La Cortigiana

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La Cortigiana is a comedy by Pietro Aretino in five acts. There are two versions: the first, long-unpublished Roman version from 1525 and the second, Venetian printed version from 1534. Exact dates about the origin and performance of the first version are not certain. It is believed, however, that this was written between February and July 1525 and was supposed to be performed during Carnival time that same year. In La Cortigiana is a parody of the then unpublished Libro del Courtier (1526) of Baldassare Castiglione , in the court life is idealized.

content

The following content refers to the version of 1525.

prolog

There are two people speaking here, the comedian who is responsible for the prologue and the comedian who is supposed to perform the plot. The audience, in turn, seems to consist of a closed circle of people, since each and every one of those present is known to the comedians. That the audience is primarily courtiers and ladies-in-waiting can be deduced from the fact that the criticism of life at court expressed by the comedians sometimes takes the form of public abuse, whereby the really powerful at court are spared - on the contrary, the comedians flatter them downright. Rome, the place of the action as well as the performance is compared with Babylon. The name of the comedy is introduced. As in Ariost's La Cassaria (1508), Bibbiena's La Calandria (1513) and Trissino's La Sophonisba (1515), part of the prologue is dedicated to the Questione delle lingua . The comedian speaking the prologue makes fun of the widespread linguistic orientation towards Petrarch and Florentine. Instead, the comedians ironically pretend that La Cortigiana is linguistically based on a certain Cinotto from Bologna (probably a kind of fool at the court of Leo X ). The legendary comedy poet Pasquino is given as a further role model . This reference is also to be understood ironically, since in reality a statue in Rome is called Pasquino, in which, in Aretino's time, mocking verses were pinned on the mighty powers of the city.

In the version of the comedians, Pasquino is transfigured as a kind of demigod. In their opinion, according to the legend, Pasquino is a son of the Muses , but an illegitimate one, since Apollo is the legitimate husband of the Muses. Pasquino is not Apollo's son, however, because the legendary beauty of the muses has lured many men to Mount Parnassus , who then put their horns on Apollo. Pasquino is the result of one of these illegitimate associations. Since Pasquino grew up with the muses and these in turn are of different origins, he speaks a variety of languages. That the Tuscan is so popular in Italy, the comedian of the prologue justified by the jocular March that Laura, in which Petrarca in his Canzoniere 've fallen in love, in fact, a maid of Tuscan Muse Caliope was that as her mistress a perfect Tuscan have spoken. While one should stick to Petrarch in poetry, it is legitimate to use the respective dialect in the spoken language of the theater. Apart from that, Petrarch's words are difficult to digest. To make the comedy more digestible for the audience, one of the two comedians added shit to the language enema that the comedy is referred to as.

In the last section of the prologue there is an introduction to the plot. When the Sienese Maco was once severely ill and struggling with death, his father vowed to make his son cardinal if he ever recovered. Maco finally overcomes the illness and is accordingly sent to Rome by his father. In Rome, Messer Maco meets a certain Andrea who tells Maco that in order to become a cardinal he must be a courtier. The extraordinary stupidity of the Sienese is already a topos in Ariost's comedy I Suppositi (1509) . In addition to Maco, another figure is introduced, namely the Neapolitan Parabolano, who has become a courtier by luck rather than merit. Parabolano, who has fallen in love with Laura, the wife of another courtier, but keeps his love a secret, reveals himself in his sleep, as one of his servants happens to be present when he mentions her name in his sleep. This servant uses the situation to deceive his master and makes him believe that Laura is in love with him. Due to a ruse by the servant, Parabolano finally finds himself not with Laura, but with an vulgar baker. The goal of the comedy is u. a. Realistically reproduce life on the farm. In this context, the audience's attention is drawn to the fact that La Cortigiana does not always adhere to the conventions of a comedy (as prescribed in Aristotle 's Poetics ) because of this very realism . After all, Rome is not Athens.

first act

When Maco reached Rome with his servant, he was overwhelmed by the splendor of the city, especially since he had firmly believed that there could be no more beautiful city than Siena. You meet a certain Andrea, whom Maco tells of his plan to become a cardinal. Maco learns from Andrea that he has to become a courtier in order to be promoted to cardinal. Andrea asks Maco and his servant about their accommodation and promises them to help Maco to become cardinals with the help of a manual that has already made numerous other bullys into cardinals. Maco and his servant buy a book from a street vendor called Il Cortigiano fallito (English: The failed courtier). Maco and his servant lose each other because Maco approaches a woman leaning out of the window with whom he fell in love in an instant, while his servant is absorbed in reading the book he has just bought. Meanwhile, Rosso and Cappa, both servants of Parabolano, are talking about the miserable working conditions of the servants of a courtier. The criticism is later defused by the fact that they want to hold back with measures against their master or against the conditions, since their master could change his attitude towards them.

