La Piovana

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La piovana is a dialect of Padua drafted 1530-1532 Comedy of Ruzante in five acts. It was premiered either on February 10, 1532 in Ferrara or on February 17, 1533 in Padua and first published as a book in 1548.

The name of the comedy either refers to Nina, a person in La Piovana ( La Piovana = the girl from Piove) or to the comedy itself ( La Piovana = the comedy from Piove). It stands out against contemporary comedies a. a. characterized by the fact that it does not play in the city, but in the country.

Characters of the act

  • Siton
  • Tura , Nina's father
  • Maregale , father of Sitons
  • Nina
  • Ghetta , servant of Nina
  • Slaverò , matchmaker
  • Garbugio , servant of Sito
  • Daldura , servant of Tura
  • Garbinello , servant of Maregales
  • Resca , wife of Sitons
  • Bertevello , fisherman and servant of Turas
  • other people: Osto (landlord), Pescatore (fisherman), Armè (armed villagers)

content

prolog

The literature assumes that the prologue is spoken by the servant Garbinello. As in Ariost's La Cassaria (1508), Bibbiena's La Calandria (1513), Trissinos La Sophonisba (1515) and in the first version of Aretinos La Cortigiana (1525), the language used is justified. In contrast to the other three comedies mentioned, it is not a matter of justifying the volgare against Latin, but rather, as in the first version of Aretinos La Cortigiana , justifying the use of the non-Florentine regional dialect against the generally prevailing tendency To use Florentine as a literary language. In contrast to Aretino, however, Ruzante is not concerned with letting the different people speak in their dialect, but rather with composing and performing entire plays in the regional dialect. In this specific case, the rural dialect of Padua should be used. Garbinello admits that the dialect sounds coarse, but you can express everything with the dialect that you can express in the high-level language, if you will. Similar to z. B. in Ariost's La Cassaria the use of the dialect is also justified by the fact that it is natural to the people who speak it. For Garbinello, the criterion for the natural is the well-being of the person. It follows that, of course, what gives people pleasure. It is also assumed that the language is natural to the audience; This means that the audience consists at least for the most part of native speakers of the dialect of Padua. After the linguistic aspects, further aspects of the comedy are justified. The listed comedy is not only touted as new, but paradoxically as old. The action is new, the "framework" is old. The age of the “scaffolding” is justified by the proven quality of the same. With regard to traditions, Garbinello distinguishes between the tried and tested and the old-fashioned. In contrast to the performers of the prologues of the plays mentioned above, Garbinello is aware of this or expresses awareness that his justification is not the first of its kind. He justifies the repetition with a cyclical conception of history, according to which the same thing recurs periodically after thousands of years. Furthermore, there is talk of the style of the comedy. The ancient world is dug up, but not simply plagiarized, but adapted to the new habits. Garbinello accuses the authors of other plays of trying to please everyone by using Florentine or another language that is not their mother tongue. The consequence of dealing with language in this way is the loss of what is “one's own”. Similar to Machiavelli's Mandragola (1518), a possible turn up of the audience's nose in the face of some immoral scenes is addressed. Garbinello's defense is meant ironically, however, since the eventual reaction of the audience in view of the "immoral" scenes is more likely to be a prejudice of the city dwellers against a rural population that is presented as bigoted. The scenes are typical not only of city life, but also of country life. Garbinello leaves it up to the audience to judge whether the imitation of country life on stage was successful. Finally, the stage equipment is presented. There is a church on the stage. It is the church of Chioggia. Behind the church is the sea. As far as the horizon you can otherwise see orchards and vegetable gardens, from which the people who play in the comedy enter the stage. Garbinello exits at the end of the prologue to make room for Siton.

