Antonfrancesco Grazzini - Utrecht University Repository

 Antonfrancesco Grazzini ‘Il Lasca’ (1505‐1584) and the Burlesque Poetry, Performance and Academic Practice in Sixteenth‐Century Florence Antonfrancesco Grazzini ‘Il Lasca’ (1505‐1584) en het burleske genre Poëzie, opvoeringen en de academische praktijk in zestiende‐eeuws Florence (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. J.C. Stoof, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 9 juni 2009 des ochtends te 10.30 uur door Inge Marjo Werner geboren op 24 oktober 1973 te Utrecht Promotoren: Prof.dr. H.A. Hendrix Prof.dr. H.Th. van Veen Contents List of Abbreviations..........................................................................................................3 Introduction.........................................................................................................................5 Part 1: Academic Practice and Poetry Chapter 1: Practice and Performance. Lasca’s Umidian Poetics (1540‐1541) ................................25 Interlude: Florence’s Informal Literary Circles of the 1540s...........................................................65 Chapter 2: Cantando al paragone. Alfonso de’ Pazzi and Academic Debate (1541‐1547) ..............79 Part 2: Social Poetry Chapter 3: La Guerra de’ Mostri. Reviving the Spirit of the Umidi (1547).......................................119 Chapter 4: Towards Academic Reintegration. Pastoral Friendships in the Villa Poems (1560s).............................................................................................................161 Epilogue and Conclusions.................................................................................................193 Bibliography........................................................................................................................213 Samenvatting.......................................................................................................................229 Dankwoord (Ringraziamenti)...........................................................................................235 Curriculum Vitae................................................................................................................239 List of Abbreviations ASF Annali BNCF BMF Capitoli DBI Diario IV Libro Magl. Palat. s.f. Archivio di Stato di Firenze Annali dell’Accademia Fiorentina (ms. BMF) Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze Biblioteca Marucelliana di Firenze Capitoli della nuova riforma (ms. BNCF) Dizionario biografico degli Italiani. Rome: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia italiana ‘Frammenti di notizie dell’Accademia della Crusca descritte dal Trito (conte Piero de’ Bardi)’, in: Diario di Benedetto Buommattei (ms. Accademia della Crusca) Libro, Capitoli Compositioni et Leggi, della Accademia degli Humydi di Firenze (ms. BNCF) BNCF, fondo Magliabechiano BNCF, fondo Palatino stile fiorentino 3
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Introduction The name of Antonfrancesco Grazzini, also known as ‘il Lasca’ (1505‐1584), 1 is forever associated with the burlesque. Although in his long life Lasca was a prolific writer of novelle, plays and lyric poetry, 2 he owes his reputation mostly to his burlesque poetry, which contemporaries considered to be second only to Berni. 3 To modern readers, however, Lasca’s burlesque language has proved to be an obstacle rather than an asset. With its particular code language and its topical, local character, Lasca’s favourite genre is quite inaccessible for outsiders, past and present. Our understanding of Lasca’s great mock‐heroic poem, La Guerra de’ Mostri, for example, is still hampered by the inscrutability of its imagery and allusions. Although scholars agree that the burlesque is 1 Bramanti (2004: 19‐20) has recently found archival evidence that proves that Lasca was born on the 22th of March 1505 (1504 s.f.), instead of 1504 as was suggested by his first biographer Antonmaria Biscioni (in: Grazzini 1741: XXVI). See also: Plaisance 2005: 11. 2 Plaisance (2005: 16) has recently shown that, other than presumed so far, Lasca never worked as an apothecary; he had the financial space to entirely devote his time to writing. Though he may have helped his brothers with administrative duties, he never was a professional scribe. A tavola delle opere drawn up by Lasca on 15 September 1566 demonstrates his versatility. He tried his hand at various verse forms: Petrarchan, pastoral and spiritual verse, eclogues, epigrams, canti carnascialeschi. He also composed drama: comedy, spiritual comedy, farse, and prose: ‘lettere poetiche e notabili’, commenti, dialogues and novelle (see: Grazzini 1882: CXXI‐CXXIV). 3 In this tavola delle opere, Lasca himself categorizes his burlesque poetry. To it, he counts his ‘capitoli in lode’ (circa 50 selected and rewritten), ‘sonnetti’ (circa 600),‘Canzoni’ (4), ‘madrigali’ (circa 200), ‘Madrigalesse’ (circa 50), ‘La Guerra de i Mostri’, ‘Le lodi dell’Antella, e di Ligliano’ and ‘Stanze’ (Ibidem: CXXII‐CXXIII). I owe much to the work of Carlo Verzone, editor of Le rime burlesche edite e inedite di Antonfrancesco Grazzini detto il Lasca (1882) who provided a complete overview of Lasca’s burlesque works. To define the burlesque, he has followed Lasca’s categorization, as will I. 5
an anti‐genre, what or who exactly is being opposed, mocked or attacked – and to what purpose – is always subject to debate. As we shall see, especially the social impact of burlesque poetry remains problematic. When little is known about the context in which a poem appeared, it is difficult to tell the difference between licensed mockery and violent, dangerous satire. The association between Lasca and this anti‐genre has contributed to the fact that modern scholars have classified him as a subversive poet. Given that Lasca primarily satirized the politically motivated developments within the Accademia Fiorentina, which after its establishment in 1541 by Cosimo I de’ Medici increasingly became a state‐
controlled organ, it has been presumed that his use of the burlesque was political and even anti‐Medicean as well. This political reading of Lasca’s burlesque poetry, as advocated by Michel Plaisance, has been particularly dominant. This study will argue that this image needs to be adjusted. By placing Lasca’s person and poetry in their social context, at defining moments in his lifelong and constantly troubled relationship with the Accademia Fiorentina, I will try to show that, rather than (cultural) politics, Lasca’s poetics and his views on the organization of literary life were at stake. Instead of reducing the academic context to an extension of Florentine politics, we should take the discussions about practice and organization seriously in their own right, especially in the initial years of the Academy’s existence. Only then can we begin to understand how Lasca’s burlesque poetry functioned. All Lasca’s burlesque works were created for use in a social or academic context. As Lasca himself said in his Tavola delle opere (1566), they are: ‘tra mandati a varie persone e composti sopra diversi soggetti, e scritti in lode, e in biasimo d’alcuni Amici, o Nimici’. 4 Whenever he commented on academic practice, he had an audience in mind. I will analyse the poems for their topical value, as an entrance into the social world of the Accademia Fiorentina, and for their role in the institutional structures. This social approach of Lasca’s poetry will yield a more complete image of the poet‐academician. Grazzini 1882: CXXIII. 4
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There is but little exaggeration in the statement that Lasca’s literary career began and ended with the founding of an Academy. 5 The Accademia degli Umidi, the first Academy Lasca founded, was transformed into the Accademia Fiorentina within three months after its founding. Currently, the Accademia Fiorentina of the sixteenth century is regarded as a prototype of the cultural organizations that would become the face of absolutism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 6 In the early years of its existence, the 1540s, however, practising its new political mission was not self‐evident. As this political aim – the legitimization and propagation of the Medici regime and policies –
was unprecedented in a literary Academy, the Fiorentina had to invent new forms of organization. Therefore, various rounds of reforms were initiated. The years between the founding of the Accademia Fiorentina and the severest of these reforms, in 1547, can therefore be regarded as a transition period. It is this period particularly that has received extensive scholarly attention. 7 In the turbulent first decade of its existence, when the Fiorentina was in constant crisis, Lasca, as one of its members most critical of the change in orientation within the Academy, played an important part, ever challenging the centralizing reforms. Yet he did not get his way: disillusioned, he was expelled from the Academy ranks in August 1547. The exile from official literary life weighed heavily on the poet, and he worked endlessly to be readmitted into the 5 Lasca’s vocation as a man of letters is indeed recorded best from the moment he acted as one of the founders of the Accademia degli Umidi, in November 1540. By that time, however, he was already an established writer. This can be concluded from a condemnation by the Otto di guardia in January 1537. The document refers to Lasca as ‘compositorem’ and his writer’s name is already in use as well (‘vocato il Lascha’). The condemnation was for fighting; apparently, Lasca’s adversary had picked the fight because Lasca had offended him with some mocking poems. These poems do not survive (Plaisance 2005b: 140, 184‐
185n). Lasca’s Il Piangirida, however, does. This burlesque comment was probably written as early as 1535‐
1536 (see: Plaisance 2005: 34‐35). On Lasca’s literary career before 1540, see also: Pignatti 2002: 34. On Lasca’s early life in general (education and family), see: Rodini 1970: 4‐5; Plaisance 2005: 11‐21. 6 Cochrane 1973: 63‐64; Hale 1977: 142; Plaisance 2005: 29. On the sixteenth‐century Academies of Florence, in particular the Accademia del Disegno, as instruments of the regime, see: Barzman 2000: passim. For the fortune of the Accademia Fiorentina in the late sixteenth century, its new start in 1783 as an Academy in three Classi (del Cimento, della Crusca e del Disegno), and its fading after 1811, see: Maylender 1926‐1930: vol. III, 1‐9. The Accademia Fiorentina ceased to exist only in the early nineteenth century. 7 Bareggi 1973: passim; Vasoli 1979: passim; Bryce 1995: passim; Zanrè 2004: passim. And above all the studies by Michel Plaisance: 2004a [1973]: passim; 2004b [1974]: passim. 7
Academy. 8 It took him almost twenty years to succeed, and when he finally did, he was still not entirely satisfied with his position. This appears from the fact that he ended his career, at great age, as one of the founders of yet another Academy, the Accademia della Crusca (1583). This Academy survives until the present day in the Villa Medicea di Castello, where it operates as an eminent institute of research on Italian linguistics, philology and lexicography. 9 Lasca, however, was not to taste the fruits of his endeavours; he died only a year after the Academy’s foundation. What caused Lasca’s problematic relationship with the Accademia Fiorentina? An answer to this question, which is at the heart of this study, was already suggested in a near‐contemporary description of Lasca’s behaviour in academic circles. In the Diario dell’Accademia della Crusca, 10 Piero de’ Bardi, one of the first members of the Crusca, describes the founding meeting of the Academy on 25 January 1583. 11 Since De’ Bardi was not actually present at this gathering ‐ he did not join the academy until 1586 12 ‐ and Lasca was dead by the time the record was drawn up, the account must remain apocryphal. Yet the wonderfully lively description of Lasca’s input in the discussion may not be too wide off the mark. 13 It reads as follows: the five founding members of the Academy – besides Lasca only the more obscure men of letters Bernardo Zanchini, Giovan Battista Deti, Bernardo Canigiani, and Bastiano de’ Rossi are named – had approached Lionardo Salviati to add some dignity to their brigata. Salviati, a prominent philologist and former consul of the Accademia Fiorentina, subsequently proposed to constitute a formal academy in order to bestow more ‘ordine’ and ‘scopo’ upon their 8 Zanrè (2004: 70) suggests that Lasca developed a strategy of reintegration. His involvement in the Giunti publishing house was one aspect of this plan. 9 See: http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it [last accessed: 3 February 2009]. 10 The autograph original can be found in the archive of the Accademia della Crusca, Carte Bardi, fascicoli 1‐4. Bardi’s notes were divided in four fragments and transcribed by founder Bastiano de’ Rossi (in: Diario dell’Inferigno) and subsequently by Andrea Alamanni in the Diario del Ripieno of Benedetto Buonmattei (Parodi 1983a: 12). I will be citing from this manuscript, henceforth: Diario IV. For an overview of archival material related to the founding of the Academy, see: Benucci/Poggi 2007: 33‐34, 36‐37. 11 On this particular meeting, see: Marconcini 1910: 70; Parodi 1983: 11; Plaisance 2005: 26. 12 Parodi 2000: 15. 13 Founder Bastiano de’ Rossi, for instance, who transcribed De’ Bardi’s Frammenti in his Diario dell’Inferigno and who was secretary to the Academy from 1586 until 1613 (Parodi 1983b: 10), could have easily filled him in as he had been present at the founding discussion. 8
activities. 14 Zanchini opposed, saying that he considered themselves too old to take on such a responsibility and to guarantee continued existence of the Academy. 15 Lasca reacted furiously to this lack of ambition: 16 Il Lasca non potendo più star cheto, a guisa di nobil cavallo, che stato pur troppo alle mosse, in fine ode il bramato segno, togliendo quasi di bocca le parole agli altri, […] brevemente, ma arditamente così proroppe al parlare. After ending his heated plea in favour of Salviati’s proposal, 17 he made ready to take his leave with great physical display: 18
E così detto essendosi rizzato donde era a sedere, crollando la testa, e inarcando le ciglia, volle partirsi dagli altri compagni; ma ritenuto da essi, e pregato a tornare al suo luogo, fu con più quiete cominciato a trattare questo negozio; […]. Besides being suggestive about Lasca’s temper, the Diario gives some insight in the activities of the original Crusconi. No records survive from the time before they decided to become an academy. ‘Piacevolezza’ is the keyword to their get‐togethers. When Salviati made his entrance, he came upon a ‘piacevol brigata’ that was used to ‘festivolmente […] trapassar l’ore’. 19 The Diario also shows that after his death, Lasca has become the champion of the burlesque style. In a short necrology De’ Bardi depicts him 14 According to Diario IV, Salviati argued: ‘E in verità mi pare cosa poco convenevole, che uomini, come voi siete, forniti di tanto giudizio, a’ di così pregiata letteratura, spendiate il tempo in cose onorate senza fine particolare, e per così dire, senza sapere perché’ (Diario IV, cc. 214r‐ 215v). 15 Zanchini asked: ‘Perciochè come possono uomini di tempo, come noi siamo […] formare un’Accademia, che duri tempo alcuno? Poichè la freddezza del sangue nemica delle conclusioni, accompagnandoci sempre, farebbe venirci a fastidio il ragunarci, il crear magistrati, il pensare a stanze, a legger con ordine, e a far tant’altri esercizi accademici, senza i quali ovvero saremmo Accademici da burla, o non Accademici’ (ibidem, c. 216). 16 Cited in: Plaisance 2005: 26. 17 These were Lasca’s words: ‘Adunque, chiamerenci noi così deboli, e freddi, e canuti, che ’l cuore non ci dea come a molti altri, di reggere un’accademia? Terrenci noi così privi d’autorità, che molti compagni non siamo per trovare, che secondino le nostre voglie in sì giusto desiderio? E ora, che abbiamo il Cavalier Salviati dalla nostra, credera’ tu, o Zanchino, che tanta timidità si debbe avere, e sotto il peso gentile di sì gloriosa opera abbiamo a restare infranti? Ah tu t’inganni, né cosi credono quest’altri miei compagni. Però rimanendo nel tuo gielo tu, noi dalla fiamma scorti di sì grande luce, caldissimamente fonderemo e manterremo quest’accademia’ (cited in: Plaisance 2005: 26). 18 Ibidem. 19 Diario IV, c. 214. 9