Later, when they notice that Flaminio and Valerio, two other servants, have overheard them talking, the criticism is further weakened by claiming that they deliberately conducted the conversation to play a prank on them. Flamino and Valerio then complain about the stupidity of the courtiers, who of all people believed the false servants; whose conceit was based solely on age and the heroic deeds of their sex, but without having accomplished any heroic deeds themselves. After the criticism expressed by Valerio and Flaminio, Parabolano, their master, is added. He took Maco in and sent him to a certain Cecotto. Cecotto is the actual contact person for Macos in Rome.

Before Rosso goes to Cecotto, Parabolano has his servant Maco buy a couple of lamprets from a fisherman to give them to Cecotto as a present. Instead of buying the lampposts, however, Rosso prefers to play a trick on the fisherman. He trades down the price for the lamprets, gives the fisherman a "deposit" and calls a sexton, whom he introduces to the fisherman as magistrate and who is supposed to pay the remaining amount. In reality Rosso had told the sexton that the fisherman and his wife were possessed by the devil and in need of exorcism. In this way the fisherman is carried away by the sexton and some priests, while Rosso makes off with the lampres. Meanwhile, Maco, who has still not found his servant, meets with Andrea, who gives him his first lessons in being a courtier. In these lessons you may find a. a criticism of the godlessness of the courtiers.

Second act

Rosso and Cappa roast the stolen lamps. Meanwhile, Andrea and Maco continue the lessons in being Hofmann. This time the gentleness of the courtiers to one another is exposed in them by their rawness towards their servants. Incidentally, Maco's questions show his extraordinary stupidity. Meanwhile, Rosso reveals to the audience that he was there that night when his master dreamed of a certain Laura and had sexual intercourse with her in a dream. Nobody knows about Parabolano's desires or about his love. Rosso plans to play a prank with his friend Aloigia Parabolano. The conversation that followed between old Sempiternio and Flaminio is reminiscent of chapters 1 to 3 of the second book by Baldassare Castiglione's Il libro del cortigiano . Both remember wistfully the past prosperity and the civilized manners in the courtyards.

In the following scene Rosso meets Aloigia, whose master, apparently a "witch", is to be burned for several crimes. Aretino's humor is not directed against the burning of “witches”, but reproduces social resentment. According to the enumeration of the misdeeds of Aloigia's master, the punishment should be considered a far lesser evil, i.e. H. not even seem appropriate. Aloigia's and Rosso's regret over the fate of Aloigia's girlfriend is said to mark both of them as arch villains. Rosso tells Aloigia about his master's love. Aloigia immediately understands that Rosso intends to confirm his master in his madness (not in love, but in adultery - Laura is married to a courtier). Maco, meanwhile, has confessed to Andrea his love for a courtesan named Camilla Pisana, a woman he saw casually at the window in scene six of the first act. In addition, love is not particularly credible, since Andrea had made it a condition (in scene 24, first act) that if he wanted to be Hofmann, he would fall in love with a woman. In order to win over his wife, Andrea Maco instructs him in how to write love poems and love letters - probably a parody of the Hofmann poetry and how it came about. Meanwhile, Rosso reveals to his master that he knows the name of his beloved and thereby makes him submissive.

The plot fades back to Maco: Camilla, Maco's beloved, has already received his letters, according to Andrea. As in scene three of the third act of Bibbiena's La Calandria , Maco is supposed to go to his lover disguised as a porter, while his servant will accompany him disguised as a master. The two are stopped in front of the Camillas house by Andrea and Zoppino, who pretend to be Roman police thugs who are supposedly looking for Maco because he entered Rome without a permit and is therefore considered a spy. Maco is appalled by this news and goes on the run. His provisional servant Grillo is urged by Andrea and Zoppino to hurry after him and explain to him that it was a joke, as it is customary in Rome.