first act

Siton is in love with Nina, but the matchmaker Slaverò has disappeared with Nina. That's why Siton started the search for Nina. While searching, he meets Daldura, Tura's servant. A lengthy conversation ensues between the two in which the nature of love is discussed and in which Daldura jokingly asks Siton to masturbate in order to heal himself from his fixation on another person. After the conversation, Siton continues his search for Nina. Meanwhile, Daldura sees his master, Tura, who is leaving his house, which has been badly damaged by a storm (especially the roof is affected). He instructs him to have the house (i.e. especially the roof) renovated. The servant turns to Maregale, who is also just leaving his house, and from whom Daldura believes he will get the material needed to repair the roof. From Maregale, Daldura and Tura, who is near his servant, learn that he has lost his son (as it later turns out: Siton): The matchmaker Slaverò catches defenseless girls and brings them to them when they are of marriageable age Town and finally sell it to the highest bidder. His son fell in love (like Erofilo and Caridoro in Ariost's La Cassaria ) with one of the girls offered for sale by the matchmaker . Maregales wife heard about the love of her son and tried to stop it in every possible way. But in vain, because her son then left his parents completely exasperated by his mother. Maregale has had no news from him for three months. Maregale therefore left his wife and leased a vegetable garden in Chioggia, but this did not prevent his wife from visiting him. When Maregale leaves, Tura confesses that the story of Siton reminds him of his own daughter, whom he lost in the war (i.e., the League of Cambrai War, 1508-10).

Second act

Scenes 1–4

Daldura inspects the damage to the storm-destroyed roof of his master's house. From the roof he watches as castaways from a ship that has just sunk go ashore, including two girls. Since Siton continues to complain about his missing lover and he is seen by Daldura, Daldura draws his attention to the two stranded young women so that he can compensate for his lost love with them. Then the plot is focused on the two stranded girls, so to speak. They are actually Nina and her servant Ghetta, who were able to save themselves on land with great difficulty. Nina, lamenting her fate, tells her life story (similar to Sophonisba in Trissino's eponymous tragedy and Callimaco in Machiavelli's Mandragola , each of which tells her story). Even as a girl, Nina was stolen from her parents and later sold to a man. When she and the man were supposed to get married, she was snatched from him. The fiancé is obviously Siton, whom she last saw in Venice. Nina and Ghetta hope that their kidnapper and pimp Slaverò were killed in the shipwreck. For Nina, the thought of being forced into prostitution by Slaverò is worse than death. Ghetta, on the other hand, views sex work as more of a pleasure. The conversation between Nina and Ghetta is interrupted by Garbugio's appearance. Garbugio complains about Siton, his master. He was completely overwhelmed by the search for Nina. Garbugio's complaint is interrupted by the recognition of Nina and Ghettas. Garbugio learns from Nina that after the kidnapping by Slaverò, she and Ghetta were housed in the inn of an accomplice. The landlord advised Slaverò to bring the two to Apulia , where he owned another inn and where the two should be forced into prostitution. As a result of the shipwreck, Nina misses a chest with jewelry and devotional objects. These objects served her as proof of her identity - at least for her father, who could recognize her by them. Garbugio hides the two young women in the village church and then goes in search of Slaverò, who, in his opinion, could arrive at any moment.

Scenes 5–8

Meanwhile, Siton, who at a sign from Daldura looked for the two women on the beach but did not find them, went to Chioggia. He almost lost hope of finding Nina again. Should he not find her in Chioggia, he would have gambled his life away. When Ghetta goes to Tura on behalf of a nun to fetch a bucket of water, she suddenly sees Slaverò and his accomplices, who apparently also survived the shipwreck, and flees back to the church. Slaverò and his accomplice insult each other first and make each other for their misfortune, i. H. responsible for the shipwreck and the accompanying loss of Nina and Ghetta. Finally, however, they pull themselves together again and decide to get hold of the women they have lost. In the meantime, Daldura, the ghetta, who was supposed to give the bucket of water, meets Slaverò and his accomplices and gets angry at both of them, since he rightly suspects that both of them had put the ghetta to flight (he in turn had hoped to seduce or to To be able to control sexual intercourse). He chases them away and then goes to church to get his way.

