Drama and Performance in Iacopone Da Todi's Laude
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Drama and Performance in Iacopone da Todi’s Lauda by Samia Abdel Tawwab A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Samia Abdel Tawwab 2014 Drama and Performance in Iacopone da Todi’s Laude Samia Abdel Tawwab Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto 2014 Abstract The laudario of Iacopone da Todi (1236-1306) challenges the reader’s perception of literary and dramatic aesthetics due to its poetic form, common dialogical settings, and para-linguistic modes of communication. His laude have been systematically defined as lauda drammatiche, even if most of his readers would probably concur that they do not always conform to the canons of drama. The purpose of this thesis is to examine significant traces and aspects of dramatic form in Iacopone's laude. In the following five chapters, I examine the laudario from various perspectives. The first chapter articulates the points of divergence between Iacopone’s laudario and the traditional models of lauda up to his time. It discusses its distinctive ballad form and places the laudario within its religious and historical context, with emphasis on the penitential practice of the Flagellanti and its potential impact on the Franciscan lauda. ii In chapter two, I assess the laudario’s textual version for evidence pertinent to a potential staging of the individual laude, basing my investigation on John Austin’s theory of the locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary speech acts, as well as other developments of speech act theory and additional principles of performance. In chapter three, I examine the laudario for traces of a live presentation, applying Paul Zumthor’s notions of oral performance. This section of the thesis focuses on issues involved in the oral transmission of the text, on traces of audience presence and participation in performance, and on the concept of mnemonics in general, both auditory and visual. Chapter four investigates the lauda as an instrument of Franciscan preaching that reflects persuasive and non-linguistic strategies of representation pertinent to the preaching models of sermo modernus. In chapter five, I narrow the emphasis to the link between drama and the major liturgical practices: the Eucharist and the lay Planctus Mariae. My intention is to determine the genesis of the most dramatic work of Iacopone, Donna de paradiso. Finally, I categorize the laude according to the extent of their dramatic features. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto for the graduate fellowship as well as the departmental scholarships and awards that made it possible for me to complete this thesis. My deepest gratitude goes to my mentor and my thesis supervisor, Professor Domenico Pietropaolo. To him I owe my interest in medieval studies, and it is because of our long discussions that I became intrigued with the notion of drama in Christian liturgy. It seems natural to me that this cultivated interest culminated into a research project, such as this one, on drama in the medieval lauda of Iacopone da Todi. I am grateful to Professor Pietropaolo for his guidance and support throughout the years and his patience while allowing me to work on my own pace. I extend my sincere appreciation to Professor Michael Lettieri for being always available for consultation, through his open-door policy at his office at UTM, and even over the phone if needed. I thank him also for the encouragement and the endless sincere support with which he provides me and all his students. It is with much warmth that I thank Professor Salvatore Bancheri for his generous person, for his professional and academic mentorship, and for his tireless effort to support in every possible way, beyond any expectation. Thank you, Professor Bancheri, for everything, and especially for your diligent reading and detailed feedback during the last phase of the completion of this thesis. Finally, I extend my thanks to my family. I thank them for believing in me more than I could ever believe in myself. Their patience and understanding were instrumental for the completion of this work. To you, Pietro, Sara, and Carlo I dedicate this work. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vii List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................ viii 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Distinction of Iacopone’s Laudario from the Lauda Tradition .................................... 1 1.2 Iacopone’s Ballad Lauda ..................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Iacopone’s Lauda and the Flagellanti’s Practice .............................................................. 12 2 Iacopone’s Lauda as a Performance Text ................................................................................. 29 2.1 Instances of Performative Language in Iacopone’s Laudario ........................................... 30 2.2 Claimers and Disclaimers of Performance in Iacopone’s Lauda ...................................... 39 2.3 Speech Acts and Performance in Iacopone’s Lauda ......................................................... 46 3 Iacopone’s Lauda as Mise-en-scène ......................................................................................... 64 3.1 Iacopone’s Performative Orality: Apostrophes and Personifications ............................... 68 3.2 The Presence of Audience in Iacopone’s Lauda ............................................................... 78 3.3 The Ballad’s Performative Mnemonics in the Laudario ................................................... 86 3.3.1 Auditory Mnemonics ............................................................................................. 89 3.3.2 Visual Mnemonics ................................................................................................. 95 4 Iacopone’s Lauda as Sermon .................................................................................................. 105 4.1 Iacopone’s Sermon: Structure and Simplification ........................................................... 107 4.2 The Laudario’s Visual Representations .......................................................................... 122 v 4.3 The case of lauda 78, Un arbore è da Deo plantato ....................................................... 127 5 Iacopone’s Lauda between Drama and Liturgy ...................................................................... 140 5.1 The Dramatization Model of the Mass ............................................................................ 140 5.2 The case of Donna de paradiso ....................................................................................... 147 5.2.1 The Axes of Theatrical Language in Donna de paradiso ................................... 148 5.3 Mary’s Central Role in Donna de paradiso and the Tradition of Il Planctus Mariae .... 166 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 176 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................. 188 Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 196 Lauda 2 ................................................................................................................................... 196 Lauda 6 ................................................................................................................................... 198 Lauda 7 ................................................................................................................................... 200 Lauda 13 ................................................................................................................................. 203 Lauda 28 ................................................................................................................................. 204 Lauda 65 ................................................................................................................................. 206 Lauda 70 ................................................................................................................................. 208 Lauda 77 ................................................................................................................................. 212 Lauda 78 ................................................................................................................................. 218 vi List of Figures Fig. I -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 136 Fig. II -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 137 Fig. III --------------------------------------------------------------------------------