Catalogo 2013.pdf - Libreria Antiquaria Alberto Govi

ument. As early as 1543, this Giudizio of Cavalcanti evolves a fairly complete theory of the tragedy, based in largepart upon Aristotle’s Poetics but referring also to certain of Horace’s tenets and to the current rhetorical tradition. Itcalls upon the dramatic poet to observe the laws handed down by the ancients; but it also urges him to follow theexamples of such practitioners of the art as Seneca and Trissino. Especially, it recommends attention to the needsof the audience, to the fact that tragic poetry is made to be performed in public. The tragic effect must be thoughtof in terms of that audience; it must be achieved through a proper subject, involving the right kind of characters,combined in a proper plot. Lyric effects are not acceptable and hence such florid diction as Speroni’s is to be condemned.In every way, the peculiar requirements of tragic poetry must be satisfied. The Canace, because it fails tosatisfy them, is a fit target for the practical critic as well as for the theorist” (B. Weinberg, A history of literary criticismin the Italian Renaissance, Chicago, 1961, pp. 922-923). In his reply, Apologia (completed in 1554, but published onlyin 1597), Speroni maintained that his work was a true tragedy and defended his use of a mixture of seventeen-syllabeverse with infrequent rhyme. In it he also expressed a similar opinion as did Giraldi in his Discorso intorno alcomporre delle comedie e delle tragedie.Bartolomeo Cavalcanti was born in Florence, were he had the occasion to participate to the meetings ofthe Orti Oricellari, during which he came into contact with Cattani da Diacetto, Pietro Vettori, Lodovico Alemanniand Niccolò Macchiavelli, who was to greatly influence his later views. A skilled diplomat in the service of the FlorentineRepublic, he left for France and was for a while major-domos to King Henri II of France. He later settled atFerrara, were he met Giovanni Battista Giraldi, Lelio Capilupi, Daniele Barbaro, Sperone Speroni, Vincenzo Maggi,Paolo Manuzio and many others. During this time he composed his most famous work, Retorica, which was publisedin Venice in 1559. After short sojourns in Rome and Padua, he sought reconciliation with Cosimo de’ Medici,but when the latter attacked Siena in 1555, Cavalcanti joined the rival army. He died in exile at Padua in 1562 (cf.Dizionario Biografico degli Italini, XXII, pp. 611-617).Edit 16, CNCE 21258; Adams, S-1573; Index Aureliensis 134.567; B. Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua, (Venezia, 1859),no. 1653; Weinberg, op. cit., p. 1122. Speroni, op. cit., p. LXXIV, nr. 3; L. Mateucci, Saggio di un Catalogo delle EdizioniLucchesi di Vincenzo Busdrago, in: “La Bibliofilia”, XVIII/6-12, 1917, pp. 229-230, no. 5. € 1.200,00a rare 16 th century comedy printed in Milan29) CONTILE, Luca (1505-1574). Comedia del Contile chiamata la Cesarea Gonzaga. Milano, [Valerio Meda& brothers] for Francesco Marchesino, October 10, 1550.4to; early 20 th century half vellum with gilt title on spine; (2), 59, (1) ll. On the title-page device of the editor ValerioMeda, at the end device of the printer Francesco Marchesino. Italic types. Some foxing, light dampstains on themargins of some leaves, otherwise a very good copy.RARE FIRST EDITION, dedicated to Cesare Gonzaga, Duke of Ariano, who ordered the composition, of thisprose comedy in five acts, which was first performedin Milan in 1549 on the occasion of the visit of Philipof Austria.Contile wrote three comedies. The first, LaTrinozia, was composed around 1542 and first printedat Rome in 1544, and then reprinted by FrancescoMarchesino in Milan on November 12, 1550. The secondcomedy, La Pescara, his masterpiece, was also issuedin Milano by Marchesino on September 13, 1550.Considering that the Cesarea Gonzaga, the third of thethree, was printed in the same period by Marchesinoon behalf of the brothers Meda, it is not rare to findthe three dramas bound together in one volume. In thefollowing years the brothers Meda published two ecloguesby Contile, also conceived to be performed on astage, La Agia (1552) and La Nice (1551).“Cesarea Gonzaga is a conventional learnedcomedy, making use of an argument similar to the onein Secchi’s Interesse. Contile added further complicationsin a young man disguised as a woman to balancethe heroine disguised as a boy” (M.T. Herrick, ItalianComedy in the Renaissance, Urbana-London, 1966, pp.171-172).“The theme [natural philosophy and ‘scientific’studies], tellingly, also became a popular one in anumber of female cross-dressing comedies beginningin the mid years of the sixteenth century. Not surprisingly,Sienese play-wrights were once again leaders.In the comedy Cesarea Gonzaga the Sienese playwrightLuca Contile (staged in 1549), the exclusion of womenfrom education and from the study of natural philoso-- 32 -