{"id":610,"date":"2016-05-13T19:34:59","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T23:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/?p=610"},"modified":"2017-01-01T20:54:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T01:54:38","slug":"suid175","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/?p=610","title":{"rendered":"[William Stewart Rose], Letters from the North of Italy, addressed to Henry Hallam, Esq.<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\n
Performer Name:<\/dt>\n
 <\/dd>\n
Performance Venue:<\/dt>\n
Vicenza<\/dd>\n
Performance Date:<\/dt>\n
1817<\/dd>\n
Author:<\/dt>\n
W.S.R. [Rose, William Stewart]<\/dd>\n
Date Written:<\/dt>\n
 <\/dd>\n
Language:<\/dt>\n
English<\/dd>\n
Publication Title:<\/dt>\n
Letters from the North of Italy, addressed to Henry Hallam, Esq.<\/dd>\n
Article Title:<\/dt>\n
 <\/dd>\n
Page Numbers:<\/dt>\n
197-203<\/dd>\n
Additional Info:<\/dt>\n
2 vols<\/dd>\n
Publisher:<\/dt>\n
Murray<\/dd>\n
Place of Publication:<\/dt>\n
London<\/dd>\n
Date Published:<\/dt>\n
1819<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Text:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Vol. 1, letter 17 [197]: [An account of an "academy" given by an unnamed improvisatore: a "scene of conjuration" in which two assistants ("understrappers") write subjects proposed by the audience on slips of paper, which are drawn from a vase; all are rejected until "Alfieri alla tomba di Shakespeare" is drawn. The performer's dress "was that of an Englishman."]<\/p>\n

[198] having made a few Pythian contorsions, but all apparently with a view to effect, he poured out a volley of verse without the slightest pause or hesitation<\/p>\n

["Ines de Castro" is drawn as the subject for a tragedy, but the performer protests that he is unacquainted with it; the person who proposed it tells him the story; the improvisatore then improvises a tragedy for three hours without interruption.]<\/p>\n

[199] I cannot say that the piece was good. This was in the usual 'hence-on-thy-life'-style<\/i> of home manufacture; but it was as good as tragedies usually are, and interspersed with some lights, indicative of genius. <\/p>\n

[200] [A recollection about another improvisatore who was given the task of improvising three sonnets on: Noah issuing from the ark; the death of Caesar; the wedding of Pantaloon. These were to be interlaced, using a specified verso obbligato<\/i> at a particular place in each sonnet. Florentines are especially gifted improvisers, and extemporized composition abounds as street performance in Florence.]<\/p>\n

[201] Sonnets are poured forth upon every occasion, and walls are placarded with them … There is no subject here, which is safe from poetry. It is absolutely an epidemic.<\/p>\n

[202] [WSR diagnoses the cause of this illness as the "flexible character" of the Italian language]. Sweeping as is the cause, we must not however suppose, that it is unlimited in its effects; and it is but fair to state that the Arcadians, &c. are as ridiculous in the eyes of sensible Italians, as the persons immortalized in the Baviad and Maeviad are in the eyes of rational Englishmen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Collected by:<\/dt>\n
AE<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With notable skepticism as well as some admiration, Rose recounts his experience of the lengthy, exaggerated performances of improvisatori in northern Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,134],"tags":[135],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3169,"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/3169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romanticimprov.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}