Luigi Lunari

Luigi Lunari (born January 3, 1934 in Milan ; † August 15, 2019 ibid.) Was an Italian dramaturge , writer and essayist .

biography

Origin and family

Luigi Lunari was born as the first-born of three children to the couple Ermenegildo Lunari (born 1899, engineer with descent from a humble Venetian family) and Idelma Querini (born 1906 into an old Venetian noble family). From his father he inherited a striving for education and a very strong sense of citizenship, but from his mother he inherited his liveliness and intellectual imagination. In 1961 he married Laura Pollaroli (born 1935). The marriage had two children, Marco (born 1963) and Sandra (born 1966). Lunari spent his childhood and adolescence in Milan, in via Nicola Piccinini. Giorgio Strehler and Paolo Grassi also lived here within a hundred meters . After the wedding, the couple moved to Brugherio, on the outskirts of Milan, in 1971.

The education

In order to avoid the indoctrination of the fascist school, Lunari's father enrolled him in the German School in Milan in 1939. This was administered by the “Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady”, far from the Hitler regime and the National Socialist ideology. Between 1942 and 1946 he experienced the emigration from his father's place of birth (Arzignano, Vicenza), in 1946 he returned to Milan to attend the classic Carducci Lyceum. There he had a classmate named Bettino Craxi , with whom he kept in touch during the period that followed. After school, Lunari attended the law school of the State University of Milan, where he graduated in 1956 with a thesis on labor law ("The employment relationship on probation"). In the meantime, Lunari became interested in physics, astronomy, mathematical logic, psychoanalysis, biology, and zoology, albeit in a more easily understood form. His interest in music was also very pronounced, he studied piano and composition with Giulio Cesare Paribeni until he obtained an intermediate diploma at the Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in Parma in 1960 . Later, around 1978, Lunari occasionally returned to music and took part in a further training course for orchestral conductors given by Francesco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.

Practical experience in the world of theater

With the focus of his interests for the theater, Lunari joined the Piccolo Teatro di Milano in 1960 . Lunari stayed at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano until 1982, during which time he worked with Paolo Grassi and above all as a dramaturge with Giorgio Strehler, translating various texts by Bertolt Brecht, William Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov. In 1982, however, he came into conflict with Strehler. In any case, from Lunari's point of view, the reason for this was the lack of bringing in external elements of the director at a time when Strehler's inventive abilities were already waning. Lunari drew conclusions from this and left the Teatro Piccolo. What remains from his experience at the Teatro Piccolo is the amusing and enjoyable work, in the form of a roman comique, “Il Maestro e gli altri” (“The Master and the Others”), as well as the extensive historical and critical essay on the history of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano and about Strehler's teaching teaching. In the context of his many years of experience, Lunari was appreciated as a witness and as an active protagonist of the great transformation of the theater in the second half of the twentieth century and the subsequent beginnings of the third millennium. This affected both the organizational and structural level as well as the theater studies and own dramatic works.

Works

theatre

Lunari took an early interest in the theater, thanks also to a spontaneous dialogical ability, which in turn was fed by early reading of the dramatic works of the past. His first work - he was just 18 years old - was the one-act play "Giovanna", which was staged several times. In 1958, Lunari published "Tarantella con un piede solo" ("Tarantella on a single foot"), which was performed in 1961 at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples under the direction of Andrea Camilleri . After the first act, however, the production was interrupted by the police, the play was accused of ridicule and obscenity (the real reason was obscure political troubles about the newly founded theater). The allegations were dropped as soon as said quarrels were resolved. In 1966 Lunari wrote a farce on commission, inspired by Carl Sternheim's " Die Hose ". "Per un paio di Mutandine" ("Because of a pair of underpants"), so the title, was his first significant success. More than 50 years later this piece was performed under the more socially acceptable title “The Incident”. In 1967 and 1968 Lunari wrote two pieces in cabaret style for the Quartetto dei Gufi: “Non so, non ho visto, se c'ero dormivo” (“I don't know, wasn't there, and if so, I slept”) about the formation and the first twenty years of the Republic of Italy, and the anti-military “Non spingete, scappiamo anche noi” (“Please don't push, we'll flee too”). In 1973 Lunari's “But why me?” Was performed at the Teatro Piccolo in Milan, inspired by the Mylai massacre during the Vietnam War.

