Fabula di Orfeo

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The Fabula di Orfeo or Favola di Orfeo (English: Fable of Orpheus ) is a one-act drama in 401 verses by Angelo Poliziano , written in 1480 (first printed in 1494) and probably premiered in Mantua that same year. It is the first profane drama in Italian, although some of the verses are in Latin.

The Fabula di Orfeo consists mainly of terzins , octaves and ballads , the passages in Latin from Sapphic stanzas .

Numerous Latin works are role models or important influences, for example:

Likewise Italian works:

action

Verses 1-14

The divine messenger Mercurio ( Mercury ) sums up the plot of verses 15-401.

Verses 15-137

The shepherd Mopso asks the shepherd Aristeo, son of Apollo, if he has seen a calf that he has lost. Aristeo did not see the calf, but claims to have heard it mooing behind a mountain. He therefore tells his servant Tirsi to look for the calf there, while telling Mopso that he had seen a beautiful woman the day before and that he had fallen in love with her. Mopso advises Aristeo against love. Tirsi returns from his successful search for the calf and now also raves about a beautiful young woman he saw on the way. Since it seems to be the same woman that Aristeo had Mopso from, Aristeo sets out, ignoring Mopso's renewed admonition, in order to look for his beloved. When he finds her, she runs away and he goes after her.

Verses 138-189

Orfeo sings a chant in Latin. It is what he claims is a hymn of praise to the Gonzaga house, inspired by Apollo . A wedding in the Gonzaga house is the occasion for the performance of the Fabula di Orfeo .

Verses 190-213

After the chant is over, a shepherd brings Orfeo the news that his wife Euridice was bitten by a snake while fleeing from the amorous Aristeo and died shortly afterwards. Orfeo starts a funeral song and decides to go to the world of the dead in order to wrest Euridice from the world of the dead with his miraculous song.

Verses 214-301

Orfeo, Plutone ( Pluto ), succeeds in persuading the Lord of the Dead to give him back Euridice ( Eurydice ) through his heartbreaking singing, through his supplication and finally through the intercession of Proserpina . Plutone leaves them to her on the condition that he may not look her in the face while they are not in the world of the living.

Verses 302-305

Orfeo starts a short Latin song of joy about the fact that he has his Euridice back.

Verses 306-353

Since Orfeo acted against Plutone's command, Euridice is snatched from him again. When he wants to return to the world of the dead to bring Euridice back again, a fury stands in his way. His bitter grief causes Orfeo to never love a woman again in his life, nor to hear from women, let alone want to talk about them. He only wants to turn to young boys.

Verses 354-401

A Bacchante , together with other Bacchantes, avenges Orfeo's contempt for women. After beheading him and tearing his body to shreds, they get drunk and sing a hymn of praise to Bacchus .

people

  • Mercurio (Mercury), messenger of the gods
  • Mopso , shepherd
  • Aristeo , son of Apollo, shepherd
  • Tirsi , servant of Aristeo
  • Orfeo (Orpheus), legendary singer
  • Euridice (Eurydice), wife of Orfeus
  • Plutone (Pluto), god / ruler of the dead (world)
  • Proserpina , consort of God / ruler of the dead (world)
  • Minos , judge of the dead (world)
  • other people: Pastore Schiavone (Slavic? / Heavenly? Shepherd), Un pastore (A Shepherd), Baccante (Bacchante)

Further information

  • According to Vittore Branca, Poliziano wrote the Fabula di Orfeo on the occasion of the engagement of Clara Gonzagas, the daughter of Federico I Gonzagas to Gilbert de Bourbon-Montpensier , but especially on the occasion of the engagement of Isabella d'Este to Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga .
  • Dieter Kremers sees the Fabula di Orfeo as a further development of the Sacre Rappresentazioni. Mercury takes the place of the angel heralding the birth of Christ, customary in the Sacre Rappresentazioni; the Fabula di Orfeo ends with the profane drinking song of the Bacchantes and, in contrast to the Sacre Rappresentazioni, the events do not take place directly in front of the audience, but are told by the people. Vittore Branca, on the other hand, sees the Fabula di Orfeo in the tradition of the Venetian momarie.
  • Tebaldeo for his Orphei tragoedia and Niccolò da Correggio for his Fabula di Cefalo (1487) were inspired by the Fabula di Orfeo .

literature

  • Angelo Poliziano: poetry italiane . BUR, Milano (Milan) 2001.
  • Vittore Branca: "Suggestioni veneziane nell '" Orfeo "del Poliziano", in: Maristella de Panizza Lorch (Ed.): Il teatro italiano del Rinascimento . Edizioni di Comunità, Milano (Milan) 1980.
  • Dieter Kremers: "The Italian Renaissance Comedy and the Commedia dell'Arte", in: August Buck (Hrsg.): Renaissance and Barock. I. part . Academic Publishing Company Athenaion, Frankfurt am Main 1972.
  • Emanuel Winternitz: "Orpheus as a musical allegory in the Renaissance and Early Baroque", in The Music in Past and Present , vol. 10, Kassel, 1962.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Vittore Branca: "Suggestioni veneziane nell '" Orfeo "del Poliziano", in: Maristella de Panizza Lorch (Ed.): Il teatro italiano del Rinascimento . Edizioni di Comunità, Milano (Milan) 1980: 475.
  2. ↑ cf. Dieter Kremers: "The Italian Renaissance Comedy and the Commedia dell'Arte", in: August Buck (Hrsg.): Renaissance and Barock. I. part . Academic Publishing Company Athenaion, Frankfurt am Main 1972: 311.