Third act

Valerio is jealous of his colleague Rosso because Parabolano treats Rosso better than him, although he serves his master faithfully, while Rosso keeps gossiping about him. What Valerio does not suspect is that Parabolano's preference for Rosso is based on Parabolano's belief that Rosso could bring him together with his beloved. Aloigia finally meets up with Rosso at Parabolano and becomes the mediator between Parabolano and his beloved. Parabolano gives her a necklace for her mediating role. Rosso praises his master in front of Aloigia in the highest tones, but mumbles the true circumstances at court into his beard. Maco, however, has sought refuge in Parabolano after Andrea and Zoppino's prank. During the dialogue between Rosso and Maco it turns out that Maco has fallen in love with a whore. In another scene, Aloigia Rosso opens the first step in her plan: She wants to bring the wife of the baker Erculano to her home. The crush Parabolanos for his beloved obviously serves u. a. to learn about the literary ideals of women such as B. To make fun of Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura. Both are compared with contemporary courtesans (Petrarch's Laura was already referred to as the maid of a muse in the prologue).

Andrea continues Maco's instruction in being a Hofmann. This time it is about the "physical" change that Maco has to go through in order to become a Hofmann - he should be pressed into a "mold" and take certain drugs. Meanwhile, Grillo arrives and sends a message that Maco's beloved has meanwhile turned up at Parabolano, but without finding Maco. She is therefore downright desperate. The doctor who is supposed to help Maco change is a certain Maestro Mercurio. Like Nicia in the first and second act of Machiavelli's Mandragola (1518), Maco is supposed to be brought to a thermal bath for his supposed transformation. Maco is supposed to be led to believe that the thermal bath boilers are the molds in which courtiers are molded. The drugs Maco is supposed to take are actually emetics.

Fourth act

Another element joins the prank of becoming a Hofmann, namely the balance. The more Maco weighs, the more he has to pay to become a Hofmann. When Aloigia and Rosso meet again, Rosso has previously learned out of the blue that his colleague Valerio is trying to discredit him with his master. Aloigia wants to stand up to Valerio by telling Parabolano that Valerio had betrayed him to the brother of the beloved, which is why he wanted to take revenge on them. Parabolano is extremely angry about this fairy tale about Valerio. Aloigia then tells Parabolano to meet her because he would meet his beloved there. Valerio is later fired by his master because of his alleged denunciation. The woman Parabolano is supposed to meet is not the elegant Laura, but in reality the baker's wife Togna, who is supposed to come to Aloigia's house disguised as a man. The scene in which the plan of Aloigia and Togna is discussed is an occasion to portray the situation of women from "the people". Togna's husband, who suddenly interrupts the two of them during their conversation, is an alcoholic and pathologically jealous. Togna is fed up with her husband, is bored in the loneliness and the same housework and is willing to cheat.

Change of scene: Grillo, Maco's provisional servant, was supposed to go to Siena to get marzipan confectionery from there. However, he would like to organize a concave mirror instead to play another trick on his supposed master. Maco has meanwhile vomited in the cauldron in the thermal bath, in which he was to be formed into a Hofmann. Rosso, who has since been appointed Parabolano's property manager, is playing a prank on a second trader, this time a Jew. Rosso pretends to buy a monk's robe for his brother and tells the dealer to put it on to see if it would fit his brother too. Before that, Rosso tried on another habit. He tells the Jews to turn around and run away, the Jew after them. When both of them are stopped by police henchmen, the Jew reveals himself to them as such and is led away for deriding the Christian faith.

Another change of scene: After the “transformation” in the thermal bath, Maco is shown the distorting mirror that Grillo had provided. Maco is anything but enthusiastic about his "transformation". But when he gets a normal mirror in front of him, Maco's arrogance can hardly be stopped. All he has in mind is Camilla. Meanwhile, Aloigia meets Rosso and tells him about the meeting with Togna and gives him to understand that Togna's husband has got wind of her plan. When it is time for Parabolano to go to his beloved, Rosso postpones the encounter with a ride.

Fifth act

The man Tognas returns home and pretends to be drunk. Maco has now reached Aloigia's house. The man Tognas, who had previously interrupted the conversation between his wife and Aloigia, has now fallen asleep, because he now realizes that his wife has disappeared in his clothes. In his jealousy, he decides to trace his wife in her robes in order to catch her in the act. Meanwhile Andrea and Zoppino have swapped clothes, throw Maco out of the house, pretending to be Spanish soldiers, and have fun with Camilla. Maco jumped out of the window in shock.

While this is happening, Parabolano is on the verge of having fun with his "Laura" (actually Togna). Before he enters Aloigia's house, Rosso asks Parabolano to consider the shame of his loved one. In addition, his beloved does not have much time, since her husband has gone to his homestead in the evening to check that everything is going well and can return at any time. Parabolano follows Rosso's recommendations, as he does not want to harm his loved one under any circumstances. What then happens in Aloigia's house is not revealed in the comedy. At least there is talk of noise. Parabolano leaves the house of Aloigias reviled. Togna and Parabolano may have been caught in the act by Togna's husband, or Parabolano may have noticed that his sexual partner is not Laura. In any case, all pranks dissolve in favor.