as master of the ‘stile piacevole’. 20 In burlesque poetry, he was ‘the first of his days’ (‘nella poesia burlesca era il primo di que[..] tempi’). His prose and plays, on the other hand, are made secondary to the rime; his Cene are downplayed to some unfinished novelle and his fame as a playwright is presented as limited. The Diario thus uncovers a prominent theme in his academic participation: ‘piacevolezza dello stile’ in both academic activities and literature. Although the Diario offers a one‐sided and distorted image of Lasca, its representation is not without interest. Not only does it show how spiritedly Lasca was committed to academic life, his representation as champion of the joyous and the burlesque is in line with the image raised of the Lasca of the early 1540s, as founder of the Accademia degli Umidi, as well. Whereas the informal circle of Crusconi was defined as a ‘brigata piacevole’, the members of the Accademia degli Umidi intended academic life to be ‘passatempo’. 21 Several scholars have therefore regarded the initiative of the circle of Crusconi, which came into being when Lasca, in the 1570s, started to invite friends, as an attempt to revive the spirit and activities of the Accademia degli Umidi, in response to or out of discontent with the Accademia Fiorentina. 22 In this dissertation I support this view. Lasca’s taste for piacevolezza and passatempo was central in his view on literary life, and shaped his attitude towards its ideal form and organization. With the founding of his Academies, he wanted to guarantee a continuous life for such joyous pastime and the literary traditions that were part of it. 20 The entire necrology reads as follows: ‘ma non contenta la Fortuna d’avere all’Accademia apportato tanto danno, come quella, che non comincia per poco cosi nel bene, come nel male, con maggior danno, è più universale privò l’Accademia graziosissimo, e dotto Lasca, uomo, se tu riguardi i suoi natali, di bassa condizione, ma per le sue azioni, nobile, e scienziato, perciocchè di tutte le cose parlava fondatamente, ma nella poesia burlesca era il primo di que[..] tempi, e la principal sua lode veniva dalla dolcezza, purità, e piacevolezza dello stile, il quale era si naturale, e si puro, che da nessuno altro, se bene lo agguagliassi a quello del gran padre della burlesca Poesia, ora sopravanzata. E per così ne’ concetti, e nelle vivezze fosse stato felice, non è dubbio, che l’avrebbe interamente arrivato. Lasciò buona quantità di Capitoli, molti Sonetti, e Madrigali, e certi, i quali per esser più lunghi degli altri chiamansi Madrigalesse, e qualche Canzone, pur tutte in stile piacevole. Ancora in prosa (nella quale aveva non piccola attitudine) lasciò qualche cosa, come alcune Novelle non finitissime, e altre cose. Nelle Commedie fu di qualche nome, e alla stampa se ne veggono alcune. Fu dunque di gran perdita all’Accademia, non solo per questo, ma perchè essendo stato fondatore, anzi il principale fondatore, era di grandissimo sostegno, e per la sua sollicitudine, e per la sua piacevole conversazione, lode in lui principalissima’ (Diario IV, cc. 220r‐220v). 21 Bartoli 1883: 204. 22 Marconcini 1910: 55‐56; Parodi 1983a: 12; Romei 1998: 9; Pignatti 2002: 38. 10
The fascinating fact that Lasca was banned from the institution he had founded himself, only to be readmitted after twenty years on the fringes of the official cultural circuit, has elicited a lot of scholarly attention. Although his attachment to the older, joyous poetic activities of the Umidi has never really been ignored, modern critics have hesitated to accept it as a central motivation of his actions. Rather, they have regarded his complicated and unstable relationship with the Accademia Fiorentina either as a consequence of his political stance towards the centralising politics of Cosimo or as a result of Lasca’s personal wish to revolt and innovate. The political explanation of Lasca’s dissent is argued in particular by Michel Plaisance, whose two voluminous articles on the first decade of the Fiorentina have been very influential and extremely valuable for my research: ‘Une première affirmation de la politique culturelle de Côme Ier: la transformation de l’Académie des Humidi en Académie Florentine (1540‐1542)’ (1973/2004) and ‘Culture et politique à Florence de 1542‐1551. Lasca et les Humidi aux prises avec l’Académie Florentine’ (1974/2004). Plaisance has convincingly argued that the transformation of the Accademia degli Umidi into the Accademia Fiorentina is illustrative of Cosimo’s cultural politics, of which we should ‘apprécier la nouveauté et la cohérence’. 23 As a result of these innovative cultural politics, the Accademia Fiorentina became an entirely new phenomenon as well. 24 The transformation process was characterized by major conflicts among the academicians. Plaisance states that academic life became a shadow theatre of political life: the academicians struggled over cultural questions that were in fact political. 25 In line with Plaisance’s political view of the academic field, Lasca’s subversity within that field is also frequently explained as being politically motivated. His distrust of the Accademia Plaisance 2004a: 29. Claudia di Filippo Bareggi underscores this view. In her article ‘In nota alla politica culturale di Cosimo I: L’Accademia Fiorentina’ (1973) she investigates the various rounds of reform in the Fiorentina ‐ its rebaptizing in January 1541, the reforms of 1546, 1547 and 1553 ‐ as part of Cosimo’s politics. 25 Plaisance 2004b: 123: ‘L’Académie [divienne] une sorte de théâtre d’ombre où se d’échargeraient dans le champ culturel les tensions provenant du champ politique’. 23
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Fiorentina is interpreted as if it were the result of republican, anti‐Medicean sentiments. 26 Sources for such an interpretation, however, are scarce and not without ambiguity. In his article ‘L’entrée de Charles Quint à Florence en 1536: les témoignages croisés de Grazzini et de Vasari’, Plaisance describes a letter Lasca wrote to Bernardo Guasconi in which he salutes those who ‘nelle altrui città peregrini vivono’ and wish for news from their hometown. 27 To Plaisance, who surmises that Guasconi was a relative of a fuorusciti captain, this is a veiled salute to the anti‐medicean florentine exiles, a reading he supports by pointing out that Lasca, in the letter, included a description of Charles’ entrance to Florence in which his enthusiasm about Charles is in stark contrast to the coldness he displays towards Alessandro de’ Medici. 28 The argument is certainly not without substance. Lasca was indeed familiar with (men acquainted to) fuorusciti, such as Benedetto Varchi in Padua. 29 Domenico Zanrè furthermore reminds us that Lasca’s name appeared on a list of seventy‐nine men suspected of collusion with fuorusciti in 1536, probably due to his letter to Guasconi and other contacts in Rome and Venice. 30 It should be noted, however, that besides these inconclusive sources of the mid‐
1530s we have no evidence of Lasca having republican sentiments, let alone proof of political engagement that remained constant throughout his life. On the whole, his alleged republican orientation cannot be traced any further than to the late 1530s, the period of Alessandro de’ Medici’s reign. By contrast, Franco Pignatti even reads explicit filo‐medicean sentiments in the very same letter to Guasconi, and states that Lasca was particularly favourable towards Cosimo’s subsequent rise to power. 31 Indeed, his behaviour towards Duke Cosimo, the Academy’s patron, seems to have been as it should be. Plaisance admits as much: he states that although Lasca never agreed to Brown 1974: 106‐107; Zanrè 2004: 59‐60; Plaisance 2005b: 143‐144. Plaisance 2005a: 80. 28 Plaisance 2005b: 144. 29 Zanrè 2004: 59‐60. 30 Ibidem. 31 Pignatti 2002: 34. 26
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Cosimo’s regime as enthusiastically as, for instance, someone like Gelli, he seems to have put some hope in Cosimo. 32 The adulatory sonnets in the initial stage of the Accademia degli Umidi, as well as the plea addressed to the Duke after his expulsion from the Fiorentina ranks, can be regarded as an example of this attitude. Lasca’s feelings towards Francesco I de’ Medici, at a later stage in his career, seem to have been even more favourable. On the whole, the case for Lasca’s political subversity, especially after Cosimo’s accession, is extremely weak. Besides the political explanation of Lasca’s expulsion from the ranks of the Fiorentina and his subsequent marginalisation, scholars have stressed Lasca’s intrinsic rebellious character. J.R. Woodhouse for instance speaks of ‘his brilliant individuality in such a conformist epoch […] going against the grain […] of Florentine political development’. 33 Peter Brown, the biographer of Lionardo Salviati, accuses Lasca of upholding an ‘anti‐authoritarian, anti‐imitation principle per se’. 34 And the very same supposition is the premise of J.R. Rodini’s monograph Antonfrancesco Grazzini. Poet, Dramatist and Novelliere, 1503‐1584 (1970). Rodini regards Lasca as ‘an active force in the growing critical spirit of the late Renaissance.’ His writing functions as ‘a means by which he remained in constant polemic with the Renaissance traditionalists and academicians and that in his writings he sought to bring renewed life to literature’. The poet’s ‘support of literary freedom’ worked as a counterpoise against academic pedantry and traditionalism. Rodini equals Lasca’s criticism to literary innovatism. Though he admits that Lasca’s stylistic innovations are restrained by his provincialism (‘his art expresses a deep nostalgia for Florence’s glorious past’), this fiorentinità does not, according to Rodini, contradict his ‘literary bohemianism’. 35
Zanrè, in Cultural Non‐Conformity in Early Modern Florence (2004), goes even further in supposing that Lasca’s rebellion was a conscious refusal to conform. He suggests that Lasca, together with Alfonso de’ Pazzi, Tullia d’Aragona and Girolamo Plaisance 2005: 21‐22. Woodhouse 1995: 166. 34 Brown 1974: 72. 35 Rodini 1970: XII‐XIV. 32
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Amelonghi, found an ‘alternative cultural venue’ in Tullia’s salon. 36 Zanrè attempts to prove that the four poets ‘were able to produce alternative literary responses within a dominant, officially‐sanctioned cultural milieu that attempted to contain and, in some cases, exclude them’. 37 This argument, however, is unconvincing. Firstly because the denominator ‘cultural non‐conformity’ that binds these four together, is not clearly defined, and thus becomes a receptacle for all sorts of deviation. The second difficulty is a lack of source material: there is simply not enough evidence to support the view that the behaviour of the four poets rose from a collective subversity, let alone that it was organized to find (written) means to counterpoise against a state‐controlled cultural norm. 38
Lasca’s vast body of burlesque poetry satirizing academic life is often taken as evidence of his rebellious disposition. From De’ Bardi’s Diario onwards, Lasca’s name has been primarily associated with this genre, in which he usually is considered second only to Francesco Berni. 39 Lasca himself, too, cultivated his poetic allegiance to Berni. 40 It is questionable, however, whether his mastery over the burlesque really signifies a rebellious spirit. Indeed, Lasca was not averse to writing more conventional, lyric poetry, and by occasion even called Petrarch his first master. In Rodini’s words, Lasca was always torn between the irreconcilable ambitions to ‘prove his worth as a Petrarchist’ and to ‘follow in the footsteps of Berni’. 41 Considering this apparent contradiction in Lasca’s oeuvre, which includes the very genres he criticizes elsewhere, Rodini attributes his exercises in traditional Italian poetry as the result of ‘envy he felt in the presence of his enemies, the pedants’ and a wish to show that his talent was not Zanrè 2004: 2. Ibidem: 1. 38 See also: Werner 2005: passim. Giorgio Masi, who provided the most elaborate and critical study on Alfonso de’ Pazzi so far, denounces Zanrè’s suggestion of Pazzi’s cultural non‐conformity (Masi 2007: 304n). In chapter 2, I will discuss Pazzi’s authoritative position in Florence cultural life. 39 Rodini 1970: XII. Rodini (1970: 78) underscores that to his contemporaries Lasca was primarily known as a poet, especially of humourous verse; his comedies enjoyed rather limited succes, and probably only a few friends were allowed to read his Cene. Yet, as Silvia Longhi (1983: 18) notes, his burlesque work was not published in his own time. 40 For a discussion of Lasca’s dept to Berni, see: Reynolds 1981: passim. 41 Rodini 1970: 80. 36
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inferior to theirs. 42 Lasca’s burlesque poetry on the other hand, Rodini equates with an anti‐academic, anti‐literary and anti‐pedantic attitude. 43
Lasca obviously was a critical spirit within the early Fiorentina, but the idea of him being a wilful non‐conformist throughout is unsustainable. Lasca repeatedly showed that he very much wanted to be a part of established literary life, and he suffered a lot from the fact that he was banned from it. If he was a rebel at all, he came to be one despite himself. The changing academic climate was his bad luck. He was forced into the role of non‐conformist in the Fiorentina of the 1540s because he had set his own standards of literary life long before Cosimo I even came to Florence, and these standards became old‐fashioned and out of employ within the Fiorentina. As a consequence, he was going against the current during the 1540s and 1550s of Cosimo’s reign. This changed in the 1560s, when Lasca found connection to a new generation and the official cultural circuit. Only then, in the late years of his career, he was able to employ the burlesque genre to great effect, and was readmitted to the Fiorentina. By the time Francesco I had risen to power, he was able to foster his ideals as an academician and a poet in a broader circuit. The founding of the Accademia della Crusca shows that at that point he even seems to have gained a particular prestige. In contrast to Rodini, I hold that Lasca’s use of an anti‐genre did not make him into ‘anti’ throughout. Although ‘il peso dei modelli si fa potente, talora minaccioso e oppressivo’ in the sixteenth‐century, as Antonio Corsaro stresses, 44 the contradiction which strikes modern readers of Lasca may not have been as problematic at all in Renaissance culture. Recent studies on ‘irregolarità’ have underlined that the relationship between genre and anti‐genre, or ‘modelli e antimodelli’ was far more complex than Rodini supposes, 45 and it is no great exaggeration to say that practicing both was rather a conventional thing to do. Rodini 1970: 80. Ibidem: 78‐92. 44 Corsaro 2007: 9. 45 See for instance: Corsaro 1999: passim; Cinquecento capriccioso 1999: passim. Autorità 2007: passim; http://www.nuovorinascimento.org/cinquecentoplurale [last accessed: 3 February 2009]. 42
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If anything, the ‘anti’ in Lasca’s person and poetry is no indicator of an essentially ideological or political subversity. How then should we interpret his ambivalent relationship with the Fiorentina? Corsaro has put forward an approach to the complex interplay between models and anti‐models that seems quite applicable to Lasca’s case. He warns against interpreting these parameters in a strictly ideological sense. Instead the sixteenth‐century canone (the models) should be regarded as the result of ‘una serie di norme’ that are concerned with forms and practice rather than with the ethical, political or religious field. In line with this, Corsaro suggests that ‘[L]a dialettica dell’antimodello sarà allora da vedere nel senso di una dialettica delle forme’. 46 In this book I propose, building on Corsaro’s stress on the essence of ‘form’ when studying anti‐models, to regard Lasca’s polemic attitude within the early Fiorentina as a consequence of poetic and institutional preferences: preferences of form. His uncompromising view on the organization of literary life was a driving force behind his actions and reactions in the Florentine academic field. Lasca’s poetry became a tool to maintain his position within the academic circuit. Not just to rebel: this book aims to show how the interaction between poetics and social‐institutional circumstances determined Lasca’s contemporary reputation. To Lasca, poetry was an important instrument within literary gatherings, both the formal and the informal ones. The majority of his poems, if not all, were composed within the context of organized literary life. To study its function and functioning, this thesis will combine an analysis of his burlesque poetry with the analysis of institutional sources of the three Academies in which he was involved. The book is divided into two parts. On the one hand, in chapters 1 and 2, it investigates how the institutional context in which Lasca operated shaped his poetry. On the other hand, in chapters 3 and 4, it details how Lasca brought his poetry into play in order to further his academic position. The Interlude focusses on the informal circuit in which Lasca performed in the 1540s. It specifies the circles Lasca called tornatella, brigata or sequente, in which more obscure Corsaro 2007: 9‐10. 46
