“Sketches of Italy and the Italians, with Remarks on Antiquities and Fine Art: XIV. The Cultivated Improvisatore”

Performer Name:

 

Performance Venue:

Rome

Performance Date:

 

Author:

[Müller, Wilhelm]

Date Written:

1818

Language:

English

Publication Title:

Blackwood’s Magazine

Article Title:

Sketches of Italy and the Italians, with Remarks on Antiquities and Fine Art: XIV. The Cultivated Improvisatore

Page Numbers:

25: 181-184

Additional Info:

 

Publisher:

William Blackwood and Sons

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh

Date Published:

1829

Text:

[181] A short time before my departure from Rome, I became acquainted with a young Neapolitan, who held a provisional situation in the Vatican library, and was introduced to me as a distinguished improvisatore. He appeared to take pleasure in my society, and in various ways shewed me so much attention, that a considerable degree of intimacy was soon established. I found him an agreeable and valuable companion, intimately acquainted with Rome, and quite at home in every ruin, convent, and hotel within its bounds. He conversed in Latin with fluency and elegance, and was well versed in the provincial dialects of Italy—a rare accomplishment amongst Italian literati. The classic poets of Greece and Rome were all familiar to him, and he could repeat Virgil from beginning to end. He was a member of the Arcadia, and of the Academia Tiberina; and, as a Latin improvisatore, surpassed all competitors. His name I withhold, for reasons which [182] will be sufficiently obvious in the course of my letter.

Our first interview was in the Vatican; and after I had briefly intimated that I was a German, and had studied philosophy at Berlin, he proposed to accompany me into St Peter's, where he commenced a regular philological detail of the various monuments, in the course of which he developed a system of faith and morality, so much at variance with papal dogmata, and in language so undisguised and fearless, that I was utterly astonished at his imprudence. When, however, I expressed my surprise at his unguarded avowal, he laughed at me, told me that I was surely endeavouring to make a fool of him, and that it was impossible for any Prussiano to believe in the absurd doctrines and ceremonies of Popery. "Conosco ben il vostro gran re, Federigo secondo," he continued, "e benchè sia morto, gli vorrei dedicare per tutto al mondo il mio libretto di Epigramme politiche. Ma queste bestie di Censori non mi danno l'imprimatur." In his philological remarks, he estimated the merits of all those who had been honoured by monuments or inscriptions in St Peter's, entirely by the amount of their labours in the great cause of literature and fine art, by their excavations of antiquities, and their contributions to the museum and library. His information was certainly neither novel nor comprehensive, but his mode of grouping these exalted personages, and his reckless indifference to their clerical merits and distinctions, were original and amusing. Christina of Sweden he prized above every other of these illustrious dead, in consideration of her classical learning, and of the legacy of her library to the Vatican. Some bitter comments were bestowed on the well-known popes of the Farnese and Barberini families, whose monuments are behind the grand altar. The mutilation of the Coliseum, and the robbery of the bronze rosettes from the dome of the Pantheon, were severely reprobated; nor did he omit the old proverb:

"Quel che non hanno fatti i Barbari,
Hanno fatto i Barberini."

On the following day, the friendly poet brought for my inspection the Latin epigrams, to which he had alluded in St Peter's. They depicted the heroes, princes, ministers, and treaties of recent date in well-set phrases, but without acuteness, or novelty of thought. He told me that the imprimatur of the censors had been granted for the epigrams, which were, in fact, very harmless, but that it had been peremptorily refused for the dedication to Fredrick the Great, King of Prussia. I inquired what motive had prompted so extraordinary a dedication. He mentioned, in justification, a few anecdotes of Fredrick, which did not exhibit the most favourable side of his character, adding, that he preferred one such dead heretic to the entire living population of Catholics.

Before my departure for Albano, I invited the young Neapolitan to visit me there, which he promised, and, ere long, he arrived. During five days of free and uninterrupted intercourse, I enjoyed abundant opportunity to investigate more deeply the character and attainments of this extraordinary personage; and I must acknowledge, that, before my acquaintance with him, I had no conception of the degree in which an instantaneous comprehension, a powerful memory, a vivid imagination, and indefatigable elasticity of mind, could co-exist with such utter absence of concentrated power, such absolute blindness of judgement and feeling. His classical attainments I have already, but insufficiently, noticed. In poetry and dialogue he played with the Latin language as readily as with his native tongue; and besides this practical facility, which has rarely, if ever, been surpassed in modern times, he possessed a control over the classics which enabled him to illustrate his grammatical, critical, and historical dissertations, with prompt and effective quotations. In Greek he was so powerful, that he constructed epic and lyric verses in the dialect peculiar to each metre, and often increased the difficulty by the observance of acrostic and anagrammatic conditions. Of his command of Hebrew, I can only report, from my own knowledge, that his rabbinical phraseology was intelligible to the Jews of Ghetto.

