The Improvisation of Poetry, 1750 – 1850
A database of commentaries on improvisational performance
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.
Partially translating Fernow’s German treatise, this article provides an extended history of improvisatori in Italy.
Richard describes improvisatori on the streets of eighteenth-century Siena, writes of competitions between them, and highlights Perfetti’s renown.
Ademollo describes how theatrical performances of improvisation by male and female improvisatori evolved in Florence between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Corilla's performances were never paid; Bandettini was the first woman to accept money for her public performances.
In a letter, de Brosses describes a performance he witnessed in Siena, by the improvisatore Perfetti. De Brosses states his admiration for the performer’s skill, but suggests that his poetry would make little sense in writing.
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.
Reprinted from a literary journal that Suard co-edited in the 1760s, this comprehensive essay surveys forms of the word “improviser” in French and other languages, the nature of poetic improvisation and its history in Italy, and exponents of improvisation elsewhere in Europe. Foremost among these is Anna-Louisa Karsch, of whom the essay includes a brief biography.
Spence compiles his own observations on the improvisation of poetry in Italy with Dr. Cocchi’s comments on Perfetti and Manfredi and anecdotes from the Abbe Vanneschi on contests between improvisatori.
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.”
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.
Metastasio describes his experience of improvising verses during his youth, along with his memories of his master Gravina and other renowned eighteenth-century improvisatori.
Godwin writes of an encounter between Julian, a fictional character, and the historical improvisatore Perfetti. Perfetti’s improvisation of poetry inspires Julian to improve his own poetic abilities.