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figures such as Miglior Visino the poet‐singer, il Barlacchi the actor, Ciano the profumiere, and the Della Fonte brothers were key figures. In short, this book studies how Lasca’s social position in the Accademia Fiorentina and his burlesque poetry were intertwined. In four chapters I shall examine Lasca’s position within the academic world of Florence and centre upon those periods that led to a turning point in his career as an academician. The first defining moment, obviously, is the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi in 1540 and Lasca’s (short) functioning as one of the poet‐academicians of that Academy. The second chapter covers the longer timespan of approximately six years that led to Lasca’s expulsion. Chapter 3, subsequently, investigates his expulsion from the ranks of the Fiorentina in 1547. The process of his academic reintegration preceding 1566, the year of his readmission, is studied in Chapter 4. A fifth turning point, the founding of the Accademia della Crusca (1583), falls outside the scope of this study, which focuses primarily on the Accademia Fiorentina. Still, the founding and focus of the Accademia della Crusca have implications for Lasca’s views on poetry even in his early career, and shall therefore be shortly considered in the epilogue. From a biographical point of view, the choice of five isolated moments is obviously debatable, as I have chosen to omit a significant part of Lasca’s literary career of almost twenty years (1548‐ca. 1564). For my purposes, however, this period, however productive it was, is less relevant because Lasca was not formally involved with the Accademia Fiorentina. On top of that, the one documented dispute between Lasca and the Academy that did arise in these years is conspicuously absent in Lasca’s burlesque poetry. The clash between Lasca and the censori, which began in February 1559, must have bothered him though. Lasca had compiled his third poetry collection, the Tutti i trionfi, carri, mascheaate (sic) ò canti carnascialeschi andati per Firenze dal tempo del magnifico Lorenzo vecchio de Medici: quando egli hebbero primo cominciamento per infino a questo anno presente 1559, that, as the title reveals, gave an overview of the Florentine production of carnival songs from the times of Lorenzo de’ Medici until the present day. Soon after its printing, however, Paolo dell’Ottonajo filed a formal complaint with the Duke, because he thought Lasca had meddled with the original spelling of the songs written by his 17
brother, Giovambattista dell’Ottonajo. The consul of the Accademia Fiorentina immediately prohibited sale of the edition, and the copies were sequestrated until further notice. The following proceedings took nearly two years, until January 1561, and eventually Dell’Ottonajo’s poems were simply cut from the 495 copies, after which they could finally be sold. 47 This conflict would have made an interesting subject for my purposes, had not Lasca remained remarkably silent on the matter. Apart from a furious letter to Luca Martini on 22 Februari 1559 in which he defends himself from the allegations laid on him and urges Martini to put in a good word with the Duke, he ignored the affair in his writing. 48 In itself, this silence is interesting. Was the Fiorentina to such an extent dominant and repressive that he did not risk responding in his usual way? Did he not have a suitable platform for poetic retorts? Did he feel it was in his best interest to keep silent? For the time being, I would suggest a bit of all three. Chapter 1 focuses on the origins of Lasca’s career as an academician. A close examination of the Libro, Capitoli Compositioni et Leggi, della Accademia degli Humydi di Firenze (hereafter Libro) 49 reveals that the poetic activities of the Umidi, and of Lasca in particular, often had a performative character. The Umidian stress on entertainment and joy has hitherto prompted scholars to characterize the Academy as a cursory, informal society without serious ambitions. Analysis of the poems included in the Libro, however, shows that the poetic performances, besides entertaining, were the continuation of an eminent Florentine literary and festive culture and as such, aimed at the continuation of that cultural heritage. Lasca’s guoco [sic] delle polizze, a poetic game that was traditionally staged on the evening of Epiphany, and the Umidian poetry contests in which Lasca participated show how this legacy was preserved through practicing poetic skills and stimulating discussion. See, for an overview of the entire process: Grazzini 1882: XVII‐XXII; The first record on the question in the Annali dates 15 February 1558 (s.f.) (Annali, III, c. 74); the final remark can be traced on 21 January 1560 (s.f.) (ibidem, c. 81v). 48 Grazzini 1857: 37. 49 Preserved in manuscript: Florence, BNCF, Magl. II, IV, 1; A description and partial transcription of the entire codex are published in: Bartoli 1883: 201‐278; other (short) descriptions are rendered in: Grazzini 1882: LXVII‐LXVIII; Guasti 1857: 13‐70; Fiorelli 1956: 177‐210; some of its pages have been published in photographs in: Zanrè 2004: 49‐52. 47
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The institutional outlines of the Accademia degli Umidi serve as a point of departure for the second chapter, which seeks to understand the transition period within the Accademia Fiorentina in the 1540s. This chapter will show that the continuation of Umidian poetic practices within the Fiorentina increasingly collided with the political mission that was gradually forced on the Fiorentina. Academic practice simply did not keep up with mental and institutional changes, as a result of which the Academy was far from coherent in its early years. This argument is in keeping with Judith Bryce’s view on the initial disorder in the Fiorentina. In her illuminating article, ‘The oral world of the Florentine academy’ (1995), Bryce depicts the Academy as a society in which ‘the highly literate, text‐based, elite culture of humanism is reinforced and also profoundly modified by printing, but within a matrix of persistent orality, both cultured and popular’. 50 She proposes that ‘the complex interaction of degrees of orality and literacy [...] provides a useful key to a better understanding of an institution such as the Florentine Academy founded at a moment, not just of political transition […], but also of significant social and cultural change’. 51 This chapter will argue that the poems Lasca addressed to Alfonso de’ Pazzi exemplify this interaction. Although the Annali dell’Accademia Fiorentina (Annali) and the Capitoli della nuova riforma (Capitoli) show that poetic performances increasingly came under pressure, 52 Lasca’s poems to Pazzi show that uncontrollable and potentially polemic practice was still in use. In Lasca’s view, this was at the core of academic debate. In chapters 3 and 4, the mechanisms of the burlesque and Lasca’s use of them are brought into play more explicitly. The third chapter contextualizes the comic‐heroic epic La Guerra de’ Mostri (1547) and its dedication to Stradino. A revised dating of this epic shows that it appeared in the midst of the heated polemic about the academic reforms carried out by the ‘Aramei’, the group of men related to Cosimo’s court that was responsible for the take‐over of the Fiorentina. But instead of being a straightforward Bryce 1995: 80. Ibidem: 79. 52 Preserved only in manuscript: Annali dell’Accademia Fiorentina: Florence, BMF, B III 52, I‐III; Capitoli dell’Accademia Fiorentina, preserved in manuscript: Florence, BNCF, Magl. IX, 91; published in: Bareggi 1973: 548‐570. 50
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attack on this particular group, as Plaisance and others hold with regard to this poem, La Guerra de’ Mostri resists being fitted into a dichotomized scheme of the Academy. The two ‘champs culturels’ envisaged by Plaisance simply do not exist in the poem, as the twelve monsters portrayed in La Guerra mock both Lasca’s alleged enemies and friends. This complexity is caused by the ambivalent position many former Umidi held within the Academy. Hence, in the dedication to the epic Lasca makes an explicit appeal to those who had once formed the heart of the Umidi not to forget their poetic culture in times of serious oppression. Both the dedication and the epic employ male erotic imagery, personal mockery and literary parody to create an atmosphere of intimacy that was meant to revive the poetic spirit of the Umidi. Similar mechanisms of establishing bonds can be detected in a cluster of poems that Lasca composed in the 1560s. In these poems, Lasca employed a language of male erotic imagery that was to create social cohesion within a particular group of men of letters. This group gathered in two villa’s in the Florentine campagna: Raffaello de’ Medici’s Ligliano and Giovanbatista Cini’s Le Rose. Zanrè has convincingly argued that Lasca’s contacts with Raffaello de’ Medici and literary courtship in general helped him to reintegrate in the official cultural circuit. 53 Chapter 4 seeks to elaborate on that argument by showing how Raffaello was part of a broader group of younger males subject to the courtship by Lasca in which the villas were of central importance both as actual meeting points and as a literary theme. The Annali provide interesting information on some of hitherto unknown persons in this circle of villa friends. Lasca’s role within this circle was that of the poeta di casa, who entertained the company in the villas and as such created cohesion. Lasca, then, carefully positioned himself within a group of literary men who, as a whole, disposed of the capacities to be admitted to the Fiorentina in 1566. Lasca’s readmission, therefore, was not just a risky initiative of consul Salviati, as Peter Brown has sustained, but the result of a longer process of Zanrè 2004: 70‐78. 53
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reintegration he himself had directed, by employing a poetic language that depended on the pastoral themes of the villeggiatura. 54
In the 1560s, Lasca had created the conditions to eventually acquire the reputation of a senior poet of a highly regarded, Florentine tradition. The gradual cultural rehabilitation of Lasca and his poetry culminated shortly after his death, when his reputation reached unprecedented heights in the Accademia della Crusca, the academy he himself had founded. In the 1580s, Lasca became the champion of the burlesque and joyous pastime, again within the ambitious frame of preserving a Florentine poetic culture. In the Epilogue, I will sketch the processes that facilitated this reappraisal. Salviati’s representation of Lasca in one of the first Cruscan publications, a key work for their image‐building, shows that Lasca’s poetics had not changed since he first started his academic career as one of the Umidi. Brown 1974: 106‐108. 54
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Part 1 Academic Practice and Poetry
Chapter 1 Practice and Performance. Lasca’s Umidian Poetics (1540‐1541) This chapter returns to the very beginning of Lasca’s academic career to establish the groundwork of his institutional and poetic preferences. In order to show in detail the institutional context of his works in the very early 1540s, his participation in both the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia and the Accademia degli Umidi will be explored. Lasca’s participation in the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia is considered to be representative of the festive spirit of many of his activities in the early 1540s. The Accademia degli Umidi, as its name suggests, combines this festive culture with ambition: the promotion of the vernacular, and the advancement of a performative literary culture that was particularly popular and practised in Florence. This two‐track Umidian base is of central importance to our understanding of the internal struggle that unsettled the Academy during and after its transformation into the Accademia Fiorentina under the aegis of Cosimo I de’ Medici. Furthermore, it sheds a different light on Lasca’s pivotal role in the resistance towards the reforms carried out in the academic clash that occurred the course of the 1540s. 25 Lasca and the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia (circa 1540) While Lasca’s pioneering role in the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi is extensively recorded in contemporary sources, his participation in other literary societies in the 1530s and 1540s remains rather obscure. Still, that too is partly reconstructable (see the Interlude), and relevant to our understanding of his view on literary culture in the Accademia degli Umidi. Lasca was active in several festive confraternities. Franco Pignatti assumes that he had connections with the Compagnia di San Domenico, also named ‘del Bechello’, and the Compagnia di San Sebastiano, since Lasca refers to these confraternities on some occasions and was connected to some of their alleged members. 1 Documentation on sixteenth‐century Florentine festive companies is rare, however, and nothing is certain about the membership, nature and activities of these two companies. 2 It is certain though that Lasca took part in the gatherings of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia, composing numerous contributions between 1540 and 1543. Obviously, his attachment to this company was quite firm, and it is likely that this period is representative of his early poetic views. But what did the company do? In the absence of archival records of its gatherings, it is difficult to answer that question in great detail. Contemporary references to its practice are few and not much to build on. 3 However, texts composed for the use of the company by Lasca, Alfonso de’ Pazzi, Giovambattista Gelli and Iacopo Bientina have survived. In this paragraph these contributions will be investigated. When put together, we do catch a glimpse of the company’s practice. According to a capitolo by Alfonso de’ Pazzi, the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia, which was also known as the Compagnia di San Lorenzo in Palco, dates from as early as 1400 (‘intorno al 1400 di salute’), when some men decided to join a hermit (‘un romito’) Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming). I am indebted to Franco Pignatti for showing me the results of his research, to be published shortly. 2 In the octave ‘In lode della Compagnia di San Bastiano’, Lasca depicts a company that was both theatrical and musical, and that was occupied with theatrical performances during the Lenten period. See: Ottava XCVI, in: Grazzini 1882: 426‐427. On the involvement of artists in the Compagnia di San Sebastiano, see: Pilliod 2001: 91‐94. 3 References to the Cicilia can be found in: D’Ancona 1966: I, 409‐411; Bryce 1995: 91; Nosow 2002: 193; Castellani 2006: 99, 258‐260; Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming); for the involvement of artists in the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia (Pontormo in particular), see: Pilliod 2001: 85‐88. 1
26 who led a contemplative life in the hills up at Fiesole. 4 Although the company had its principal seat in the monastery of the Florentine church Santa Maria Novella, 5 Fiesole remained the actual location for their gatherings. The oratory where the company celebrated holy feasts such as the Annunciation and Holy Day can still be visited. 6 In the life of Pontormo by Vasari, the Fiesolan oratory is mentioned as well. Vasari describes that the painter decorated the door of the company in the hills of Fiesole with a Saint Cecilia: ‘Et in sul poggio di Fiesole sopra la porta della Compagnia della Cecilia una Santa Cecilia colorita in fresco con alcune rose in mano, tanto belle, e tanto bene in quel luogo accomodata, che per quanto ell’è, delle buone opere che si possano vedere in fresco’. 7 Alleged members of the Cicilia were Miglior Visino (to whom we will return below), Giovambattista Gelli, and Matteo Sofferroni, who was related to the painter Alessandro Allori. 8 Perhaps Niccolò Martelli, who was also one of the founding members of the Accademia degli Umidi, was a participant as well. Alfonso de’ Pazzi (to whose reputation as a poet‐singer we will return in chapter 2) at any rate was a key figure. 9 It is generally assumed that the company was a lay confraternity, 10 the religious duties of which were often translated into festive enjoyments. Aldo Castellani, who investigated Alfonso de’ Pazzi’s songs for the Cicilia, states that the compagnia was ‘dedita all’organizzazione di banchetti, durante i quali venivano dati spettacoli’. 11 But the compagnia was more than the theatrical confraternity Castellani seems to make of it. Castellani (2006: 258) found the capitolo in BNCF, Magl. VII, 534, cc. 111r‐116r. Considering this location, contact with the academicians of the Fiorentina was on hand, for they had their seat in the Sala del Papa of the same monastery from early 1541 onwards (Bareggi 1973: 535). 6 Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming). Vanni Bramanti is currently working on an analysis of a carnival song by Alfonso de’ Pazzi, which apparently was sung in a procession all the way up from the Santa Maria Novella to the oratory in Fiesole. I kindly thank him for pointing out to me the actual seat of the Cicilia in Fiesole. A commemorative plaque marks the small building which today houses a sanitorium for Fiesolan monks. 7 Vasari 1991: 1012. Bryce (1995: 91) refers to this fragment. The fresco by Pontormo has not survived, sketches of his Saint Cecilia, however, did. See: Pilliod 2001: 85‐87. 8 Bryce 1995: 91. The Libro contains a ‘canzonetta composta da Giouambat.a Gelli della Achademia fiorentina de gl’Humidi recitata per gl’ordinatori della Cicilia di fiesole’ (Bartoli 1883: 242). 9 Nosow (2002: 193) uncloses a pasquinata which refers to Pazzi in his capacity as the ‘governatore’ of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia. 10 Castellani 2006: 258; Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming). 11 Castellani 2006: 258. 4