In 1980, Lunari wrote “Senator Fox”, distantly inspired by Ben Jonson's “Volpone”, which enjoyed success across Europe before the beginning of the third millennium. The late eighties marked a decisive turning point in Lunari's theater. Up until that point his interest had been more political and social, especially Italy. For this reason, the tone was always determined by partly satirical social criticism.

In 1989, Lunari wrote “Three on the Swing” from one piece, the topics addressed in it take on a metaphysical character, even if the dialogues are always characterized by the comedy of the actors. After its world premiere in 1990 at the Teatro dei Filodrammatici in Milan, “Three on the Swing” was performed in 1994 as part of the Avignon Festival (directed by Pierre Santini). The success was overwhelming and allowed the piece to take a global leap. The view with which Lunari viewed his characters and stories came more from a post-mortem point of view, in order to enable a more reliable and definitive point of view, so to speak, from which one can assess the earthly experiences of the characters. Not only are the characters from "Three on the Swing", so to speak, no longer alive or at least represented as such, also the characters from "Strange Encounters of the First Kind" (1994), "In the Name of the Father" (1997), “Barca di Platone” (“Plato's Boat”) (1998), “Better dead than red” (1999), “Under a bridge on the bank of the river…” (2004), “Swan song” (2006) and partly also that of “L'ultima vittoria” (“The Last Victory”) (2013) are presented from this perspective.

The ubiquity of death was relevant in this second, more important phase of Lunari's theater. This, however, was not depicted as a skeleton with a black robe and sickle, but as a fraternal Franciscan presence that accompanies people in the direction of a serene acceptance of eternal rest (or, for the non-denominational - nothing).

Comedies and dramas

• L'incidente (1966) - German by Alfred Bergmann "The incident"
• Non so, non ho visto, se c'ero dormivo (1966)
• Non spingete, scappiamo anche noi (1967)
• I contrattempi del tenente Calley (1973) - German by Sinah Kessler and Alexander de Montléart “But why me? "
• Il senatore Fox (1979) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Senator Fox"
• Storia d'amore (1982) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Storia d'amore"
• La stagione del garofano rosso (1987) - German by Alfred Bergmann "The season of the red carnation"
• Sogni proibiti di una fanciulla in fiore (1987) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Girl roses flowers dreams"
• Tre sull'altalena (1989) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Three on the swing"
• L'uomo che incontrò se stesso (1995) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Strange encounter of the first kind"
• Nel Nome del Padre (1997) - German by Alfred Bergmann "In the name of the father"
• La barca di Platone, ovvero Somnium Platonis (1998)
• Rosso profondo (1999) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Better dead than red"
• Sotto un ponte, lungo un fiume (2004) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Under a bridge on the bank of the river ..."
• Elisabetta e il suo pirata (2004) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Elisabeth and her pirate"
• Tutti gli uomini di Annalisa (2005) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Annalisa and her men"
• Il canto del cigno (2006) - German by Alfred Bergmann "Schwanengesang"
• L'ultima vittoria (2013)
• Tutto per bene (2015)

Fiction

Lunari's work in the field of fiction was rather limited. In 1990 he wrote “The Master and the Others”, inspired by the 20 years he spent at the Teatro Piccolo in Milan. It was a roman comique - in the double sense of "theatrical" and "funny". In this distant yet amusing story, Lunari processed his experience with the limitations and prejudices in the world of politics that he had to experience firsthand. The novel was a success and has been called a real masterpiece of satire and humor. In 2010 Lunari wrote “Scvejk a New York” (“Scvejk in New York”), completing a maturation process that began in 1960 when he translated Brecht's “Schweyk in World War II”. The figure created by Hasek continues her destructive and subversive activity against the ruling regime, but this time it is not the old Austro-Hungarian Empire (nor that of the oppressive Nazi war machine of the Brechtian sequel), but the modern world of consumption . Less relevant, but nonetheless well written, was "Hernán Cortés e la Conquista del Messico" ("Hernán Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico") (2000): three volumes that Lunari wrote for the Rizzoli publishing house at a time when fluvial novels were written just back in.

