The Improvisation of Poetry, 1750 – 1850
A database of commentaries on improvisational performance
This is a critique of mediocre Italian improvisors who appropriate the work of established poets and present it to wealthy patrons. The author makes note that, while there are excellent improvisors, most will never demonstrate the talent of Homer.
The anonymous critic gives a brief history of some of the best known improvisers in Italy, both men and women. He also describes some of the tricks they used to make their work appear more improvised than it was.
A report of a lecture on improvisation delivered at the Royal Institution by the Marquis Moscati, who is himself an improviser. Moscati gives a historically and culturally wide-ranging account of extemporaneous poetry and performs his own improvisations on the topics of music and Poland.
Sloan writes of the Italian environment that encourages poetic improvisation, and describes the poetic talents of Gianni and Mazzei.
Ademollo criticizes General Miollis for exploiting the reputation of Corilla Olimpica, expressing exaggerated and prejudiced enthusiasm for her talent in order to take revenge on Vittorio Alfieri. Ademollo expresses a negative judgment of Corilla Olimpica's improvised poetry and instead defends Bandettini’s art as well as her reputation in private and public life.
Luzio summarizes the correspondence between Teresa Bandettini (Amarilli Etrusca) and the Abbot Saverio Bettinelli. Bandettini’s letters describe her poetry and performances in glowing terms, but the critic finds her work mediocre. While Luzio admires the fact that she continued to perform her poetry to support her family financially, her verses remain boring and tiresome.
Bindocci’s last performance in Vienna before a small but select audience receives a very favourable review, despite the fact that a severe cold caused the improvisatore to declaim his improvised poems rather than singing them, as usual, to piano accompaniment.
The Classical scholar Welcker provides an extended analysis of the relationship between Italian improvisation and certain rhapsodists found in Homer (Demodokos, Phemos), stating that the two cannot be viewed as equivalent. While the rhapsodists practised a cultivated art, Welcker views improvisation as more of a skillful stunt and a fashionable pastime.
The author compares Cicconi’s talents with those of various other improvisatori, including Gianni, Sgricci, and Perfetti, noting however that it is Cicconi who first made the successful attempt to improvise an epic poem. The article continues with a description of Cicconi’s performance (on the subject of the destruction of Carthage), and a discussion of the merits and failings of improvisation more generally.
Sismondi provides a description of the art of improvisation as part of a more general exposition of Italian literature. He describes the type of talent required for improvisation, the typical subjects and form of the art, and then names some of Italy’s most accomplished improvisatori.
A series of extracts from Sismondi’s widely read work on the literature of the south of Europe. The extracts from volume one describe the origins of improvisation in the commedia dell’ arte and the dramas of Goldoni. The longer excerpt from the second volume describes contemporary improvisation in Italy, outlining its relation to literature and poetry, and providing an overview of some of the famous Italian improvisatori.
In his journal, Hobhouse recounts witnessing a performance by Sgricci in Milan, together with Lord Byron and Ludovico di Breme. The three men had little appreciation for Sgricci’s performance, suggesting that he was more of a ridiculous clown than a poet.
This series of pamphlets bringing information about minor forms of Italian literature to German readers includes frequent accounts, discussions, and translations of improvised poetry.
Fernow provides a detailed history of Italian improvisation, recounting that improvisation (in Latin) experienced a peak in popularity in the court of Pope Leo X, a lover of the art, and that in the course of the eighteenth century a renewal of popularity has brought improvisation to new heights, this time in Italian. The author gives biographies of the most famous improvisatori that he mentions.
In one of the most referenced articles on improvisation published in his time, Fernow describes in detail the skills and state of inspiration necessary for improvisation and the social circumstances in which improvised performances are to be witnessed in Italy. The first section of the article concludes with a reproduction of an Italian improvised poem, “Il Cinto di Venere.”
Hunt alludes somewhat satirically to Gianni’s reputation as an improvisatore.
John Cam Hobhouse (Lord Broughton) discusses in detail several improvised performances by Sgricci, which failed to greatly impress him. Hobhouse suggests that improvisation is a lower and more trifling art than those it emulates: poetry and tragic theatre.
A laudatory essay about the life and career of Gianni and the traits of improvised poetry. Improvisation is superior in imagery, written poetry in form. Gianni follows the mode and manner of Dante and Metastasio and at the same time he shows originality. Monti, on the other hand, lacks inspiration.
Giordani’s article, structured as a series of questions and answers, assesses the merits of Sgricci’s talent and of improvisation more generally. He concludes that the value of improvisation is constantly over-estimated in Italy, and that it would be better to divert the skills of the improvisatori to art-forms that require more time, labour, and study.