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27 A letter Niccolò Martelli wrote to Alessandro Davanzati in 1546, by then for the third time ‘governatore’ of the company, implies that singing and making music was as important an activity as staging comedies: 12 e imprima gli offitii del culto divino con divotione (in detto luogo) sempre havete fatti osservar et solennemente cantare con le musiche et con le commedie honeste secondo la qualità de’ tempi: e ‘l pasto intra i fratelli che si costuma di fare sono stati bene ordinati. This citation also shows that the Cicilia gatherings could contain elements of liturgical ceremonies. In this respect, its religious and profane activities are illustrative for the Florentine festive tradition in both private and public settings. The activities of convivial compagnie, confraternities or confraternity‐like societies, covered both the cultural and the religious fields. An illustrative example of such a society in Florence is the Compagnia della Cazzuola. In an article on the members and activities of the Compagnia musicologist Anthony Cummings proves that it was foremost musically inclined, and as such involved in public festive activities like the staging of carnival songs and theater. 13 A description of a gathering of this confraternity in Vasari’s life of Giovan Francesco Rusticci, shows that in private the company used to organize carnivalesque banquets including comedies. 14 As said, Lasca’s participation in the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia dates from an early stage in his career. In 1540, he wrote his ‘Oratione exortatoria recitata per uno Romito nella Compagnia della Cicilia di Fiesole’ presented for the festa della santa (on 22 November). 15 Pignatti claims that besides his poetic oration, Lasca’s lost spiritual Pignatti (2009 forthcoming) has quoted part of this letter from Martelli 1546: 86‐87. One comedy performed for the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia indeed has remained, L’Inganno, by Jacopo da Bientina. This play describes how monks of the neighbouring convent of Saint Francis tried to confiscate property of the Cicilia. See for fragments and description: D’Ancona 1966: 409‐410n and Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming). 13 Cummings 1996: passim. 14 Cited in: Ibidem: 203‐205. 15 Included in the Libro (Bartoli 1883: 240‐241). 12
28 comedies were probably created for the Cicilia as well. 16 This also holds for twelve spiritual sonnets that are recorded in the Libro. Their location is telling: immediately after Lasca’s oration, his carnival song ‘di notai andati alla Cicilia’ and a canzonetta ‘recitata per gl’ordinatori della Cicilia di Fiesole’ by Gelli. 17 Other canti carnascialeschi by Lasca that were staged before the Cicilia were: ‘Canto delle Ninfe’, ‘delle Lavandaje’ (1543), ‘dei Lanzi Cuochi’, ‘de’ Pescatori’, ‘Noi siam, come vedete, donne sante’, ‘Amor profano’. 18 Lastly, to complete the list, Lasca composed a capitolo for the confraternity (‘il Capitolo cantato da un angelo in Compagnia’). 19 In these texts, composed for entertainment during the Cicilia banquets, we see the mixture of the sacred and the profane that is so characteristic of Florence’s lay confraternities. D’Ancona, in his time, suggested that the ‘Capitolo cantato da un angelo in Compagnia’ was performed together with the carnival song ‘Amor profano’, and that the ‘Orazione recitata per un Romito’ preceded the ‘Canto de’ Notai’. 20 The singers of the carnival songs, dressed as the nymphs, laundry women, or fishermen alluded to in the titles, all present food or other supplies necessary to prepare a meal. 21 The nymphs, for instance, sent to the company by Diana, present fowl and the heads of bears and boars caught during hunts in the woods. 22 Something similar happens in Pazzi’s song for the Cicilia, the ‘Canto dei Contadini’, when the farmers come and visit the company, bringing prodotti di campagna such as wine, vegetables and pastry: 23 Perché e’ v’aggradi il vin vermiglio e il bianco, fritelle vi portiàn col ramero 16 Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming). In the inventory list of his works, drawn up by Lasca in 1566, four spiritual comedies are included: La Croce, o santa Helena; Santa Appollonia; Santa Caterina; Santa Orsola (see: Grazzini 1882: CXXIII). 17 Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming); Bartoli 1883: 240‐244. The ‘Canto di notai’ is published in: Grazzini 1882: 210‐
211. Gelli’s song is published in: Agenore Gelli 1855: 157 (according to Bartoli 1883: 242n). 18 Lasca did not include these canti in his edition of Tutti i Trionfi, Canti carnascialeschi, Mascherate andate per Firenze (1559). Bracci however did, in his reprint of 1750. Verzone (in: Grazzini 1882: 210‐214, 217‐219) also published the seven carnival songs for the Cicilia. 19 D’Ancona 1966 [1891]: 410. 20 Ibidem. 21 Castellani (2006: 258) describes this function of the carnival song in the preparation of supper. 22 Canto carnascialesco XXXIV, vv. 18‐24, in: Grazzini 1882: 214. 23 For an annotated transcription and comment of the entire canto, see: Castellani 2006: 258‐260, ivi vv. 11‐19. 29 e di più colto abbiamo insalata odorifera e fiorita che dà a questi tempi all’uom la vita. Cose noi vi portiàn, o buon fratelli, dolci sottili e ben fatti crespelli, sparagi in iscodella vi portiamo ed arete da questa nostra ruvida cappella. Erotic double‐meanings were abundantly present in these poems. 24 This particular, carnivalesque imagery underlines the convivial character of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia and its roots in the Florentine festive culture. The nature and activities of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia represent in a nutshell Lasca’s inclinations as a writer. The generic diversity and the festive character of his texts for the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia were to be continued all through his career. Correspondingly, Cicilia practice, or indeed, that of Florentine festive companies in general, reverberates in the programme of the Accademia degli Umidi upon which Lasca put his stamp. The following paragraphs will investigate the institutional foundations of the Accademia degli Umidi in the first – and only – months of its existence. The Umidian Mission The founding of the Accademia degli Umidi marked the beginning of Lasca’s academic life. This initiative rendered a formal constitution to the gatherings held on a regular basis in the house of Giovanni Mazzuoli, also named ‘lo Stradino’, in the Via San Gallo. 25 Central to these gatherings was Stradino’s library, a large collection of books and manuscripts, mostly in vernacular. Stradino had set himself up as the mentor of a circle of younger poets, the so‐called ‘tornatella’, in which Lasca was a key figure (for the outlines and inclinations of the tornatella, see the Interlude). Lasca’s role in the Castellani explains that most of the products and their adjectives refer to homo‐erotic relationships. Maracchi Biagiarelli 1982: 51n; Plaisance 2004a: 57. 24
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30 Accademia degli Umidi can be deduced from the so‐called Libro, in which he was dominantly present. In this manuscript, both the institutional premises and the activities organized by the original circle of Umidi prior to the Academy’s transformation into Accademia Fiorentina are recorded. A second manuscript that records the foundation is that of the official annals of the Accademia Fiorentina, the Annali. 26 Obviously, both manuscripts served a different goal. When the Academy was renamed on 31 January 1541 (1540 s.f.), only three months after its founding, the Annali presented a reconstruction of this period which completely ignored the tensions. 27 The objective of the secretary must have been to provide the Fiorentina with a suitable, well‐structured and harmonious start. Also, the original mission statements and statutes of the Umidi are neglected. Analysis of the Libro, by contrast, sheds light on the practice of the circle of poets that organized themselves under the name of Accademia degli Umidi. Hence, to reconstruct Lasca’s early academic experiences, as well as his views on the organization of an Academy, we need to turn to the Libro. The Libro can be regarded as the ‘voice of the Umidi’. 28 In the book, the first gatherings at Stradino’s house, the first year of the Academy and the gradual change in orientation are drawn up, revealing the internal struggle caused by the reforms. 29 The Libro consists of statutes, membership rolls, beautifully decorated pages with the coats of arms with small imprese of the founders and the Medici family, and ‘portraits’ of the Academy’s literary examples. It also includes a short description of the changes made after the admittance of new members. This part of the Libro was drawn up in the first weeks of the Academy’s existence. The largest part, however, consists of the literary, predominantly poetic, production of the members. This segment broadly covers a period of one year, and continues even after the name change of the Academy, as on the final pages it includes a reference to a ‘ragionamento’ by parting consul Giovanni Strozzi on Annali dell’Accademia Fiorentina: BMF, B III 52, I‐III. Zanrè 2004: 34‐36. 28 Bareggi 1973: 533; Zanrè 2004: 19. 29 See for instance two sonnets on the name change of the Academy: ‘Sonetto mandato allo Stradino in lode del Sciocho Nome de Gl’Humidi’ (‘sciocho’ is added in a different hand) and ‘Sonetto del nome Humydo allo Stradino. l’Humido si rammarica dello Stradino Innocente’ (Bartoli 1883: 239‐240). 26
27
31 25 March 1542. 30 The binding of the Libro also includes a decree of Cosimo I of 11 February 1541 (1540 s.f.) that confirms the first reforms, three months after the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi, and sanctions the renaming as Fiorentina and the admission of another 42 members. 31 The function of the Libro is established in the statutes. Compositions were to be drawn up under the name of the individual authors: ‘Ma che bene a Libro si scriuino Co il Nome di Colui o, di Coloro che gli hanno Composti’. 32 This could not happen unauthorized, however; the members’ writings could only be reproduced in the Libro if regarded worthy to be put forward in name of the Academy: 33
Anchora che chi uolessi scriuere alcuna Particulare Compositione Possa in Nome suo proprio e a suo Piacimento Ma non Possa comporre nel cognome della Accademia ne mandarle fuora se non si sono prima lette uiste et corrette dalli Consoli deputati o da i Censori che saranno. Hence, the works included in the ‘Compositioni’ part can be regarded as representative for the Umidian poetic spirit. To the poetics we will turn at the end of this chapter, after having defined the Umidian mission and practice. The Libro demonstrates that the daily practice of the Accademia degli Umidi was founded upon two notions. The first was the Umidian view on the vernacular. The Florentine debate on the vernacular was stimulated by the Paduan initiative for founding an Academy by the Infiammati (June 1540). As of the 1520s Italy, but Padua in particular, had been under the spell of Pietro Bembo, (1470‐1547), author of Prose della volgar lingua (1525), one of the most influential treatises on the question of the language. He was the pivotal figure of a circle of intellectuals associated to the Paduan university, until he left the city in 1529. Like many men of letters who resided in Padua, the Florentines Benedetto Varchi and his friends Carlo Strozzi and Ugolino Martelli, were Bartoli 1883: 275. Since the decree is drawn up on the cover of the codex, it is not indicative of the chronology of the recordings. 32 Ibidem: 204. 33 Ibidem. 30
31
32 influenced by Bembo’s linguistic theory. They were in close touch with a substantial part of the founding Umidi: Lasca, Stradino, Niccolò and Gismondo Martelli, and Luca Martini, who entered the Accademia degli Umidi on 14 November 1540. Through his letters Varchi kept them informed of the Paduan situation, of the founding of the Academy, in which he seems to have been a key figure, and of the series of lectures he delivered before the Infiammati. 34 Sherberg has argued that the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi was a polemical response to the events in Padua: ‘by their very name the Umidi signalled a desire to put out the fire set by their northern rivals’. 35 The Umidi started a trend by institutionalising a view that was to become dominant in the Florentine academic environment. Where Bembo and the Infiammati selected the language of Petrarch as a model for poetry and that of Boccaccio for prose, the Florentines felt a need to designate Dante to rival the primacy of Petrarch. While the Bembists devalued spoken Florentine as a polluted version of the effective style of the written language by the Tuscan authors, the Florentines defended the oral language of Florence against an exclusively written variant. The Umidi held the language of the ‘tre corone’ ‐ Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio – and the spoken Florentine as an exemplary vernacular for the whole of Italy, in doing so reclaiming their literary heritage from the Paduans. 36 However, the Bembist view on the vernacular was also represented in the Fiorentina, especially after the return to Florence of Varchi, Strozzi and Ugolino Martelli. The Umidian attempt to retrieve the Florentine dominance in the debate from Bembo and the Infiammati is reflected in the Libro. A statute prescribes the function of the laureates as objects of study ‘quando a i detti Consoli o Rettori uenga bene di far leggere exporre Sonetti o altre Compositioni Del Petrarca o d’alcuno Altro Lodato Toscano Compositore’. 37 The exemplary function of the laurelled poets headed by Petrarch is underlined in one of the illustrated pages in the beginning of the Libro. It Samuels 1976: 625‐627; on Varchi and Martini, see: Plaisance 2004a: 31‐36. Sherberg 2003: 27. 36 Bruni 1987: 45‐50, 59‐62. 37 Bartoli 1883: 203‐204. 34
35
33 shows four Tuscan poets, flanked by their names and stemma: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, and the forgotten Zanobi da Strada. 38 Though the presence of this fourth poet among the fourteenth‐century Tuscan authors is somewhat obscure, it is indicative of the Umidian Florentine mission on the vernacular. Zanobi da Strada was born in 1315, as a son of Giovanni Mazzuoli. This Mazzuoli came from Strada, near Florence, and held a public school in the city, where he taught grammar to Boccaccio. 39 Zanobi acquired even greater fame than his father. Through his poetry, he became acquainted to Charles IV in Naples and was crowned with laurels by the emperor in Pisa in 1355. He wrote works in Latin and translated various texts into the vernacular, as, for example, I Morali di San Gregorio. It was, however, not just Zanobi’s and his father’s services to the vernacular that brought about the poet’s presence in the Libro. Stradino, padre of the Umidi, claimed that he descended from Zanobi and added his genealogical tree to several of the manuscripts he collected. 40 Surely Zanobi was presented in the Libro primarily to do him a favour. 41 Nevertheless, considering the wish for a Florentine answer to Bembo, picturing Zanobi as an exemplary model had a second function. In sixteenth‐century Florence, Zanobi was probably not the minor poet he is to us now. Villani points out that a sumptuous monument was erected to Zanobi in the Santa Maria del Fiore, an honour that only befell the greatest of Florentine authors, among whom of course Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. 42 By adding Zanobi, who also happened to be an early example of a volgare‐
translator, to the ‘tre corone’, Stradino and the Umidi formulated a pre‐eminently Florentine base for the debate on the vernacular. Bartoli 1883: 202. For biographical information on Zanobi, see: Negri 1722: 536‐537; Villani 1826: 307; Zambrini 1837: 315; Inghirami 1844: vol. 14, 154. 40 Maracchi Biagiarelli 1982: 52; Villani (1826: 308) discovered a manuscript in the Biblioteca Magliabechiana containing a note in the binding which represented a genealogical tree connecting Stradino to Zanobi: ‘Questo libro è di me Giovanni di Domenico di Giovanni di Mazzetto di Mazzuolo di messer Francesco di ser Giovanni Mazzuoli da Strata gramatico, che fu maestro di messer Giovanni Boccaccio, e padre di messer Zanobi da Strada, poeta laureato per l’imperadore’. 41 As is also presumed by Plaisance 2004a: 70n. 42 Villani 1826: 315n. 38
39
34 A second statute that was vital for the organization of the Academy, states the Umidi’s academic mission: 43
