Vincenzo Monti

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Vincenzo Monti.

Vincenzo Monti (born February 19, 1754 in Alfonsine near Ravenna , † October 13, 1828 in Milan ) was an Italian writer.

Life

Tragedie , 1816

Monti was the son of Fedele Maria Monti and his wife Adele Mazzari. Monti studied at the University of Ferrara and began his lyrical work during his studies. He wrote his first poems in Latin and later in Italian. At the age of 24 Monti got a job in Rome with Conte Luigi Braschi Onesti , a nephew of Pope Pius VI. Cardinal Scipio Scafarelli Borghese , who took him to Rome in 1778, had procured this for him .

Inspired by the works of Vittorio Alfieri , Monti also began to write plays in Rome. In 1785 he made his debut there with great success with the premiere of his tragedy Aristodemo .

In January 1793, the ambassador of France Hugo Basseville was murdered in the street because he had adorned himself with the symbol of the revolutionaries - the cockade . Monti addressed this event in his poem Cantica in morte Ugo Basseville . But he had little success with it, although formally he closely conformed to Dante Alighieri .

His anti-revolutionary attitude came in satirical poems, e.g. B. La Feroniade or La Musogonia expressed, but was still enthusiastic about the political change that Napoleon brought with his troops. The epic poem Il Prometeo, written in 1797, testifies to this attitude. Later he even got a job in the administration of the Republic of Cisalpina .

When Napoleon withdrew from the Russian-Austrian troops in 1799, Monti went to Paris . There, too, he published a few things. The best known from this period is his poem Mascheroniana , which he wrote on the occasion of the death of Lorenzo Mascheroni on July 14, 1800. This, too, is based closely on Dante Alighieri's style , consists of three chants and remained unfinished.

After the Battle of Marengo , Monti returned to Italy in 1800 and was appointed professor of eloquence at the University of Milan . Later he moved to the University of Pavia , where he only gave the opening speeches at the beginning of the semester. On the occasion of Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy , Monti was appointed official historiographer and court poet in 1805 . As such, he wrote all sorts of things in honor of the imperial family and, of course, Monti glorified Napoleon's politics in his poetry. The poem "Bardo della Selva nera" in seven songs is a good example of his glorification of the Napoleonic victories.

When Emperor Franz I of Austria overthrew Napoleon, he was also duly honored and honored with many poems. His enthusiasm for Napoleon probably didn't hurt Monti, as he continued to function as court poet under the Austrians.

In the last years of his life he translated Homer's Iliad excellently and, together with Conte Giulio Perticari, published a commentary on the dictionary of the Accademia della Crusca , to which he had belonged since 1812.

Vincenzo Monti died in Milan on October 13, 1828 at the age of 74.

Works

Monti - poetry, 1833
  • Aristodemo
  • Caio Gracco
  • Cantica in morte di Ugo Basseville
  • La Feroniade
  • Galeotto Manfredi
  • Il Prometeo
  • La Mascheroniana
  • La Musogonia

literature

Web links

Commons : Vincenzo Monti  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Membership list of the Crusca


personal data
SURNAME Monti, Vincenzo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1754
PLACE OF BIRTH Alfonsine
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1828
Place of death Milan