Television and radio

In the 1960s and 1970s, Lunari wrote numerous scripts for two- or three-part films that were broadcast on television. The reaction of the audience, which was not yet overwhelmed by today's flood of channels and offers, was very positive. Noteworthy are e.g. B. “La resa dei conti” (“The Reckoning”) (1964) on the end of fascism, “Dedicato a un bambino” (“Dedicated to a child”) (1970) and “Accadde a Lisbona” (“It happened in Lisbon ”) (1974), which were also translated into German and broadcast in Germany. Lunari also occupied himself very intensively with the radio, writing a series of humorous crime novels, a few portraits (especially of famous actresses such as Eleonora Duse, Adrienne Lecouvreur or Isabella Andreini) or biographies (including one about Molière, in ten episodes ). Most important, however, was a section entitled “Il moscerino”, which was played every week for two years and dealt with political and social satire.

Essay writing

Among the extensive production of essays, the writings in the Collezione di teatro of the publisher BUR of the works of Molière and Carlo Goldoni, as well as the foreword to “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand (1986), “The Prince of Homburg "By Heinrich von Kleist (1983)," Onkel Vanja "by Anton Chekhov (1997) and" Le Cid "by Pierre Corneille (2012). Lunari wrote forewords and afterwords not only in the field of theater, but also, e. B., for the three “Libretti per Mozart” by Lorenzo dal Ponte (1990), “I Viceré” by Federico di Roberto (2010), “Dracula” by Bram Stoker (2011) and “Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James ( 2013).

Main fonts

Lunari's works in the theater sector are more far-reaching: writings that are still today a solid reference point for various topics:

• L'Old Vic di Londra (1999)
• Laurence Olivier (1959)
• Il movimento drammatico irlandese (1960)
• Henry Irving e il teatro inglese dell'Ottocento (1962)
• Breve storia del teatro (1999)
• Cento trame del teatro italiano (1993)
• Il teatro Veneto (2003)
• Eat o non essere. Storia e antologia del monologo (2007)
• Storia della musica. Da Orfeo a Michael Jackson (2010)

Political Writings

After 36 years of active membership in the PSI (Partito Socialista Italiano), the left wing of which belonged to his sympathies, Lunari withdrew from active politics because he developed an almost pathological inability to confront the constant arguments and from then on devoted himself to theoretical studies in politics and history. Thus, in 2009, “Elogio della recessione” (“Eulogy of the Recession”) was created, in which the economic crisis, which was still denied by the establishment, is seen as a welcome necessity, as a kind of abandonment of the production-consumption axiom in favor of sustainable progress in where only the necessary and useful (even if in the broadest sense) are produced, far from any suicidal economic competition with the rest of the world. In 2013 Lunari wrote the polemical work “La Democrazia: una signora da buttare” (“Democracy: an old lady”). Here he criticized not only the myth of the sovereignty of the people, but also the concept according to which a (political) action emerges from a vote. Instead of the democratic method, which is defined as a "abdication of the mind", Lunari proposed a performance-oriented alternative: Political careers should therefore not be based on popular applause, but on the appreciation of direct superiors and the consent of peers, so how it ultimately works in the oldest government organization in the world (the Catholic Church) or the largest nation in the world - China.

Translations

Lunari's work as a translator was also very intensive, especially when it comes to the theater: over 150 translations and adaptations sprang from his pen, some of them with positive results, including numerous "discoveries" or innovative solutions. So z. For example, the translation of “Uncle Vanya” by Anton Chekhov, which gives the text the staging quality that previous translators may have missed. Aside from the theater, Lunari translated some sophisticated literary works in 2010, such as: B. "Portrait of a Lady" and "Spin the Screw" by Henry James, "Dracula" by Bram Stoker or "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.

Others

• Lunari's only experience in the film industry corresponds to the texts for the docu-drama "Carlo Goldoni: Venezia, Gran Teatro del Mondo" by Alessandro Bettero (2007), which was shown in various European and American festivals and won the 42nd Gold Remi Award WorldFest - Houston International Film Festival (USA) won.
• "Drei auf der Schaukel" was initially distributed in Italy with the title "Three Men without a Boat" as a work by Alan Bond. Lunari appeared here only as a translator, with the title "Tre sull'altalena". This was a (successful) means of circumventing the continuing reluctance of Italian theaters to play local authors as well.
• The poem "April 25, 1945", an excerpt from the piece "Non so, non ho visto, se c'ero dormivo", was set to music by Gino Negri and Milva included it in her album "Libertà".

Awards

• SIAE Award, Author of the Year 1994
• Premio Salvo Randone, 1996

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Anna Bandettini: Addio a Lugi Lunari. In: Repubblica.it . August 18, 2019, accessed August 18, 2019 (Italian).