E perche questa nostra accademia degli humidi e creata per passatempo vogliamo e intendiamo che la sia del tutto liBera e non uogliamo Le incomodita e inpossibilita di Persone che con questa conditione S e fondata afinche La Possa durare e che La Noia Non sia Cagione di desuiare si honesto Passatempo. The notion of freedom in this mission statement can easily be understood as ‘democratic’, and was accounted for on various levels. It was apparent in the rules for membership, which were unrestricted, and it was reflected in the random appointment of board members, to which every member had equal right and opportunity. 44 Furthermore the Umidi insisted on being free to express their opinion in discussions and to freely comment on the works of colleagues: ‘et che ognuno ne possa dir liBeramente il Parere Suo’. 45 The element of discussion and commentary of poetry and other texts was vital to the gatherings, as we shall see in the paragraphs on the Umidian practice. The fact that the Umidi regarded academic life as ‘passatempo’ has repeatedly been seized as a reason to downplay the originality and level of ambition of the Academy. Too often the gatherings of the Umidi have been regarded as an example of informal and cursory meetings that were common in Italy in the early sixteenth century. 46 Bareggi, for instance, claims that the Accademia degli Umidi was ‘[a] 43 Bartoli 1883: 204. Emphasis added. Zanrè (2004: 51) has reproduced this page of the Libro photographically. 44 The wish to extend the number of members was expressed in the statutes: ‘Il Numero degli Accademici sia Indeterminato’. (Bartoli 1883: 203) The statutes also imply that the election of the consul was entirely democratic and arbitrary: ‘Della creatione delli dua Consoli si faccia in questo modo che s imborsino tutti gli accademici, et traghinsi de l’urna A sorta e quali debbino sedere dua mesi e non più’ (ibidem: 204). The same procedure was followed for the election of the proveditore and cancellieri. 45 Ibidem. Emphasis added. 46 David Chambers, in an often quoted article on the ‘earlier’ academies in Italy, states that the word ‘accademia’ was used from the late fifteenth century onwards to refer to ‘networks of literary associates and friends, informal groupings – often short‐lived – located in a particular city, villa, palace or household’ (Chambers 1995: 13). A 1530 letter by Pietro Aretino to Federico Gonzaga, duke of Mantua, shows how fast these academies proliferated throughout Italy. Aretino ironically describes his surprise that ‘an academy, for exchanging the latest jokes, had not been founded in Mantua as in other places’. Original fragment: ‘mi maraviglio che anche costì non nasca qualche accademia di ciarlamenti nuovi, come a Modena e a Brescia non pure a Siena’ (paraphrased and cited by: Ibidem, based on: Aretino 1960: 34). 35 Florentine circle of friends, hardly more original than the numerous others that came into being virtually everywhere throughout Italy in the sixteenth‐century’. 47 Maylender’s encyclopaedic but outdated Storia delle accademie d’Italia, though not very detailed on the Accademia degli Umidi, has commented that ‘it did not have much importance on its own account, since it lasted only three months and some days’. 48 Though Maylender is probably right in suggesting that the Accademia degli Umidi would not have attracted as much attention had it not been the predecessor of the Accademia Fiorentina, he misjudges its importance. The Accademia degli Umidi was actually quite ambitious in respect to its level of institutionalisation. 49 The founding of the Academy was after all in large measure modelled after the Paduan Accademia degli Infiammati, and this Paduan Academy had a formal constitution, with a principe, regular meetings and an avowed mission. 50 Even more significant in respect to the Umidian aspirations for the continuity and formal grounds of their Academy, is their plea for support to the duke. In the statutes, hope is expressed that Cosimo would help the Academy to ‘raise its level’ and maybe in time install a ‘bidello’ (‘beadle’) too. 51 Ducal support was in fact vital for the survival of the Academy. In 1537 Cosimo, for fear of conspiracies, had ordained that all compagnie should be reported and authorized. 52 The Umidi thus made overtures to the Medici regime in various ways. The Libro shows the Medici coat of arms and also contains a series of adulatory poems by the founders, written with the aim ‘to gain favour’ to the 47 Bareggi 1973: 527. Original fragment: ‘questo circolo fiorentino di amici, affatto più originale dei mille altri sorti un po’ dovunque nell’Italia del XVI secolo’. 48 Maylender 1926‐1930: vol. V, 363. Original fragment: ‘Per sè stessa non avrebbe grande importanza, poichè durò soltanto tre mesi e pochi giorni’. 49 See also: Werner 2008a: 260‐266. 50 Chambers 1995: 13. On the influence of the Infiammati on the Umidi and the Fiorentina, see also: Samuels 1976: passim; Sherberg 2003: passim; Plaisance 2004a: 53‐79. On the erotic allusions in the reference to the Paduan Academy’s name, see: Zanrè 2004: 15. 51 Bartoli 1883: 205. Original fragment: ‘Per hora non ci distenderemo in Altre deliBerazioni in questo Principio Ma Prestandosi l’Omnipotente Iddio del suo Aiuto insieme con quello del nostro Illmo Sor Duca Cosimo de Medici Potremo forse un di salire piu in alto e alhora Penseremo a Bidello e a quelle cose che si conuengono a un simil seggio’. 52 Plaisance 2005b: 139. 36 Academy (‘Allo Illmo et Eccmo S. Duca Cosimo Med. Per Impetrare fauore da sua Eccza’). 53 Through Stradino the Umidi had access to the court. He had been a soldier in the army of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, Cosimo’s father, and had always remained loyal to the Medici family. Owing to this connection, and maybe even to the intercession of Cosimo’s mother, Maria Salviati, the Umidi gatherings were authorized. 54 The high level of formalization of the Accademia degli Umidi was a new aspect of Florentine literary life. Both this novelty and the ambitious start of the Academy may have attracted the interest of the ruler and his courtiers. Furthermore, the Umidian stress on their mission with regard to the vernacular was of primal interest to the regime’s cultural politics. Since the start of his reign in 1537, Cosimo had desired to create a Tuscan state. The Tuscan language could serve this aspiration both as a means to make knowledge accessible and to create a cultural identity for the state. 55 In the Florentine Academy the questione della lingua was to be a spearhead, which served Cosimo’s territorial policy. 56 For Florentine intellectuals, the question of the language was familiar ground. It had been an issue in Florentine academic circles for several decades, as it had been in cities throughout Italy. To Cosimo and to several men of letters the founding of this Academy satisfied a need: the time was ripe for a formally constituted literary society that tickled the imagination of many. The Academy provided the regime with a propaganda machine, while the Florentine men of letters could defend their claim to the questione della lingua on a collective level. These needs explain the spectacular growth of the Academy from its very beginning. Scholars have discussed to what extent the transformation of the Academy was an unwanted take‐over by the regime, an argument that is sollicited by the Umidian Bartoli 1883: 213. The four sonnets are composed by Niccolò Martelli, Gismondo Martelli, Lasca and Piero Fabbrini (see also below, note 138). Plaisance (2004a: 71‐77) comments upon these laudatory poems in order to analyse how the Umidi, or in particular Niccolò Martelli, tried to bring the Academy to the notice of the ruler. 54 Ibidem: 57. 55 Van Veen 2006: 166‐171. 56 The bibliography on the question of language within the programme of the Fiorentina is large. See, for instance: Pirotti 1960: 524‐552; Mazzacurati 1965: passim; Bertelli 1976: 249‐283; Caselli 1980: 478‐490; Giambullari 1986: passim; Zanrè 1998: 20‐37. 53
37 mission statement on ‘freedom’. Bareggi assumes the transformation was forced upon the Umidi. She interprets the claim to ‘freedom’ as a refusal of any authority and accordingly states that the Umidi made three major mistakes that led to the loss of their Academy. Besides having given the vernacular a central position in their programme, which attracted the interest of the regime, they should not have opened up to new members. And as a third flaw, Bareggi suspects that, despite their refusal of authority, the Umidi must have been flattered by the attention paid by prominent men of the court. 57 Zanrè, too, reads ‘libera’ as ‘independent’, and suggests a wish to abstain from patronage or political involvement. 58 Cesare Vasoli is surprised that the declaration of freedom did not prevent the Umidi from accepting support from the men in court. 59 In my view, considering the efforts of the Umidi to attract the duke’s attention, it seems more logical to conclude that they deliberately sought his protection. 60 They needed Cosimo’s recognition to survive as an Academy, but as they were by no means reluctant to honour the duke unsollicited on more than one occasion, they also seem to have held the regime in high esteem. Instead of the rejection of authority, the Umidian mission statement on ‘freedom’ should be regarded as the expression of a democratic view on academic life; it is rather a organizational classification than a political one. The statement guaranteed equal rights for all members: equal rights in the voting procedures and in the ability to be elected to the central positions in the magistrature board, as well as equal rights to participate and to voice one’s opinion in activitities and debate. 61 It was precisely this part of the mission statement on freedom, the discussion culture of the Umidi, that came under pressure in the Fiorentina. As lecturing became its main activity, discussion and education through Bareggi 1973: 531. Zanrè 2004: 16. 59 Vasoli 1979: 53. 60 Plaisance (2004a: 75‐79) has detailed the attitudes of individual members towards the regime. Niccolò Martelli, for instance, was constantly trying to gain personal favour and a position as court poet. Bogani (1992: 25) asserts that of all Umidi Martelli was probably the most eager to hook up to the regime. 61 The rounds of reforms of 1546 and 1547 make clear that precisely these two aspects, hence the basic elements of the Umidian mission, were incompatible with the state controlled orientation, see chapter 2. 57
58
38 discussion was no longer a dialectic, ‘free’ process, open to all members, but gradually became a one‐way‐street. To this topic we will return in chapters 2 and 3. The statute pages of the Libro and the plea for Ducal support show a highly formalized and ambitious profile. Hence, in this respect, the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi announces a shift in Florentine academic culture. Due to the Academy’s insistence on ‘passatempo’, however, its activities are at the same time still ‘old‐
fashioned’ or traditional, as they depended to a large extent on the practice of previous Florentine academic circles, such as the early sixteenth‐century Orti Oricellari and the Sacra Accademia (see below). In addition, the activities are dominated by the customs of festive confraternities such as the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia, as will be discussed below. Although the mission statement on freedom and passatempo has misguided modern interpreters about the ambitions of the Academy, the festive character of part of their activities, in my view, by no means stands in the way of more ‘serious’ and intellectual ambitions. On the contrary, the joyful interpretation of academic life, a taste for the city’s festive life, went hand in hand with a wish to cultivate a specifically Florentine cultural and literary identity and to develop the members’ poetic skills accordingly, as we shall see in the next paragraphs. Padre Stradino In the figure of ‘padre’ Stradino, the mentor of the Umidi, we see how entertainment, fiorentinità and education merged within the Accademia degli Umidi. By the time the Academy was founded, Stradino was approximately sixty years old, 62 which made him some twenty years senior to Niccolò Martelli (1498‐1555), 63 twenty‐five to Lasca and Simone della Volta (1506‐1554), and probably even more to Gismondo Martelli, whose talent and beauty made him Stradino’s favourite pupil. 64 Plaisance quotes Varchi, who formulated Stradino’s attachment to young men: ‘Stradino aimait d’après Varchi, saintement et avec une incroyable constance tous les jeunes Florentines, bons, nobles ou Maracchi Biagiarelli 1982: 51. Stumpo (forthcoming). 64 For this special position of Gismondo, see chapter 3. 62
63
39 beaux’. 65 The affection seems to have been reciprocal. In a sonnet, Lasca phrases his own dependence upon the older man: 66 Io pur v’onoro e vi tengo, Stradino, di padre in luogo, o di maggior fratello: io pure, a guisa di pennuto uccello v’alzo, cantando, insino al ciel turchino. However, the attraction Stradino held for young poets consisted of more than only the offer of a meeting place and the huge bulk of study material provided by his library; apparently Stradino’s charismatic personality and excellent performing skills made him the perfect mentor and teacher. Stradino was the owner of a large collection of printed and manuscript works, mainly in the vernacular, called ‘armadiaccio’ (‘armoury’) by his colleagues, in a playful reference to the large amount of chivalric romances the library contained. Reputedly, Stradino and his books had grown to be one, though he was not averse to sharing them. Martelli, in his letters, mentions how he used to carry them around, 67 and there are several accounts of Stradino’s generous habit to lend out his works. Lasca for instance writes a tailed sonnet to ask forgiveness for neglecting to return one of the books: ‘Stradin pel Bertuccione / per Rinaldin, pegl’ altri libri d’arme / vi prego che vogliaste perdonarmi’. 68 Stradino’s library played a central role in the Academy’s stated mission to further the Florentine language and had a central function in the gatherings of the early Academy. It is easy to imagine how the Umidi consulted works from the armadiaccio during their meetings in Stradino’s house, read to each other from them, or Plaisance 2004a: 57n. Sonetto III, vv. 6‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 5‐6. 67 See for instance: Martelli 1916: 26, letter to Miglior Visino (1542): ‘Duolmi ben che il Consacrata non potrà essere dei nostri per avere sempre piena la tasca, la scaperuccia, il seno et la scarsella alla tedesca di mille scartafacci antichi e moderni: non di meno ci averà per iscusati. Quando ci desse un mallevadore di parlar solo del viaggio di S. Iacopo, della guerra di Pisa, del fatto d’arme del Gariglian, o del Duca Valentino, se gliene potria far parte; altrimenti no’. 68 My transcription from: Libro, c. 129v, vv. 15‐17. A variant on these verses can be found in: Sonetto III, vv. 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 5: ‘Stradin, pel Bertuccione, / pe’ giganti, per gli orchi e per la fate, / vi prego alfin, che voi mi perdoniate’. 65
66
40 borrowed some in order to study the language or to be inspired for their own compositions. Needless to say, all poetic production of the Umidi was in the vernacular. According to Antonfrancesco Doni, Martelli wrote a piece called ‘Lo studio dello Stradino’. Though it has not survived and may not even have existed at all, its title is indicative of Stradino’s house as center of literary practice, both text‐based and through oral performances. 69
In the ‘compositioni’ part of the Libro, we find examples of how the study of vernacular poetry in the armadiaccio could result in practical, poetic exercises. For instance, one of the Umidi composed a ‘sonetto acrostico’, in which the first letters of the lines form the name xCOS / IMOM / EDI / CIx. It is an example of a game that enables one to practise one’s poetic virtuosity within a fixed frame. Another exercise was meant to teach Gismondo Martelli, ‘il Cygno’ ‐ presumably the youngest of the circle ‐ skills in Petrarchan verse. The Libro contains two ‘proposta e riposta’ sonnets in which senior poets, Cynthio Romano and Niccolò Martelli, composed a Petrarchan sonnet to which Gismondo had to write an answer. In this manner Gismondo was challenged to develop his talent and test his inventiveness. In his riposta, he used the same rhyme as the proposta and responded to the praise that was bestowed upon him. 70
If the library facilitated this kind of exercise, what kind of material did it contain? The (incomplete) inventory list of his collection shows that it included contemporary works in the vernacular by Machiavelli, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and more obscure, but undoubtedly Florentine, authors like a certain Maestro Niccolo Cieco. There are some miscellanies of poetry, diverse in genre, ranging from spiritual to burlesque. Furthermore, we find translations or adaptations of classical authors such as Ovid and Aristotle. The most striking aspect of the armadiaccio however is its accumulation of Marconcini 1910: 21n. See for the poems: Libro, cc. 22v‐23v. I quote the first quattrine of the first two poems by way of example. The proposta by Cynthio Romano reads: ‘Mentre cerco far bello Il nome uostro / quel Icaro Per l aria Alzando l’ale / vo che spregiando ogni sentier mortale / Per gir’ In [unreadable] non piu calcato, o nostro’. And the risposta by Gismondo reads: ‘Mentre far’ Bello il mio cercate, il uostro / Nome, alzate con vaghe e lucide ale / Inverso ‘l Ciel, sovr’ ogni viso mortale / Per camin non mai piu segnato, o, nostro’ (my transcriptions). 69
70
41 chivalric material. Stradino was a passionate collector of chivalric romances. 71 These ‘rinaldini’, as he called them affectionately, constitute the vital body of his armadiaccio. 72 Although we know that the inventory list is incomplete, it is striking that the great Italian examples of chivalric romances, such as Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, Boiardo’s L’innamoramento de Orlando and Alamanni’s Girone are absent, but Lasca asserts that they, too, were part of the collection: 73