Third act

When Daldura Ghetta brings the water, Garbugio chases him out of the church. On the way home, Slaverò and his accomplice meet him. In revenge, Daldura reveals the whereabouts of the two young women. However, he warns Slaverò and his accomplices that Garbugio is jealous of them. Garbugio, in turn, getting more and more nervous about the two men approaching him, instructs Nina and Ghetta to destroy the church's furnishings. A battle of words ensues between Garbugio and the other two men. Both parties try to intimidate each other. At the end of the battle of words, Garbugio feigns fear and retreats into the church. His two opponents follow him and finally enter the church. Garbugio leaves the church (how is not apparent from the plot), holds the door from the outside and shouts for help or alarms the village population. Tura, who becomes aware of Garbugio's screams, asks him what happened. Garbugio claims that there were two Lutheran iconoclasts in the church who smashed the church furnishings in order to u. a. to denounce the luxury of the churches and the superstition that prevails among many believers and that they are against fasting and confession. Finally, the people called by Garbugio and later by Tura come and storm the church to take Slaverò and his accomplice prisoner. Garbugio goes to Siton after the two are arrested.

Fourth act

Scenes 1–6

After Slaverò and the landlord were overwhelmed and are now tied up in the church, Tura realizes that the taller of the two women reminds him of his daughter. From Garbugio he learns that the daughter comes from the same place where Tura lived before he had to move to Chioggia because of the war (see first act). While Tura, despite Garbugio's request, does not accommodate Nina and Ghetta with himself but with Maregale's neighbor, who is separated from his wife, due to the jealousy of his own wife, Garbugio sets out to find his master Siton. Meanwhile, Siton, who has given up looking for Nina, decides to kill himself. When he sees Nina and Ghetta, Maregale is sure that Nina is the mistress of his son Siton. Apparently, Slaverò snatched Siton from Nina not only because he was hoping for a good deal in his accomplice's Apulian inn, but also because Siton was unable to pay him the agreed purchase price for Nina due to the greed of both parents. However, Maregale obviously has enough money for a feast to celebrate the return of Sitons and his meeting with Nina. To do this, he goes to the market to buy the necessary food. Meanwhile, Garbinello, Maregale's servant, doubts his abilities as a deceiver. The day before, Garbinello was sent by Maregale to his wife Resca in order to swallow the money from Slaverò for the amount demanded by Slaverò for Nina. Garbinello did not succeed in softening Resca's heart even through a complicated fairy tale. Not only because of his sense of honor, but also because he needs the money for other purposes (which, however, will not be revealed), Garbinello goes to Siton's mother again to convince her to give her the money. When Garbinello approaches her again, she is just coming towards him. Since his original plan has now failed because of this, he has to quickly come up with a new one. Contrary to expectations, Garbinello's first trick succeeded at least in part, because Maregale's wife was at least persuaded to visit her husband and find out more about the facts.

Scenes 7–9

Before Resca enters the Maregales house, Garbinello leaves the same house and plays a scene in order to outsmart Resca. He complains loudly about his fate. When Resca asks what happened to him, he tells her that Maregale leads a polygamous life because he lives with two other women. In this way, Maregale's turning away from Resca appears in a completely new light. Garbinello asserts to her that Maregale could not lead his dissolute life if Siton had stayed with his parents. This in turn would have been the case if he had received the amount requested by Slaverò in good time. To make up for her "mistake", Resca gives him the money and decides to separate from her husband and to leave with her property or her dowry. Garbinello is aware of the mess he has caused. But he accepts it because he is sure that he can bring the situation back on track. Before Resca throws the two women from Maregale's house out of her husband's house, Garbinello leaves and goes to Siton. In view of their desperate situation, Nina and Ghetta decide to turn to Tura again to ask him to send someone to accompany them to their hometown so as not to fall into the clutches of Slaverò again. Meanwhile Maregale returns home from his shopping for the feast. He has a fisherman with him who is supposed to prepare the feast for him. On entering his house, he jokingly told the fisherman that he was living out of wedlock with two women and about how much he hates his wife. However, he did not expect that Resca would be in his house and that the fisherman would continue the conversation in her presence. Since Resca sees Garbinello's fairy tales and her own jealousy confirmed and therefore takes action on her husband, the preparation of the feast takes an unfortunate turn for Maregale, Maregale chases the fisherman out of the house in his anger.

