- Performer Name:
- Sgricci, Bandettini, Gianni, Serafino d’Aquila
- Performance Venue:
- La Scala, Milan; Venice
- Performance Date:
- Author:
- Broughton, Lord [John Cam Hobhouse]
- Date Written:
- Language:
- English
- Publication Title:
- Italy: Remarks Made in Several Visits from the Year 1816 to 1854
- Article Title:
- Page Numbers:
- 1:43-49
- Additional Info:
- Qtd from Chapter III: The Scala Theatre
- Publisher:
- Murray
- Place of Publication:
- London
- Date Published:
- 1861
Text:
[43] Whilst we were in Milan (1816), the celebrated Sgricci, the improvvisatore, made his appearance before the critical audience of Lombardy. His visit had been announced and his praises loudly trumpeted by the Bologna Gazette, where it was proclaimed that he had refused the crown of Corinna, as premature, but would accept the well-deserved tribute when he had obtained "the suffrages of all Italy." The novelty, and the challenge, filled the Scala Theatre. We were present in Mr. Di Breme's box, where an amusing running commentary kept us awake during a performance, on the whole, rather dull, and broken by intervals more frequent and long than usual on the stage. It opened with music, [44] and, whilst the orchestra were playing, some of the audience handed in folded papers to a person who shortly retired behind the scenes. The stage was then for some time empty, and the music ceased. The audience became impatient and so eager for the show, that when a man appeared and came forward, with much ceremony, carrying a vase in his hand, they took him for the poet and applauded loudly. He was a servant, who, placing the vase on the table, withdrew. Then entered a man in mourning and a boy, who took up their position solemnly at opposite ends of the table. The first trial of skill was to be in "versi sciolti," and the man in black read aloud the subjects inscribed on each paper, and then, folding up the papers, threw them into the vase. The audience manifested their opinion of the subjects sometimes by applause, sometimes by loud laughter; but it seemed to us that these subjects, most of them classical or historical, were understood by a much greater number of persons than might be expected to be found in a very large well-filled theatre, promiscuously filled by an audience paying only fifteen-pence a-head. At last, all the papers being folded up and thrown into the vase, which was then sufficiently shaken to secure fair play, the boy, with averted head, lifted up his hand, as was the custom at the drawing of our abolished lotteries, and, dipping it into the vase, drew out a paper. The man, opening the paper, read aloud the proposed theme, "The taking of Algiers,"–a happy if not a suspicious chance selection, the place [45] having been taken a few months before. The attendants now withdrew and the table was removed. The anxiety for the commencement of the performance became intense, and broke out into loud clapping of hands. At last SGRICCI appeared, and was received with shouts of applause. He was fantastically dressed: his long black hair flowed wildly over his face and shoulders, and his neck was bare. He wore yellow Turkish slippers. He began at once to pour forth his unpremeditated verse, invoking, as he said, not the Greek muse, but the muse of Mount Libanus. The classical deities were, however, very soon put in requisition, and we heard a good deal about Amphitrite and Aurora. The poem ended with a speech from the liberated slaves, and this was the only circumstance that distinguished the taking of Algiers from any other successful siege. The recitation lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, and the poet did not hesitate for a single moment. As he withdrew much applause was heard. The attendants with the table and vase again made their appearance, and the same ceremonies were observed as before. The subject chosen for the terze rime was "Artemisia at the tomb of Mausolus." Sgricci again appeared: his action was more vehement than before, and his poetry not less fluent; but we heard very many rhymes in "ente" and "etto." A little child of the Queen of Caria added pathos to the distress of her Majesty, and Aurora was again introduced to console the weeping widow, but nothing was said about [46] the ashes of Mausolus, nor of the tomb giving a name to all superb sepulchres. The performer continued without interruption for about the same time as when attacking Algiers; but he was less applauded than for the siege. He withdrew, and the assistants came forward and read the subjects proposed for the great trial–the touchstone of genius, the tragedy. The themes sounded like ancient bills of mortality; deaths of kings, queens, heroes, poets, and patriots slowly succeeded each other. None found favour with the audience; but the Apotheosis of Victor Alfieri was received with thunders of applause. It did not, however, turn up, and the paper chosen by the lottery-boy was inscribed "The death of Socrates." There was a long pause, after which Sgricci came