i vostri gran libron sempre ho fra mano, Rinaldo, Orlando, Namo, Astolfo e Gano, Brunamonte, Antifor e Polinesso. Colui, che ’l forte e cortese Girone con tanta gloria sua fece pur dianzi, dette al primo nel vostro Pandragone; […]. Also prominent in Stradino’s collection of chivalric material were the works of Andrea da Barberino (1370 ca.‐1432), the canterino who had performed on the piazza San Martino in the previous century. 74 The inventory includes Da Barberino’s most famous work, the Libro dei reali di Francia, and Lasca also refers to his I Nerbonesi and Aiolfo del Barbicone. 75 Apart from this passion for chivalric romances, the inventory also betrays Stradino’s fascination for classical history and warfare. 76 71 Lasca refers to this passion in several poems, see for instance: ‘Cioè, che voi avete per usanza, / cronache e storie antiche gir cercando, / nè mai ne sete fornito abbastanza. / D’Ettor, d’Achille, di Buovo e d’Orlando / tenete libri, libretti e libracci’ (Capitolo III, vv. 10‐14, in: Grazzini 1882: 467). 72 Maracchi Biagiarelli (1982: 55‐57) drew an inventory of Stradino’s library from: Florence, ASF, Guardaroba Mediceo, F. 28, cc. 81r‐83r. The items referred to on the list are now dispersed over the two largest libraries of Florence: the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. For an impression, a selection of ‘rinaldini’ drawn from the inventory list: Historia di rinaldino, Rinaldino che comincia regnando Carlo Magno, Rinaldino senza principio et fine, Libro che comincia amore et gloria brama di rinaldino, Rinaldino del re Artus, Rinaldino di Francia, Historia di Rinaldo di Montalbano. On the importance of Stradino’s collection for scholarly research on chivalric literature in Tuscany, see: Villoresi 2002: 83‐84. On the nature of the collection, see: Pignatti 2005: 151. An extensive article on Stradino’s library is: Masaro 1992; unfortunately I have not been able to trace this study. 73 Sonetto VIII, vv. 6‐11, in: Grazzini 1882: 10. 74 On Da Barberino, see: Villoresi 2002: 66‐67. 75 Sonetto IX, vv. 10‐1, in: Grazzini 1882: 11; Capitolo III, v. 41, in: Ibidem: 468. 76 For an impression, a selection of titles drawn from the inventory list: Libro della distructione di Troia, Historia di Troia, Libro chiamato Troiano historiato, Libro de fatti romani et arme, historia de primo bello punico, historia di Alessandro Magno in versi. 42 The word ‘armadiaccio’ was not only used to refer to the collection itself. Apparently, it was an actual room in Stradino’s house which contained more than only texts. In a canzona on the occasion of Stradino’s death, situated in the armadiaccio, Lasca relates how, after Stradino’s departing, the Muses entered to mourn and honour the deceased. 77 In pain they ask: 78 […] lassi, tapini, che fate, o Rinaldini? e dove andrete, o cavalieri erranti, fate, orchi, mostri, arpie, nani e giganti? The muses here refer to characters in the books that crowd the room, but also to items in Stradino’s collection of curiosities. Like many of his contemporaries, the Umidi mentor collected naturalia such as animal teeth, jawbones and skin, medals, armoury ‐ all beautiful and extraordinary objects, according to Lasca. The precise content of this assortment of objects is illustrated in another fragment: 79 lascio […] i grifi, gli occhi, le mascella e i denti, le corna e i becchi, gli ugnoni e la pelle di pesci, orsi, leon, lupi e serpenti, stocchi, oriuoli, anticaglie e rotelle, medaglie e visi ed arme stien da parte, con mille cose stravaganti e belle; […]. A similar description that adds even more objects is: 80 E ’n cambio all’opre di carta e d’inchiostro Canzona IV, vv. 75‐84, in: Grazzini 1882: 151: ‘E qui per l’infinita / doglia fornì le parole e la vita, / e n’andò, chiusi gli occhi daddovero, / a ritrovare alla porta di fra Piero. / Allor di luce e di soave odore / s’empiè ’n un tratto tutta quella stanza, / e quivi in ordinanza / le Muse di buon cuore / venner per fargli onore, / e piangendo dicean’. 78 Canzona IV, vv. 84‐87, in: Ibidem. 79 Capitolo VI, vv. 98, 100‐104, in: Ibidem: 483‐484. 80 Capitolo III, vv. 70‐78, in: Ibidem: 469. 77
43 anticaglie, medaglie e cose strane, faranno ricco l’armadiaccio vostro, e torsi e teste e braccia e piedi e mane d’argento e bronzo e marmo arete voi, Greche, Turche, Arabesche e Soriane: e di capi di tigri ed avvoltoi, di scorze e scaglie di pesci e serpenti, empierete le stanze e gli scrittoi. Lasca’s representation of the armadiaccio in these fragments is that of a Wunderkammer, a cabinet of curiosities, either real or imagined. In line with the Umidi’s habit to draw from the armadiaccio for inspiration and study, Lasca recommends the collection for those interested in composing romances: ‘chi vuol compor romanzi / e non si tuffa nel vostro armadiaccio / riuscirà, cantando, un uccellaio’. 81 And indeed, the books also inspired Stradino’s own narratives, as Lasca recalls: 82
E mi par d’ogni ’ntorno sentir la voce vostra, che racconti […] il fatto d’arme dir del Garigliano: o come il conte Gano tradì Rinaldo, e morì Dïonesta e Rinaldin poi gli taglio la testa. Stradino based his stories on his own war experiences too. Lasca depicts the Umidi mentor as an ardent narrator of famous battles and warriors, which is not surprising considering his past as a soldier. His captain, Giovanni delle Bande Nere is said to have been the last great condottiere, the last representative of a military tradition of fighting Sonetto VIII, vv. 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 10. Sonetto I, vv. 18‐19, 23‐26, in: Ibidem: 4. 81
82
44 with armoured knights on horseback that was rendered redundant by the introduction of mobile canons. His campaigns in the army of Medici Pope Leo X led him to Umbria and Le Marche, and he defeated the French army of Francis I at Vaprio d’Adda in order to regain Milan, Parma and Piacenza. From 1521 onwards he served a second Medici Pope, Clement VII. 83 Stradino joined him in several fights, at least in Umbria and in the Lombard battle against the French, as appears from the following fragment, where Lasca imagines hearing Stradino’s voice narrating of the battle in the plains of Lombardy: 84 E mi par d’ogni ‘ntorno sentir la voce vostra, che racconti come già il re di Francia passò i monti, e con marchesi e conti calò di Lombardia nel ricco piano: […]. Besides his talent as a storyteller, Lasca commemorates his mentor’s talent as a performing and improvising poet. In Italy, the art of the ‘improvvisatore’, the ‘poet‐
singer’ or ‘poet‐musician’ dates back at least as far as the late fourteenth century. At the turn of the fifteenth century, the tradition of monophonic, unwritten musical performances of poetry was fostered mainly in humanistic and courtly settings or practiced by the cantimbanco or canterino in the city squares. The improvissatori used formulaic tunes or patterns, familiar but fit for variations, to chant epic and lyric poetry, such as Petrarch’s Canzoniere or stanze from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso. These ‘melodies’ were called arie or aere. 85 Both music and text could be improvised. The lira da braccio was the instrument par excellence for this practice. Only two pieces of written music for this instrument have ever been found. 86 Cummings underlines that the improvisatory tradition was widespread and extremely varied. 87 In Florence it was practised for instance in the Sacra Accademia, which existed from approximately 1515 to 1519. Two On Giovanni delle Bande Nere and the Italian wars and warfare, see: Giovanni delle Bande Nere 2001. Sonetto I, vv. 18‐22, in: Grazzini 1882: 3. 85 Nosow 2002: 176, 213; Haar 1998: 223; Haar/Fenlon 1988: 252. In chapter 2 this tradition will be discussed more extensively. 86 Nosow 2002: 181. 87 Cummings 1996a: 68. 83
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45 illustrious musicians, Bernardo Accolti and Atalante Migliorotti, entertained the academicians with improvised singing. 88 Amateur poets and musicians imitated the improvvisatori singing or declaiming their own poems or that of their friends, in various forms: sonnets, capitoli, or ottava rima, and so on. 89 The tradition of the canterino, declaiming chivalric romances, such as the ones on Rinaldo da Montalbano, in prose or in ottava rima, was extremely popular in Tuscany, and in Florence in particular, in the second half of the Quattrocento. 90 This tradition obviously reverberates in Stradino’s preferences and armadiaccio. Lasca suggests that Stradino’s poetic performances recall the practice of the poet‐
singers, when he jestingly compares Stradino’s composing with a donkey’s caprices: ‘Tien forte del buffone; / come voi nel comporre ha buona la vena: / dice improvviso, e giuocola di schiena’. 91 Antonfrancesco Doni in I marmi, as we shall see, depicts Stradino as a poet‐singer as well. A second reason to assume Stradino was a skilled performing poet, is that both Lasca and Martelli associate his entertaining activities with those of Miglior Visino, who enjoyed some fame as an improvising poet‐singer and entertainer. 92 Martelli, in a letter written to Visino (February 1542), compares him to Stradino: ‘Per esser Visino uno inventore di nuove fantasie e ’l suo ridotto un raddotto di quanti giovani nobili ha questa terra – così come il padre Stradino è uno armario di tutte le rime che vanno in rima […]’. 93 Apparently, Visino, too, had his circle of youngsters, which suggests he was comparable to Stradino in charisma and inspiration. Lasca then, in a song on Stradino’s death (1549), which practically coincided with the decease of Miglior Visino, depicts both friends as inspired entertainers: 94 On the musical programme, the members and institutional grounds of the Sacred Academy, see: Cummings 1996a: 54‐64; idem 2004: 79‐97. 89 Haar/Fenlon 1988: 253. 90 Villoresi 2002: 97‐100. 91 Ottava XII, vv. 24‐26, in: Grazzini 1882: 15. Emphasis added. 92 Nosow 2002: 178. 93 Martelli 1916: 23‐24. 94 Canzona V, vv. 11‐13, 17‐20, in: Grazzini 1882: 153. On the friendship of Visino and Stradino, also: Sonetto LXVIII, in: Ibidem: 56. Stradino died between 17 and 21 November 1549. Visino died only a few months later, in the early months of 1550 (see: Plaisance 1976: 26n‐27n). 88
46 [questi] ch’erano al mondo un trastullo, un contento, un passatempo, una burla, una baia: […] Stradino e ’l Bodda [Visino] eran due compagnoni, che facean spesso altrui a sè gioire, allegri e lieti, a cento cose buoni, da lasciargli a diletto rimbambire; […]. Yet entertainment was not the only attraction of Stradino’s performances. In Oral cultures past and present (1990), Viv Edwards and Thomas Sienkewicz claim that what they call ‘a good talker’ (an oral performer of any kind), is often entertainer, historian and teacher alike. 95 Because of his special skills (verbal, performative, musical) a performer gains special respect and a central, authoritative position within a community. In line with this, the authors state that oral performances have an important function in educating the younger generation. This definition of a skilled performer is applicable to Stradino’s role as a mentor. His entertaining performances must have been both inspiring and educating to his pupils ‐ the tornatella members and the Umidi. With his epic and real‐life story‐telling he contributed to his audience’s consciousness of the historical and literary past. Besides that, his performing skills set an example that was obviously followed in Umidian practice. Most vital to the Umidi, however, was Stradino’s commitment to the performative tradition that had flourished in Florence in the past century, both in the street and in court performances of the canterini, as well as in literary circles such as the Sacra Academia. Above all, this fine example of fiorentinità, of commitment to the city’s literary past, represented the very foundation of their Academy. By making poetic exercise and the education of talented youngsters part of the programme of the Academy, the old habits of this Florentine literary tradition could be passed on to next generations and the use of the vernacular could be stimulated. Edwards/Sienkewicz 1990: 15‐35. 95
47 Festive Reverberations in Umidian Practice Performativity in the Accademia degli Umidi was intertwined with the city’s festive culture. Two activities in particular show that the practice of the Accademia degli Umidi resembles that of musical and theatrical companies such as the Compagnia di Santa Sicilia: the events organized for the evening of Epiphany and the staging of a carnival masquerade. In addition, from the Libro we can deduce that the activities were carried out with the help of members of other societies, or in fact created for the use of a confraternity. The records demonstrate that interaction with other circles was an important factor in the functioning of the Accademia degli Umidi (and most probably of organized literary life in general). As we have seen above, during public festivities as well as private celebrations, confraternities were engaged in the performance of drama, in the musical contributions to plays, as for instance the intermezzi, and the staging of canti carnascialeschi. In private, they also held banquets during which they organized various activities, which often involved carnivalesque mockery and poetry. As for the Accademia degli Umidi, though we lack annals that register every gathering, the part of the Libro that reproduces the production of the members enables us to reconstruct Umidian events. On the night of Epiphany ‐ 6 January 1540 (s.f) ‐ Lasca’s farce Il Frate was performed. The Libro reveals that the play was part of a full evening’s entertainment, including a banquet and a poetic game called ‘guoco [sic] delle polizze’, that contained several stanze and 32 quartine that were composed by Lasca as well. The prologue of the farce was written out in the Libro. 96 In it, Lasca mentions that the gathering was offered a ‘Cena’, and he subsequently underlines the importance of a good meal. In his opinion this is just as vital to a successful feast as music and games: ‘non por’ men’ cura in procaciar’ optime uiuande et pretiose uini che in cercare buoni Trattenimenti o di Bartoli (1883: 221‐225) has transcribed the entire prologue from the Libro, as he discovered that it had not been published yet, stanze and polizze are copied only partially. The entire game is transcribed: Ottava III, in: Grazzini 1882: 335‐342. 96
48 Musica o di guoichi honestamente piacevoli’. 97 In the poetic game that followed the play, all or a large part of those present were mocked or lauded in a short poem of four lines, a ‘polizza’ (‘policy’ or ‘note’). 98 Furthermore, we perceive that the evening was organized for a relatively small group, in a private setting. The prologue and the polizze contain references to the hostess of the event: the young courtesan Maria da Prato. 99 Zanrè, who investigated relations between the Florentine academicians and courtesans, in particular Tullia d’Aragona, describes Maria’s ‘salon’ as a meeting place for literary circles. Her ‘evenings’ were regularly attended both by Niccolò Martelli and Lasca. 100 From the addressees of the polizze, we can deduce that the composition of the participants was colourful. Several members of the Accademia degli Umidi were present, namely Stradino, Cinzio d’Amelia, ‘Rettore perpetuo’ Goro della Pieve and Luca Martini. Poems were also addressed to unknown others, some of whom seem to have been lay brothers (‘fratelli’). To stage the play, Lasca was assisted by actors and musicians, and maybe also visual artists for the décor. The attendance of lay brothers and musicians, next to Umidi, suggests the participation of members of a musical or theatrical confraternity. Bryce claims that performance of theatrical pieces in literary academies was ‘a case of cross‐fertilization with the confraternities’. 101 Judging by this evening at Da Prato’s, this seems to be a just characterization of the Accademia degli Umidi. Verzone has found a reproduction of the same guoco delle polizze in a second Bartoli 1883: 220. The fact that the poems involved in the game were directed to persons in the audience, can be deduced from the rules of play, that were introduced in introductory stanze: ‘ed in quest’altro poscia d’arïento / i nomi vostri son serrati drento’ (Ottava III, vv. 23‐24, in: Grazzini 1882: 336) (Emphasis added). These lines explain how names are written on lots that were to be drawn from a vase. 99 The reference in the prologue is as follows: ‘in Casa qui della non men leggiadra et bella che Gentile et gen.sa Maria da Prato’ (Bartoli 1883: 220). The poetic laude, asserting that the game was played in Maria’s honour, goes: ‘per onorar l’alte bellezze e nuove / dell’alma vaga Pratese Maria, / la cui fama real unica e sola / il mondo passa e ’nfin dentro al ciel vola’ (Ottava III, vv. 5‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 335). Little biographical information on Maria da Prato is available. On the question of her identity and her relations with Martelli and Lasca, see: Bogani 1992: 67‐71. 100 Zanrè 2004: 141‐164, ‘Courtesans and the Academicians’. On Maria da Prato, see: 144‐145. In a letter Niccolò Martelli wrote to Da Prato on 7 August 1545 he praises her tasteful house, well equiped with everything a ‘galante e onorata persona’ needs, such as an enormous amount of books (‘bellissimi antichi et moderni, che di continovo si stampano’) and all sorts of musical instruments (Martelli 1916: 41‐43). 101 Bryce 1995: 93. 97
