The Improvisation of Poetry, 1750 – 1850
A database of commentaries on improvisational performance
Böttiger describes the talents of the improvisatore Pietro Scotes by recounting in detail a performance by Scotes that he himself was witness to. The subjects of Scotes’ performances include the flight of the muses from Greece to Italy, a sketch of the viewership of Italian theatre, and Sappho’s final monologue before her suicide.
In this autobiographical introduction, Wolff relates how he invented improvisation in German, undertaking a quest to obtain advice and evaluations of whether his talent is or is not genuine. Wolff doesn't trust the judgement of journalists and critics, which he believes derives from their jealousy of him. Instead, he will listen to the opinions of admiring audiences and true artists, above all Goethe. Goethe finally gives him the advice he was seeking — which also leads, however, to the end of Wolff's brief career as a touring improviser when Goethe critiques his improvisations as too sentimental and subjective.