The discovery of the Togna prank leads to Parabolano's reconciliation with his servant Valerio. The latter, in turn, persuades his master to attack Aloigia and Togna. When Ercolano arrives and wants to punish himself for Togna's infidelity, Parabolano puts a stop to him and reconciles the two. Maco also joins them and tells those present what happened to him. According to Valerio, Maco was lucky because many people of integrity who sought their luck in Rome or at the Roman court would have left the city as broken existences. To reassure Ercolano, Valerio tells him a funny story of putting the horns on or cheating - a completely unnecessary consolation, since Ercolano, as he confesses, had already turned the horns on several men (i.e. no better than his wife).

In the end, one of the actors turns to the audience and excuses the length of the comedy, arguing that in Rome things always drag on. If you did not like the comedy, it was your own fault because he did not ask the audience to come. An even funnier comedy is announced for the following year. Those who cannot be patient until then should come to the badly reputed district of Ponte Sisto (where such scenes seem to play out every day).

Differences between the version from 1534 and the version from 1525 (selection)

Appropriation

In the version from 1534 there is a dedication dedicated to the Cardinal of Trento. An appropriation does not exist in the version of 1525. As in the appropriation to Pope Leo X in Trissinos Sophonisba (1515), the author initially flatters his patron. The cardinal's court has nothing in common with the court depicted in the comedy. This is followed by a swipe at the Saracens and the Turks, who had recently threatened Italy and against Martin Luther. At the end of the dedication, Aretino appeals to the Cardinal's Mercy to accept his comedy.

prolog

The prologue of 1534 is also completely different from the prologue of 1525. Here the comedian responsible for summarizing the plot does not quarrel with the comedian responsible for the prologue. Instead, a stranger and a courtier are talking to each other. The stranger has got lost on the stage and asks the nobleman what is going on there. When he learns that a comedy is about to be performed, he tries to guess which comedy it is. This questioning gives rise to commenting on various more or less famous authors, including Ariost, Tasso , Bembo , Dante and Petrarca; and to ridicule the cardinal dignity. Finally, the plot of the comedy is explained. This actually consists of two actions that are linked to one another. The description of the plot is essentially similar to that of the original. Aloigia is now called Alvigia, Ercolano Arcolano.

Other differences

  • Whereas in the version of 1525 the court society of Rome was still presented as superior to all the others in Italy and thus the grievances listed therein only represents the tip of the iceberg, the version of 1534 has more of the character of a juxtaposition of the court society described as particularly vicious from Rome with the highly praised court of Venice. This demarcation from Rome is due to Aretino's break with Pope Clement VII and his minister G. Matteo Giberti, after the latter had carried out an assassination attempt on Aretino.
  • In the eighth scene of the third act of the '34 version, similar to the third scene of the fifth act of another comedy by Aretino, Il Marescalco (1527–33), a list of famous personalities takes place that is not available in the 1525 version. In Il Marescalco , the pedant tries to convince the misogynous Marescalco to marry a woman and father children by painting for him what similarities his potential descendants have to the numerous illustrious contemporaries and what merits they are similar to the named people could acquire. In La Cortiginana of 1534, on the other hand, Flaminio lists as the reason for his decision to leave Rome and go to the court of Venice, a number of illustrious personalities with their merits, who are members of the court of Venice and compared with the intellectual greatness of the same other Italian courts. The list in Il Marescalco is again an ironic allusion to the "prophecies" in Ariost's Orlando furioso (1532). In Orlando furioso , for example, the legendary Bradamante in Merlin's cave learns of her descendants and their merits, which, according to prophecy, go back to the presence of Ariosts reached and finally flowed into the family of the Estonians, who in turn supported Ariostus financially (cf. third song, verse 23-49).

people

  • Maco di Coe knife (Maco knife by Coe) from Siena
  • Maestro Andrea (Master Andrea)
  • Grillo , Maco's makeshift servant
  • Rosso , servant knife Parabolanos
  • Cappa , another servant knife Parabolanos
  • Flaminio , Hofmann
  • Valerio , Hofmann
  • Sempronio , old courtier
  • Parabolano knife , from Naples
  • Ser Faccenda , fisherman
  • Aloigia , matchmaker
  • Zoppino , matchmaker
  • Maestro Mercurio , charlatan
  • Romanello , Jewish trader
  • Ercolano , baker
  • Antonia , also called Togna, Mrs. Ercolanos
  • Biasina , maid of Camilla Pisanas
  • other characters: Istrione del Prologo (comedian of the prologue), Istrone dell'Argomento , comedian of the storyline, Senese (Sienese), Furfante che vende Istorie (rascal who sells stories), Guardiano d'Aracoeli (guardian of the Church of Araceli), Sbirri (police henchman )