on the stage and hoped that another lot might be drawn, as the "buonissimo publico" would probably think with him that the death of Socrates was not "tragediabile"–a tragedy has, however, been written on the subject. The audience consented to have another lot drawn, and the boy pulled out "The death of Montezuma." Sgricci reappeared, and saying that he could not reconcile the adventures of Montezuma with the manners of Italy, protested that, of the two, he preferred Socrates. On this the audience became very noisy; some called out for Socrates, others for Montezuma, and after a good deal of clamour the lots were a third time tried, and "Eteocles and Polynices" drawn. Even this subject, "tragediabile" enough, seemed to disconcert the poet, who continued [47] so long silent that the audience began to hoot and whistle, and again call for Socrates and Montezuma. At last Sgricci was inspired; he told us that his scene was in the palace at Thebes, his personages Eteocles, Polynices, Jocasta, Tiresias, and Manto, with a chorus of Theban women. Tossing up his head and hands, he then began versifying in one character, and when he changed to another he walked to the side of the stage. He gave a tolerable copy of the description in AEschylus of the chiefs before Thebes, and he was much impassioned in the part of Jocasta; but the audience gave evident signs of impatience, and before the tragedy was concluded had partially left the house. Though at the end of the fifty minutes during which this surprising exhibition lasted there was some applause, the tragedy was considered a failure, and the whole performance did not satisfy the Milanese. Our friends of the Romantic school spoke of it with the utmost contempt; but Monti and Perticari patronized Sgricci, and during his performance were behind the scenes, to inspect the papers and take care that no offensive subjects were introduced amongst them. What La Bendetina, or the great Roman improvvisatore, Gianni, may have been able to perform, I know not, except by the printed poems of the latter, which, if they were really spoken without premeditation, exhibit talents far superior to those which were displayed by Sgricci when we heard him. A judgment of his power in this way may be formed by those who have read the tragedy which he afterwards [48] published, in 1827, I believe. He probably selected for the press that which he thought the best of his spoken dramas.
I think I discover in a charming writer on Italy–Forsyth–an inclination to admire these performances, and he goes so far as to discover signs of improvization in Homer himself, or rather itself, from the frequent recurrence of the same verses. That the Homeric verses were sung by the rhapsodists ages before they were committed to writing, no one, I believe, denies, but there is a wide difference between unwritten and unpremeditated poetry, and it is hard to believe that any number of the Homeric, or any Greek verses, such as we now read them, were composed and spoken at the same moment. The same may , I presume, be said of all poetry of the highest class; and whatever may be the comparative merit of the Italian improvvisatori, from Serafino d'Aquila down to Signor Sgricci, I never heard but one opinion from men of real judgment in regard to this capacity. They all lamented that encouragement should be given to mediocrity in that department of literature in which, by common consent, mediocrity is not to be borne. The market-place is the proper stage, and the guitar the proper accompaniment, for such effusions and even the drawing-room may be enlivened by extemporary trifles in verse; but the tragic muse, like the heroines of romance, requires a long and assiduous courtship, and the stage is degraded by exhibitions resembling the real masterpieces of [49] dramatic poetry in nothing but their inferior properties, the metre and the rhyme.
A second exhibition of Sgricci, several years afterwards, when he gave his forty-third extemporary tragedy at Venice, did not alter my opinion, either as to the poet or his performance. He gave us the Earl of Essex, whom he called "Odoardo;" and as he pretended he knew nothing of the story, it was told to him, somewhat incorrectly, aloud, by a person from one of the boxes of the theatre. The Queen Elizabeth of Sgricci made war upon France. The tragedy lasted two hours. When I went away half the audience had already fled.
It would be well, not only for the literature, but the character of the Italians, if they did not play so much with their noble language. The sing-song exercises of aged monsignori and simple professors, the shepherds, and the lovers, and the poets of Arcadian academies, the eternal sonnet that celebrates every exploit, the inscription ready for all imaginable events and every description of person, bespeak and add to the dangerous facilities of the language, and, combined with political disaster, have filled the country of Dante and Macchiavelli with a nation of triflers.
Notes:
- Collected by:
- DP