editions. Particular attention has been given to the reconstruction of Andreini’s phrasing and syntax by reviewing and modifying the punctuation, occasionally in a substantial way. The sixteenth century was marked by the rich inventiveness of composers and poets alike. Their prolific experiments had repercussions on the bond that united music to literary production. It is precisely in this period that songs began to be composed using partial verses of existing poems. Andreini’s poems were particularly well received by musicians; in fact nine of them were set to music by a total of eighteen composers between 1605 and 1624. The madrigal had much luck in this field and from this particular poetic form a polyphonic voice genre was created. It is a genre that existed in two distinct forms (as it was the case in the literary tradition): the madrigal of the fourteenth century and that of the sixteenth / early seventeenth century. Examining Andreini’s madrigals that were set to music it is clear that they perfectly blended the poetic requisites that musicians sought in a poem: wit, gentle softness of verse and, above all, brevity. Even Isabella’s scherzi were greatly appreciated considering that they presented simple expressions of Love. Such unaffected verse appealed to musical composers and this explains why the scherzi were among Andreini’s most often set lyrics. These characteristics are easily identifiable in all of her nine lyrics which were set to music: Quella bocca di rose; Amorosa mia iv Clori; Ecco l’alba rugiadosa; Io credèa che tra gli amanti; Care gioie che le noie; Per lo soverchio affanno; Deh girate, luci amate, pietosetto quel bel guardo; Ove sì tosto voli sogno? and Movèa dolce un zefiretto. Of the aforementioned poems, four of them are madrigals and five are scherzi. The second chapter of the thesis is divided in two parts: one describes the structures, and the other outlines the themes present in Isabella’s collection. Given the importance of the organizational structure of Andreini’s individual poems, it is appropriate to begin with the dispositio of the canzoniere. This preliminary part of the chapter, in fact, presents some data that has helped explore the structure of the entire collection, which includes both the organization of the themes, and of the lyrical forms (sonnets, madrigals, etc.). A study of the organization of each poem has been conducted, supported by the metrical tables included in the appendix. The second part of this chapter focuses on the identification of the themes that occur with greater frequency in Isabella’s poems. Once the themes are identified, they are compared to those present in Giovan Battista Marino’s Rime. At this point, this study also clarifies how the common Petrarchist rules were changed (both in terms of themes and forms), and new courtly themes were included following Tasso’s examples. Particular relevance is given to Andreini’s proemial sonnet in which one can see how the poet tries to captivate the reader through a humble and modest presentation (captatio benevolentiae), thus following the example of the ancients as noted in Cicero’s De inventione (I, 20). Andreini, indeed, does not use the opening sonnet of her Rime just to capture the reader’s attention by pretending to down play the importance of her text, but she also uses it to demonstrate her unique poetic personality and thus her innovative position in literary history declaring the non-autobiographical nature of the fervours expressed by her poems thus emphasizing their purely literary nature. Initially it may seem that with the proemial sonnet Isabella is apologizing for the superficial and ephemeral nature of her poetic art, which she deems to be “inferior” to her skill as an actress, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that it is a way for the poet to encourage her readers to go beyond what they read.