Before I quitted Rome for Albano, I asked him if he had ever committed to paper a treatise on any philological subject. "Anzi ne ho composto quantita," said he, evidently surpri- [183] sed at the question, and promised to make me a present of his latest and best dissertation, that I might publish it in Prussia, where such works would be duly appreciated. Judge then of my surprise, when he brought with him, to Albano, a treatise in Ciceronian Latin, crowded with a mass of quotations from Greek and Roman poets, historians, and philosophers, on the argument, whether the tears shed by Julius Cæsar, on the death of Pompey, were prompted by grief, or joy, or hypocrisy? Often as I had heard similar themes discussed by the Roman academicians, my astonishment at the subject was so great, that I found it very difficult to keep my risible faculties under control. Nevertheless, I must acknowledge, that not one of these Arcadians and Tiberines approaches my improvisatore in ability, or combines in so eminent a degree the attributes of a Poeta dotto e ingegnoso; and my opinion has been confirmed by several poetical and literary individuals, who lauded him in terms of which I send you a literal copy. "Un Mongibello di Poesia, un ingegno del secolo, d'un estro inesaurabile, ma qualche volta stravagante." Of poetical stravaganza, however, I have discovered no tokens in his compositions, unless the daring satires which he levels in his verses against the Romish church are thus alluded to.

The occult mysteries of spontaneous poetry he thus explained to me, with infinite candour and self-oblivion. "I have always," he said, "under immediate command, a store of current and favourite subjects, suitably wrought: for instance, the death of Adonis—the loves of Cupid and Psyche—the sacrifice of Iphigenia—the chastity of Lucretia—the death of Cæsar—the cruelty of Nero—and so forth. I have also in readiness a number of pompous speeches and gorgeous descriptions, which are easily interwoven in poems on every subject, and relieve weaker passages by their glowing diction: for instance, an eulogium on the city of Rome—a deprecation of the passions—a storm scene—the delights of spring—with other popular, and generally applicable subjects. It is also a happy expedient, in spontaneous composition, to interweave with the common-place subjects so often proposed, introductory remarks and conclusive moralities of universal application. Thus the poet avoids all suspicion of having prepared himself for the occasion, and by seasonably introduced complements and apologies, he will readily adapt himself to all occasions. Memory alone will not, however, meet every claim upon the powers of an improvisatore; presence of mind, and a lively imagination, are indispensable; or, in default of the latter, the power of concealing its absence by a ready command of the classic poets, quotations from which are not regarded as plagiarisms, but rather as honourable evidence of extensive learning; and, with a command of Virgil and Horace alone, I would pledge myself to exhaust any lyric or epic theme from ancient story, without any modern accessaries. The rhymes readily suggest themselves in a language so rich and pliant as the Italian, and relieve the labour of invention, especially if aided by musical accompaniment. For dramatic poems, which are almost invariably modelled after regular tragedy, and from ancient history, I have sentiments and language prepared for every possible contingency. The characters are tyrants, cruel parents, heroes, lovers, and confidants. For these I have declarations of love, farewell scenes, blessings, and maledictions, all ready, and easily adapted to a variety of situations. Occasionally, too, I employ the ancient chorus, which deals in generalities, and comes in with good effect. Versi sciolti are the most hazardous of all spontaneous attempts, and the poet is often in danger of splitting on this rocky problem, especially when he applies it to subjects borrowed from modern history."

Such was the candid explanation of this accomplished scholar, whom I regard as the personification of the learned poetry, or poetical learning, of the modern Italians; and from my copious detail of his powers and attainments, you will readily estimate at their true value the literary mountebanks who are straining at the laurels of Dante and Tasso. In a single session of the Arcadians, it is not uncommon for ten poets to utter ten spontaneous sonnets each, while ten others spontaneously dress up these helpless bantlings in solid Latin hexameters. Truly, a most melancholy waste of ingenuity and Latin!

[184] I subjoin a Latin and an Italian specimen of my Neapolitan friend's spontaneous poetry. They are, however, neither the best, nor the most characteristic, of his effusions; but such as I was enabled to write with accuracy by his more deliberate utterance, and occasional pauses.

On the Death of Beatrice.
Interiit Beatrix primo flore juventæ,
   Nec valuit terræ munere posse frui;
Sed superas arces, divini culmina Olympi
   Extemplo petiit viribus ingenii.
Nam virtus, cordis pietas rectique piique,
   Intemerata fides jam super astra trahunt. 
O felix una ante alias, quæ carmine tanto
   Mortua nunc vivis concelebrata diu!
Donec erunt Dantis versus, laudabere mundo,
   Ut vivum exemplar moribus ingenuis. 


In Praise of Horace—From Given Rhymes. 
1. O de' Romani gloriosi tempi,
    Eccelso onore dell' augusto mondo,
    Orazio che nel sen serbavi il fondo
    De' più sublimi e rinomati esempi!
2. In ogni carme con virtute adempi
    Il sublime dell' arte ed il giocondo, 
    Tal che non si ritrova un ditto immondo*
    Nelle tue carte, che di sapienza n'empi.
3. Stupido il tuo lettor sempre dimostra
    La tua grandezza nota ai nostri giorni
    Esser più vasta dell' immenso mare, 
    Tu spira almeno nella mente nostra
    Quell' arte bella e fa ch' in noi ritorni
    La lode che a te sol conviensi dare. 
*A new merit of Horace! Thanks to the rhyme!

Notes:

Collected by:

CB