Scenes 10-14

Meanwhile, Garbinello meets with Siton and gives him the money that Resca gave him. Siton needs the money to continue his search for Nina. At the handover, Garbinello informs his master that he has found Nina. Before Garbinello brings his master to Nina, he asks him to follow him to Maregale and appease his mother. Meanwhile Bertevello, a fisherman and at the same time Tura's servant, discovers Nina's chest (see second act, scenes 1–4) in his net. Shortly after the find, he envisions a bright future, but Garbugio (Siton's servant) has observed the entire scene, is now demanding his share of the find and trying to blackmail Bertevelleo by claiming that he knows the owner of the chest. When Tura, together with Nina and Ghetta, who had previously asked him for protection and escort to their homeland, join the arguing, Tura has the contents of the chest checked in order to determine whether Garbinello's claim is true that it is with the Chest is Nina's chest. Before the chest is opened, Nina counts it up to prove that the contents belong to her. Tura in turn recognizes from the content that Nina is his daughter. There is a joyful recognition scene. The gathering of the father and the daughter is now to be celebrated.

Fifth act

Scenes 1–3

In order to put the mess he caused in the Maregales family through his prank back into order, Garbinello decides on a new ruse. Garbinello pretends to have an important message for her to Resca, but he tells her on the condition that she brings her belongings back to her husband's house. The news is that Garbinello has more than tripled the amount of money Resca gave him. To this end, he tells her a cumbersome story and finally talks his head and shoulders, so that he finally manages to put Resca at ease, since the mind and thus the attention of the greedy Resca suspends from the beginning. Garbinello is also trying to convince Resca that Nina is by no means a bad match for her son Siton.

Scenes 4–9

Meanwhile, the return of Nina is celebrated at Tura. Nina's mother can't help but hug her daughter over and over again. Meanwhile, Tura sends Garbugio to Siton. Garbugio is supposed to tell his Siton that Tura has found his daughter and that he wants to marry her off to Siton. Garbugio, in turn, places conditions on Tura. Tura is supposed to urge Siton to give Garbugio a piece of land for his services and to betroth him to Ghetta. Similar to Ligurio in scene 6 of the fourth act in Machiavelli's Mandragola (1518), Garbugio then has difficulties in finding his master in love. Meanwhile Tura goes to Maregale and asks him to marry his son to his daughter. Then, in his ecstasy of joy, Tura intends to give the chest to its "rightful" owner, i. H. To return Bertevello. Bertevello himself does not believe that Nina is the rightful owner of the chest and in the meantime, in order to gain satisfaction, goes in search of the real owner of the chest by naively announcing that the chest has been found. Slaverò has escaped the anti-Protestant lynch mob because the sexton's wife released him out of pity. His accomplice was previously released because he had denied Slaverò. Despite his misdeeds, Slaverò still has the face to go to Siton and demand the purchase price for Nina in order to be able to travel home. Garbinello, meanwhile, goes to Tura in order to be able to win Nina over for the trick he is going to play on Resca. However, the ruse is no longer necessary, since Nina, as Tura's daughter, has proven to be a woman from a good family.