98
49 manuscript, here entitled ‘Alla compagnia del fiore la sera di Befana’. 102 As there appear to be no other contemporary references to this company, the status of this reference is unclear. As in the case of the Compagnia di San Sebastiano, which was also called ‘del Bechello’, the name may refer to another company we do know. The most likely candidates for such a scenario are the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia and the Compagnia della Cazzuola. Because of the double‐membership of both Lasca and Martelli, the Cicilia could be expected to participate in the event. After all, this confraternity is known to have staged plays. A second confraternity that was renowned for its importance in Florentine festive life was the Compagnia della Cazzuola. 103 In the prologue to Il Frate, Lasca refers to the staging of a play by this company: Machiavelli’s La Mandragola, which also staged a friar. 104 This makes the Cazzuola a candidate as well. This particular evening of Epiphany enables us to better understand the kind of activities the Accademia degli Umidi liked to organize, and the kind of literary products they cherished. Obviously, both Lasca’s game and play were deemed worthy to be presented as Umidian products, since they were drawn up in the Libro. They were playful, no doubt, which was an important criterium for the Umidi, but more importantly, they promoted their interpretation of a distinct Florentine cultural identity. The close collaboration with a festive confraternity shows that the Florentine festive tradition was an important aspect of that identity. A second example of a similar collaboration was the ‘Canzona da Carnovale’ Niccolò Martelli staged for the Carnival festivities of 1540 (s.f.). This ‘canto degli Acconciatori di Fante’ was chronicled in the Libro, together with a list of ‘nobiltà’, noble men taking part in the procession. 105 Umidi Niccolò and Gismondo Martelli walked through the streets singing, accompanied by at least one actor, a painter and some musicians. The music to accompany the song was composed by Francesco Corteccia, chief musician of the duke. Miglior Visino ‐ whom we See: Verzone’s footnote to Ottava III, in: Grazzini 1882: 335. The second codex contains slight variations. Cummings 1996: 219‐220. 104 Bartoli 1883: 220: ‘percio che nella Mandragola recitatasi dalla Cazzuola venne in scena un frate Tymotheo de Serui […]’. See also: Cummings 1996: 219. The Compagnia della Cazzuola probably staged this play in 1524 or 1525. 105 Bartoli 1883: 232‐235, based on Libro, cc. 63v‐65r. 102
103
50 previously met as alleged member of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia, companion of Stradino and poet‐singer ‐ participated too. The actor involved was Domenico Barlacchi, named ‘Il Barlacchia’. He was a comic actor, well known in the Florentine theatrical world in the 1540s, whose importance for Florentine festivities and as herald of the city’s Signoria is recorded in several sources. 106 Il Barlacchia was a member of the Compagnia della Cazzuola, which, according to Cummings, played a leading part in the staging of carnival songs during the Lenten processions. 107 The Libro furthermore mentions that the procession went through the streets until midnight; over two hundred candles were carried along and the invention, music and words were highly appreciated. In short, the Libro demonstrates that (in the very first months) part of the work of the Umidi was linked to seasonal occasions, to the liturgical calendar, and created in a festive atmosphere, in which theatrical and musical elements, games and mockery stood central. The Umidi were firmly attached to older habits: to the customs of festive confraternities originating in the city’s celebrative culture. The Academy’s mission statement on ‘passatempo’ should be understood in this context. This notion indeed implies a relation between Umidian practice and festive customs, as is accounted for in at least one text by Lasca. In the prologue to his farce, the concept is used in reference to a specific kind of academic activity (the performance of a play during a banquet) and related to a specific festive occasion (the feast of Epiphany). The poet reads out that he wrote the play ‘per sodisfatione et diletto vostro ordinorono oltre alla Cena darui qualche passa tempo’. 108 The following paragraph will explore the guoco delle polizze further as an example of the festive and of the Florentine attachment to the tradition of improvisation. Subsequently, a second Umidian poetic game, the poetry contest, will be discussed below. This game shows how the poets, through competition and discussion, improved their skills and knowledge of poetic conventions. Cummings 1996: 218. More specific information on Barlacchi is provided in: Salza 1901, but I have not been able to trace this article. 107 Cummings 1996: 206‐220. 108 Bartoli 1883: 220. 106
51 The Practice of Performance In Tuscany, during the feast of Epiphany, it was customary to play games that involved the drawing of lots. Young people would gather, write their names on pieces of paper that by drawing would appoint couples as possible fiancées. 109 Many variants of this game existed, including poetic alternatives. Girolamo Bargagli’s Dialogo de’ giuochi che nelle vegghie sanesi si usano di fare (published in 1572), for instance, describes the ‘giuoco della ventura’ that was played by the Accademia degli Intronati in Siena. In this game, one blindfolded participant is approached one by one by the others and offers them, unaware of their identity, a ‘motto’, which consists of a verse or one sentence. Subsequently, the verses on the lots ‐ called ‘poliza’ or ‘ventura’ ‐ that were drawn had to be interpreted (‘interpretasse’). 110 Lasca’s guoco delle polizze resembles this Sienese version. It involves poetry as well, and it also links ‘venture’ to the names of participants by the drawing of lots. Lasca’s game is introduced to the ‘spettatori’ (spectators) in four stanze, entitled ‘Stanze che da Mercurio sopra la Lira si dissero la sera della Epifania’. 111 The heading indicates that the stanze were declaimed or sung accompanied by the lira da braccio. Mercury is staged as the divine messenger, sent down from heaven to the house of Maria da Prato by Jove to present the game to the ‘lieta e nobil compagnia’. The deity explains how lots should be drawn from two vases, as is the custom on the night of Epiphany: 112
E per ch’egli è di voi, mortali, usanza, venture e sorti trarre in cotal sera, dove il timor vi faccia o la speranza maninconosa fare a lieta cera; […]. Bargagli 1982: 160n. Ibidem: 159. 111 For the introductory stanze, see: Ottava III, in: Grazzini 1882: 335. 112 Ottava III, vv. 9‐12, in: Ibidem. 109
110
52 The ‘venture’ will provide moral and behavioural guidelines to the audience: 113 Queste traendo, appunto vi diranno quel che seguire, e che lasciar dovete: la vergogna, l’onor l’utile e ’l danno, che succeder vi debbe, intenderete. One vase contains the names of the persons present, the other the ‘venture’, and from both vases a lot should be drawn at the same time: ‘E costei qui [...] / i nomi trarrà fuor coll’una mano, / e coll’altra la sorte e la ventura’. 114 The musical introduction of the game contained dramatic elements as well. In his performance, Mercury refers to objects and mythical figures that are presented in front of the audience. First he points at the two vases: ‘In questo vaso d’oro chiuse stanno / l’alte venture e le sorti secrete: / ed in quest’altro poscia d’arïento / i nomi vostri son serrati drento’. 115 He also comments upon the presence of three figures dancing before the public, representing the three Graces: ‘costor guidate ho meco in questa danza, / di Giove figlie con bella maniera, / che le tre Grazie sono’. 116 These references suggest that the introduction was part of a theatrical performance with various participants, acting and probably also dressed according to their specific role. We cannot be sure that Lasca himself performed his stanze arrayed as Mercury – it is possible that he found a stand‐in or that he mobilized a musician to accompany his declamation. Once the game was over, the divine messenger returned, performing another three stanze, in which he announced his return to heaven. 117 Besides the theatrical entertainment, the main attraction of the event was, of course, the game itself: the recitation of poems induced by the lots. The thirty‐two polizze are sometimes laudatory, as for instance to Stradino, Goro della Pieve and Pandolfo Ottava III, vv. 17‐20, in: Grazzini 1882: 335‐336. Ottava III, vv. 25, 27‐28, in: Ibidem: 336. 115 Ottava III, vv. 21‐42, in: Ibidem. Emphasis added. 116 Ottava III, vv. 13‐15, in: Ibidem: 335. 117 For the concluding stanze, see: Ottava III, vv. 161‐184, in: Ibidem: 341‐342. 113
114
53 Pucci, 118 but mostly they ridicule the addressee, as in the case of the obscure Piero Gondi. Gondi is summoned to straighten out his priorities as a housefather: 119
Poi che ’n vece di padre t’è rimasta la custodia de’ tuoi, lasc’ire un poco le baje da parte, le fanciulle e ’l giuoco, ed attendi a i pupilli ed alla casa. The major part of the poems deal with love, especially with the carnal desires involved, and contain ambiguous erotic methaphors. A funny example is this polizza to a person indicated as Fil. Vub., mocking his ever changing sexual preferences: 120
Fa che s’intenda omai dove rïesce il tuo pensiero, risolviti tosto, o fanciulla o garzone, o lesso o arrosto; ch’Amor non sa se tu sei carne o pesce. Most poems refer to matters that seem to have been topical in the life of the addressee or characteristic of his standing. The appeal of the game lies in pointedly formulated allusions to the addressees’ reputations, which suggests that the participants were quite familiar with one another. Examples of such a topical pun can be found in Stradino’s polizza and in that of a certain Gabbriello Strozzi. Lasca praises Stradino’s elevated love for the Accademia degli Umidi and as for Strozzi sardonically refers to a sojourn in France that clearly had a doubtful outcome. 121 The drawing of the lots, that randomly combined names of the participants and the ‘venture’ (the prefixed sentences or verses), is probably done to let destiny determine See for instance the verses to Goro della Pieve: ‘Seguite pure il vostro alto lavoro, / che ’l mondo già di fama e di gloria empie; / però che tosto vi saran le tempie / cinte di verde e di sacrato alloro’ (Ottava III, vv. 153‐156, in: Grazzini 1882: 341). 119 Ottava III, vv. 117‐120, in: Ibidem: 339. 120 Ottava III, vv. 61‐64, in: Ibidem: 337. 121 To Stradino: ‘Non manchi in voi quel vivo acceso amore, / ch’ all’Accademia e gli Umidi portate; / ma l’alta impresa con lor seguitate, / che degno vi farà d’eterno onore’ (Ottava III, vv. 89‐92, in: Ibidem: 338); to Gabbriello Strozzi: ‘Metti la lancia tua, giostrando in modo / che le stiene non colga ma la pancia; / acciò ch’avendo a ritornare in Francia, / tu non pagassi la gabella e ’l frodo’ (Ottava III, vv. 77‐80, in: Ibidem). 118
54 the chronology and content of the poems, as is underlined by Mercury in the final stanze: ‘Poi che noi siam traendo giunti al fine, / e che le sorti il corso han determinato’. 122 It also suggests that Lasca composed his polizze on the spot. 123 In general scholars have assumed that the poet who organized similar games prepared the four lines of poetry on the lots in advance, 124 and that there was no question of improvisation. In the case of Lasca’s game, however, this would not explain how the polizze could refer so adequately to the person linked to by random drawing. Some improvisation must have taken place. Probably, the lots contained a formulaic sentence, a set of rhyme words, or a subject on which the poet had to improvise the four lines. The rhyme words used in the recorded polizze suggest the latter, as they are often rather imprecise. The polizza to a certain G. de’ Ros., for instance, ends on: innamorato / avviso / viso / uccellato. 125 Similar sloppiness is found in the end rhyme to M. Lorenzo Pucci: sole / paradiso / viso / sole. 126 Had the rhyme been composed in advance, it would doubtlessly have been better. Another indication of improvised rhyme are the formulaic end rhymes, such as voglie / moglie, that recur in various polizze. When Lasca asks Bastiano del Pace: ‘Per che non mai trovare alle tue voglie […] come tua madre vuole, a pigliar moglie’, for instance, Filippo Guadagni has to answer: 127 Sete voi forse uscito di voi stesso, o son mancate in voi tutte le voglie? due giorni son, che voi pigliaste moglie, e non mostrate più d’esser quel desso. Ottava III, vv. 161‐162, in: Grazzini 1882: 341. Previously, I have argued that the poems were improvised on the spot by the one whose name was drawn from the vase (Werner 2008a: 274). I have abandoned this view, since the 32 polizze remaining are all done by Lasca, and very similar in quality and style for that matter. 124 See for instance Bogani (1992: 79‐81) on the giuoco delle pòlize per la Befana Niccolò Martelli staged in Prato in the 1530s. 125 The entire polizza runs: ‘Se vagheggiare o far l’innamorato / pur vuoi al tutto, piglia questo avviso: / fa che tu porti teco un altro viso, / chè con cotesto tu se’ uccellato’ (Ottava III, vv. 113‐116, in: Grazzini 1882: 339). 126 The entire polizza reads: ‘Voi dovete ben eterne grazie e sole / rendere al sommo Re del paradiso; / poi che meritamente il più bel viso / godete, che giamai vedesse il sole’ (Ottava III, vv. 133‐136, in: Ibidem: 340). 127 Ottava III, vv. 149‐152, in: Ibidem: 337; and Ottava III, vv. 65‐68, in: Ibidem: 341. Emphasis added. 122
123
55 Such formulaic sets, this one obviously originating in Bernesque mockery of the clergy, 128 could be prepared beforehand to facilitate the improvisation. A recurring tune by the present lira da braccio would also support the conception of the polizze on the spot. The improvising tradition was well established in Florentine literary circles. Robert Nosow’s article on the ‘debate on song’ in the Accademia Fiorentina shows that it survived well into the sixteenth century. 129 Nosow cites fragments from Antonfrancesco Doni’s I marmi (1552) that demonstrate its working in an informal setting. Doni, whose I marmi holds the middle ground between fiction and fact, writes that the steps of the Duomo were often the stage for ‘cantare all’improvviso su la lira, d’ogni sorte rime’, so that the songs seemed to rain down from the dome. In the ‘Ragionamento settimo’ in the first volume of I marmi, the author relates how Stradino, Niccolò Martelli, a certain Nuto pescatore, Varlungo calzolaio and Miglior Visino were all engaged in what Nosow defines as ‘a literary game’. They perform rhymes to music and comment on each other’s efforts. 130 Their gathering starts out with a stanza on Orlando by Varlungo. Subsequently, Nuto and Visino join in, performing four stanze in which they take turns. These verses are clearly improvised; Nuto, who holds the lira da braccio, intercepts the disturbance caused by a broken string by humming ‘lira scordata, um, um, um, e tinta’. They also declaim poems from paper, either from their own hands (Martelli) or others’ (Piero Orsilago). The points of discussion are mainly textual. They debate on invention, subject matter, text, genre (someone asks for something ‘in burla’) and each other’s capacities. Stradino for instance suggests that Martelli should confine himself to poetry, which he prefers over his prose. The performative aspects they discuss are sound and meter: Nuto claims that he especially likes ottava rima and sonnets, but canzoni and capitoli as well. 131 Danilo Romei, editor of Berni’s Rime, has alerted me of the recurring combination of ‘moglie / doglie’ in Berni. Giorgio Masi (2007: 337) speaks of reuse of Berni in the poems of Alfonso de’ Pazzi. The combination ‘moglie / voglie’ can be also found in Pazzi’s sonnet ‘A Ser Goro della Pieve’, in: Il terzo libro 1723: 373. 129 Nosow 2002: 175‐221. 130 Ibidem: 177‐179, 184. 131 Berni 1928: vol. 1, 105‐28. 128
56 The Doni fragments, which were probably written before Doni left Florence in 1547, show that the improvised tradition can be associated with Stradino’s tornatella, since two prominent founding members are involved in this competition. For Lasca, then, improvisation clearly was not something he was unfamiliar with. Rather, it was central to his idea of poetry. Above, I have already shown that Lasca depicted Stradino as an improvising poet (‘nel comporre ha buona la vena / dice improviso […]’). The fact that Martelli and Stradino are participating in Doni’s improvising game is telling, as is the involvement of the third contributor, Miglior Visino. Visino was connected to the Umidi through his participation in the tornatella (see Interlude). 132 In a madrigalessa Lasca portrays Visino, together with himself and Umidi founder Simone della Volta, as improvising poets: 133