Further information

  • The prologue of La Cortigiana differs from prologues of other comedies of the time in that Aretino does not want to win over the audience, but insults them.
  • There is a lot of local flavor in La Cortigiana . That includes the story seller, and the fisherman. Another person who seems to have taken from everyday life at the time is the Jew Romanello. Radcliff-Umstead also sees Alvigia as a typical representative of the demi-world of that time. In Aretino's comedy there are also two people whose existence is proven and who are also mentioned in his ragionamenti , namely the painter Maestro Andrea, who pulls Maco through the cocoa and Rosso. Sprinkles of Spanish in Italian refer to the occupation of parts of Italy by the Spanish. Like Ludovico Ariostos La Lena , La Cortigiana is a kind of chronicle of everyday life.
  • La Cortigiana reflects Aretino's frustration with his experiences at the court of Rome. The story of Maco may have strongly autobiographical traits, insofar as Maco comes to Rome to become a Hofmann, but constantly meets people who abuse his efforts for their own purposes. Valerio, Parabolanos' servant, is of the opinion that in order to be admitted to a court, one must be deaf, blind, mute, a donkey, an ox and a child. After the fisherman is whipped, he curses Rome. Sempronio, in turn, thinks out loud about sending his son Camillo to Rome so that he can become a courtier there. His servant Flamminio advises against it.
  • In La Cortigiana 24 different people occur, which is a significant number compared to other comedies of the time. The comedy itself consists of 106 scenes. The impression that, according to Radcliff-Umstead, the viewer is likely to produce when viewing the comedy is the fragmentation of the plot.

Literary role models

  • There are similarities between Messer Maco and the Sienese in I Suppositi (1509).
  • The scene in which Rosso and the matchmaker Alvigia replace Parabolano's adored Livia with a prostitute is reminiscent of La Calandria (1513), in which Fessenio lets Calandro sleep with a whore without the latter knowing about it.
  • The scene in which Alvigia talks to a priest and asks him whether her master, a witch, will go to heaven and asks him whether an invasion of the Turks is imminent, shows a parallel to Mandragola (1518) by Machiavelli in which a woman asks Fra Timoteo similar questions. Radcliff-Umstead mentions these parallels to conclude that Aretino knew his way around contemporary theater poetry.
  • Radcliff-Umstead compares Alvigia with not only Fra Timoteo from Mandragola , but also with Ariostos La Lena (1528) and Fernando de Rojas La Celestina (1499).
  • Borsellino also mentions Dante Alighieri's Commedia (1307–1328, German: Divine Comedy ) as a model for some passages from La Cortigiana .

literature

Text output

La Cortigiana (1525)

Pietro Aretino: La Cortigiana . Einaudi, Torino (Turin) 1970.

La Cortigiana (1534)

Pietro Aretino: La Cortigiana. In: Pietro Aretino: Tutte le commedie . Mursia, Milano (Milan) 1968.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Mario Baratto: La commedia del Cinquecento (aspetti e problemi) (1975/77). Vicenza: Neri Pozza: 130.
  2. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 158–161 and 164.
  3. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 159-160.
  4. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 160 and 164.
  5. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 160
  6. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 161.
  7. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 160-163.
  8. ↑ See also Nino Borsellino: La memoria teatrale di Pietro Aretino: i prologhi della "Cortigiana". In: Maristella de Panizza Lorch (ed.): Il teatro italiano del Rinascimento (1980). Milan: Edizioni di Comunità: 231–232.
  9. ↑ See also Maristella de Panizza Lorch: Confessore e chiesa in tre commedie del Rinascimento: "Philogenia", "Mandragola", "Cortigiana". In this. (Ed.): Il teatro italiano del Rinascimento (1980). Milan: Edizioni di Comunità: 342–347.
  10. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 163.
  11. ↑ Cf. Nino Borsellino: La memoria teatrale di Pietro Aretino: i prologhi della "Cortigiana". In: Maristella de Panizza Lorch (ed.): Il teatro italiano del Rinascimento (1980). Milan: Edizioni di Comunità: 235–236.