The Improvisation of Poetry, 1750 – 1850
A database of commentaries on improvisational performance
In a verse autobiography with prose commentary by his son W. M. Rossetti, Gabriele Rossetti writes about learning to improvise from his mentor Quattromani, and emphasizes that improvisation is ultimately bad for one’s health.
Two letters from Jane Carlyle, which recount (somewhat disparagingly) humorous episodes of improvised, or purportedly improvised, performances by Pistrucci, Rossetti, and Pepoli. A note to another letter mentions that Pistrucci was nicknamed Heraclitus.
A series of excerpts from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s journals, and accompanying notes, describing her encounters with the improvisatori Sgricci and Gabriele Rossetti, in Lucca and Pisa respectively.
Lady Morgan describes the impressive talents of the improvisatore Gabriele Rossetti, and continues with an account of a performance by another improvisatore, Ferretti, whom she also admires.