Scenes 10–15

Since Tura has now arranged the wedding of Siton and Nina with Maregale, Garbinello's story has been uncovered for Resca. She is therefore very bad at talking about Garbinello. Garbinello has been informed of this and knows that he will not be seen at the wedding. When Resca arrives, he has to leave Tura's house. Garbugio also does not take part in the wedding of Nina and Sito, as he marries Ghetta in the meantime. Finally Garbinello sees Slaverò and Bertevello who, as Garbinello strangely knows beforehand, want to reclaim the chest. Garbinello wants to play a prank on them together with Daldura, so that Slaverò and Bertevello get nothing and in the end he is the owner of the chest. Bertevello is with Slaveròs, because Slavero has identified himself as the "rightful" owner of the chest and had to swear an oath to give him half of the contents of the chest. When Bertevello enters Tura's house, Slaverò's accomplice suddenly appears, who has learned that the chest has been handed over, flatters Salverò and justifies his betrayal of him by glossing over him. Since Slaverò has sworn perjury to Bertevello and is actually not thinking of sharing the booty with him, Slaverò involves his accomplice in his plans - not because he has let himself be softened by him, but because he is outsmarting him too commemorates. The trick Garbinello wants to play with Daldura Slaverò is to try to scare him by pretending that the wedding party or Tura is preparing to lynch him in the face of Slaverò's presence. Slaverò, who, unlike his accomplice, does not allow himself to be deterred by Garbinello, asks him what is going on in the house. Garbinello replies that Nina had sworn revenge on him. He warns Slaverò that all of Nina's friends and relatives will come to Tura's house to do Nina's will. In reality, the gathering is a joyful occasion for those involved, namely the wedding of Sitons and Ninas. Meanwhile, Daldura rushes to the church - supposedly to ring the bells so that Slaverò does not escape a second time. In the end, Slaverò runs away. (Incidentally, the scene is reminiscent of scene nine of the fourth act in Ariost's La Cassaria , in which Fulcio drives the matchmaker Lucranio to flight by making him believe that the Pasha is looking for him in order to have him executed). As a result, Bertevello, who intended to present Tura Slaverò as the rightful owner of the chest, finds himself in an awkward position. Tura eventually divides the contents of the chest among Bertevello, Garbinello and Daldura. Before the play ends, everyone in turn enters Tura's house, the last one being Garbinello, who, before entering the house, turns to the audience and takes away the hope of witnessing the division of the spoils. Instead, the audience should shout loudly to make Slaverò believe that the audience was Nina's friends and relatives, and in this way to prevent them from returning or demanding their share.

Literary influences

  • In contrast to the rest of Ruzante's work, La Piovana is strongly based on ancient Roman comedies, especially Plautus ' Rudens (~ 211 BC) and Mercator (212–210 BC).

Plautus' Rudens and Mercator

  • The scene in which the fisherman Bertevello finds a chest in his fishing net that the matchmaker Slaverò or Nina had lost and dreams of buying a piece of land with the money and running his own farm is a reminder of the joy that the slave Gripus in Plautus' comedy Rudens feels about having found a chest in the sea and about his dream of becoming a powerful master by means of the fortune found.
  • There is a parallel between La Piovana and Mercator in the relationship between Maregale and Resca and Lysimachus and Dorippa. Maregale and Lysimachus are each married to a quarrelsome woman. Both Maregale and Lysimachus married their wives because of the high dowry, but regretted this afterwards. Another loan is that Lysimachus, like Maregale, hide a young woman with him to do a friend a favor. Similar to Resca, Dorippa returns unexpectedly from her country house while a cook in Lysimachus' house is preparing to prepare a feast. In both comedies, the wife is angry with her husband, believing that her husband is cheating on her with the young woman. At the end of the two comedies, the wife learns the truth about the young woman and finally reconciles with her husband.
  • In La Piovana , Slaverò goes to the church in order to regain control of the slaves who have escaped from him. Garbuglio alarms the population in order to save the two women that Lutherans are plundering the church, whereupon Tura farmers rally around to storm the church and arrest the supposed Lutherans. In Rudens , the pimp and his accomplice manage to penetrate the temple of Venus. The pimp tries to drag the girls who have fled to the temple and knocks down the priestess of the temple. Like Tura in La Piovana , he is stopped by an old man and the lover of one of the girls.

Others

literature

Text output
  • Ruzante: La Piovana (1990). Torino (Turin): Einaudi

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 220.
  2. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 220.
  3. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 221.
  4. ↑ See Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969). Chicago / London: The University of Chicago Press: 222.