là dove voi ed io, il Lottino e ’l Fortino e Bastiano e Visino, e Betto Arrighi e Simon della Volta, diciamo improvviso a briglia sciolta. In this fragment, the metaphor ‘a briglia sciolta’ (‘with slack reins’) is linked to improvisational composing. This may have been a common expression for this custom, since we find the exact wording in other sources too. In his famous ‘Lamento degli Umidi’ of 1547 Lasca uses the same expression: 134 Dietro ti seguirà Mon della Volta, e Gismondo Martelli in compagnia: l’uno è componitore a briglia sciolta, l’altro è pien di dolcezza e leggiadria. As far as I can tell, the only surviving text by Visino is a poem in: Libro, c. 231v, ‘Sonetto di Miglior Visino, affectionissimo dell’accademia degl’ Humidi in dialogo’ (see also Bartoli 1883: 275). 133 Madrigalessa XL, vv. 28‐32, in: Grazzini 1882: 308. Emphasis added. 134 Ottava IV, vv. 81‐84, in: Ibidem: 344. ‘Rime sciolte’ on the other hand, are not necessarily improvised verses. They are verses that do not rhyme, but are metric, mostly in hendecasyllable (Crescimbeni 1731: vol. I, 111, 114). 132
57 In Martelli’s correspondence, the improvising activities of the members of the tornatella are mentioned as well. In a 1546 letter to Marc’Antonio Villani, for instance, he complains about the practice of letting poems circulate amongst friends in manuscript, as it costs more time and money than necessary. He therefore advices Villani to continue his ‘onorato passatempo’ of improvising poetry: ‘Confortovi dunque, Villano mio gentile, a trattener voi stesso et i buon compagni col dire improvviso, che vi ha concesso la natura in proprio dono’. 135 Lasca, Doni, and Martelli bear witness to improvised rudiments of the tornatella, which reverberated in the organization of the Accademia degli Umidi as well. The guoco delle polizze certainly suggests that the Umidi enjoyed improvisation as much as the tornatella poets. On the whole, text‐based evidence for improvisation is hard to find. The problem with studying improvised poetry, obviously, is that it often lacks a written reproduction, or that we regard the written variant as a product conceived on paper. Martelli is the only Umido of whom poems remain of which we know for sure that they were conceived while improvising. His improvised stanze were drawn up in a manuscript Il Giardino di Prato (1534).136 The Performance of Practice The appeal of poetic games such as the guoco delle polizze or the game staged by Doni lies in the inventiveness of the composition, the skills of the performer and the interaction with the audience. Similar entertaining aspects are at stake in poetry contests that were organized by the Umidi in the first weeks of the Academy’s existence. But the contests also had an educational purpose. Not only were the poets’ individual abilities on trial, in the discussions that followed the presentation of the poems, more general conventions Martelli 1916: 75. Emphasis added. Nosow 2002: 178n. The manuscript was studied and published by Emilio Bogani: Il giardino di Prato. Lieti convegni e molli amori del ’500 pratese e fiorentino nelle testimonianze poetiche di Nicolò Martelli e Bindaccio Guizzelmi (1992). 135
136
58 of quality and style were presumably formulated. The Libro contains a statute that lays down the regulations of the poetry contest: 137
Anchora che se ai detti Rettori o Consoli Parera sia Lecito Comandare che o sopra vn Nuovo Caso o Sopra qualche strano accidente Nato o ueramente Sopra vn soggetto a Lor Modo che gli accademici Comporr’ debbino o Epitaffi o Madrigali o Sonetti o altra qual si uoglia Compositione che il tempo non Sia Meno d’otto giorni et che di poi rescritti d’una Sola Mano si leghino i Componimenti in Publico et che ognuno ne possa dir liBeramente il Parere Suo et che i migliori et quelli che Generalmente Piu Piacciono et che degni Siano Reputati d’esser’ Letti Se piace alli Sri Consoli si debbano Mandar fuora In Nome di Tutta la Compagnia et non altrimenti Ma che bene a Libro si scriuino Co il Nome di Colui o, di Coloro che gli hanno Composti. The statute explains that the Academy’s consul was to call a contest and to specify the subject matter, whereupon members and public participated by composing, commenting and voting for the outcome of the contest. The initial pages of the ‘compositioni’ part in the Libro record at least three clusters of poems that match the conditions of the competition. They contain poems that are practically all written in the same form and on the same subject, but are composed by various members. The first cluster consists of tributes to Dante and includes sixteen epigrams of four lines (and one of three lines), by amongst others Niccolò Martelli, Gismondo Martelli, Simone della Volta, Michelangelo Vivaldi and Lasca. 138 Lasca’s hitherto unpublished submission reads as follows: 139
Bartoli 1883: 204. Ibidem: 207‐209, based on Libro, cc. 8r‐9v. Announcement of the series: ‘Incominciano gli Epigrammi delli Humydi Sopra il Diuino Poeta Dante’. It is interesting to note that some poems were submitted by non‐
Umidian authors. A certain Ser Pagolo da Catignano, of whom we know nothing, addressed three epigrams to the Umidi, all on Dante. This suggests that the poetry contests were open to poets that were not members. However, his poems seem to have been added in a later stage, as they are scribbled on the bottom of the pages in a different hand. The question is: does this mean that his work was added in order to be complete, or because of its poetic quality? 139 Libro, c. 8. 137
138
59 Ecco chi de i dannati et di coloro che purgan’ l’Alme e l’ loco de Beati Inguisa tal canto ch’ a i piu lodati Usurpa il pregio et l’honor del alloro. A second group of poems is dedicated to the praise of Petrarch. 140 This cluster contains fourteen epigrams, a sonnet (by Gismondo Martelli) and a stanza (also unpublished) by Lasca: 141 Quest’ e L’immagin’ del Tosco Maggiore In cui tutte Le gratie furo sparte Peró vivendo in servitu d’Amore empie cantando mille et mille carte La dove tutto si scorge il valore che mostrar possin’ La Natura et l’Arte Cotal ch’ al sua bel Arno il pregio e’ l vanto Danno concordi Insieme Il Thebro é ’l Xanto. The third cluster contains twelve epigrams, one octave and a sonnet, all dedicated to Boccaccio. 142 As the regulations stipulate, the Umidi had eight days to compose their contributions, and apparently all took the contest very seriously. Nearly all of them contributed in the three games, and some even wrote more than one attempt (Cynthio Romano for instance put in three sonnets on Dante). The contributions were Bartoli 1883: 209‐211, based on Libro, cc. 10r‐12r. Announcement of the series: ‘In Cominciano Le Lodi degli humidi Sopra l’eccmo Poeta m fraco. Petrarca’. 141 Libro, c. 11. 142 Bartoli 1883: 211‐212, based on Libro, cc. 12v‐15v. Announcement of the series: ‘In cominciano le lodi degli humydi sopra il facundisso m Giouanni Boccaccio f.no’. Finally, there is a fourth cluster, which is more restricted in size, but still meets the requirements for a poetry contest. It is a group of four sonnets, by Niccolò and Sigmondo Martelli, Lasca and Piero Fabbrini, who all address Cosimo I de’ Medici in order to ‘gain favour’ for the Umidi (Bartoli 1883: 213). These sonnets may have been performed in a (small) competition as well. However, later on, other odes to the duke (madrigals and pastoral sonnets) were written as well, and though it is not clear if and how these compositions reached him, a contest does not seem to be the most effective manner. 140
60 anonymously read in public and commented upon, but in the Libro, they were recorded, as required, under the names of the individual authors. No mention of a winner was made, but the order in which the poems were presented differs, which could be indicative of how the poems were evaluated. If that is the case, Niccolò Martelli’s contributions were always judged best, for he is three times first in line. And Gismondo could also be regarded successful, for he comes second twice and fourth once. Lasca, too, is quite constantly among the best: on Dante and Boccaccio he comes third, on Petrarch fifth. Pilucca and Bartolomeo Baccelli are systematically recorded among the last. In order to establish the criteria in these contests, further study of the poems would be required. The Libro, however, makes clear that the discussion after the presentation of the poems was a most vital element of this game as it aimed at assuring quality. This can be concluded from the fact that after being read aloud and commented upon, the poems regarded worthy could in the future be put forward as a product representative of the Academy. So in order to set a certain example as an Academy, the quality level had to be high. This ambitious aspect of the discussions within the poetry contest should be regarded against the background of the importance attached to discussion as part of the academic practice in general. Its significance is underscored by a statute in the Libro that in point of fact stimulates and regulates debate: 143
Anchora che a quello che exporra Possa inPugnare e contradire chi uuole che sia della ACCADEMIA che si sente Possente et habile a contrastare ma che le liti Poi et le differentie si rimettino nel Giuditio de’ Sri. Consoli et a loro si creda quando con forti argumenti e buone Ragioni Confermino il detto loro se none i Piu Pareri et migliori vinghino. The statute shows that the Umidi shunned no fierce discussions, disagreements, or even quarrels. Should discord become uncontrollable, the consuls would act as referees and evaluate the various opinions and the cogency of the arguments. Bartoli 1883: 204. 143
61 While debate had a serious function within the Academy regarding quality control and education, it also left room for mockery and satire. In the reports of the contests, we catch a glimpse of such ridicule. In the Libro, we find a poem that is left out of the competition. Above an epitaph by Niccolò Martelli is recorded that is was ‘lasciato per scazafallimento’. This ambiguous ‘per scazafallimento’, that is not in the Crusca vocabulary, seems to mean as much as ‘to avoid failure’. 144 Hence it seems that Martelli did not regard his poem worthy to enter or did not dare include it in the competition for fear of harsh comments. In a way, this record recalls an anecdote included in Doni’s description of the poet‐singers’ gatherings, in which Visino steels off after his performance, afraid of the mocking comments of his fellow poets. The Umidian Poetics Study of the Libro has demonstrated that the activities organized by the Accademia degli Umidi were directed at ‘passatempo’ but also at passing on specifically Tuscan and Florentine traditions. To support their attempt to canonize and guarantee a continuous life for the city’s festive culture and for the oral tradition of the poet‐singers and canterini that had always been popular in Florence, the Academy’s members sought an alliance with the regime. In the Umidi’s view, both traditions were worthy of academic attention if only because it considered vernacular poetry to be an indispensable part of Florentine culture that needed to be preserved. This strong sense of fiorentinità, a chauvinistic undercurrent in the Academy’s programme, seems to have set them apart from other early Academies, especially in combination with the high level of formalisation. The Umidi clearly felt that poetic performances and games provided excellent possibilities for preserving vernacular literary knowledge and skills. This taste for performativity was typical for their generation even on a European level. Arjan van Dixhoorn explains that ‘[p]erformative literary culture was […] deeply rooted in private, local, and regional festive culture.’ ‘Early clusters of literary organization’, such as the Libro, c. 15v. The poem reads: ‘Tolse dal corpo l’alma / Del gentil Tasco in cui rilucce eterno / Il ciel la Terra e ’l Tenebroso inferno / Tu che disii saper’ inuoca et chiama’. 144
62 Umidi, were, according to Van Dixhoorn, characterized by a festive and competitive spirit and by ‘the amateur status of their writers and performers (even of those that had an intellectual training or an intellectual profession)’. 145 More specifically, the activities of the Umidi resemble those of Italian academic circles outside of Florence, and were indeed inspired by such circles. Through the founders of the Accademia degli Infiammati, Benedetto Varchi and Luca Martini, and the letters they wrote to their Florentine friends, the Umidi were influenced by this Paduan Academy. The activities and organization of the Accademia degli Infiammati in turn recall the examples set by the Roman Accademia dei Virtuosi, the Florentine brigate of the turn of the century, and the Sienese Accademia degli Intronati. 146 A key activity of the Accademia dei Virtuosi for example, were the poetry contests held in the period before Lenten. Every week, one of the members was temporarily elected prince and ended his reign with a carnival banquet. During these banquets the academicians competed with each other, reciting mock poems and orations in honour of their fake prince. 147 The laudatory Petrarchan epitaphs produced for the Umidian contests were by no means carnivalesque in nature, but the practical setting of the contest was probably very similar to that of the Virtuosi. In this Italian context, the Umidi provided Florence with an institution that could rival those in other cities. As such, it should both resemble those academies and distinguish itself from them. Although lecturing, which was a central activity of the Infiammati, was a part of their programme, they never actually tried their hands at ‘reading and explaining’ poems by Petrarch or other Tuscan poets (‘far leggere exporre Sonetti o altre Compositioni Del Petrarca o d’alcuno Altro Lodato Toscano Compositore’). 148 Still, it was precisely this regulation, combined with the fact that their programme was intrinsically chauvinistic, that provided Cosimo with a motive to start creating an institution that would become both face and tool of his cultural politics. Van Dixhoorn 2008: 439. On the influence of Roman, Florentine and Sienese academies on the Paduan Infiammati, see: Samuels 1976: 606‐611. On the resemblance of the Umidi and the Sienese Intronati, see: Andrews 1993: 109‐110. 147 Samuels 1976: 607. 148 Bartoli 1883: 203‐204: ‘E Anchora quando a i detti Consoli o Rettori uenga bene di far leggere exporre Sonetti o altre Compositioni Del Petrarca o d’alcuno Altro Lodato Toscano Compositore La Prima Volta Possino Eleggere chi Piace loro et sempre Durante i loro offitio’. 145
146
63 Lasca’s poetic and institutional taste was founded on this traditional, festive and essentially Florentine literary culture. Lasca and the other Umidi tried to institutionalize this culture and to guarantee its continuation; ‘freedom’ and ‘passatempo’, however, did not exclude earnest study and serious ambitions. The joyous character of the Umidian meetings, instead of implying superficiality and cursoriness, was a goal in itself. It was through performance that poetic and vernacular skills were maintained and that Florentine culture could flourish and be preserved. In a sonnet Lasca composed when the Accademia degli Umidi was rebaptized into Accademia Fiorentina, he specifically stresses the fact that the Umidi were primarily poets. 149 Clearly, he forefelt that in the new Academy the enjoyment of poetry would come under pressure. In the next chapter, Lasca’s participation in the Accademia Fiorentina until 1547 will be studied. As we shall see, in this period the Umidian heritage indeed came under fire. Plaisance 2004a: 90. 149
64 Interlude Florence’s Informal Literary Circles of the 1540s ∗
In order to understand Lasca’s complex relationship with the formal institutions in which he participated, it is necessary to discuss his involvement with the informal literary circles of the 1540s. Aged 35 when he founded the Accademia degli Umidi and equiped with considerable literary training, Lasca was already an established writer in this period. On top of that, his family situation allowed him to devote his time to writing. 1 Henceforth, he would play an important part in various cultural circuits. Lay confraternities and groups of friends who privately organized cultural events and literary gatherings (or simply exchanged poetry amongst each other) formed the foundation of Florence’s cultural life, and many of Lasca’s views on poetry and poetic practice were shaped within these close networks, which overlapped and interacted with the formal bodies such as the Fiorentina. Who participated in the informal circuits Lasca moved in? What was the social composition of the groups and what did each member contribute? What kind of literary activities did the groups deploy? ∗
I owe much to the research of Michel Plaisance, whose surveys of the contacts of Lasca and the Umidi at the time of the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi form the core of this Interlude. I am also very grateful to Vanni Bramanti who was kind enough to send me his article ‘Il Lasca e la famiglia della Fonte’ (2004), which has enabled me to follow the tornatella into the mid‐1540s. 1 See note 2 and 5 of the Introduction. 65 The twelve founding members of the Accademia degli Umidi emerged from a colourful network of men of letters, actors, visual artists, musicians and dilettanti. 2 This informal circle remained active on the fringes of the Academy after its transformation of 1541. The men involved referred to their circle as ‘tornatella’, derived from ‘tornate’, the word that was used for their meetings in the Libro, before the founding of the Academy. 3 Lasca also frequently uses the terms ‘brigata’ or ‘compagnia leggiadra’ when he addresses the circle, thus typifying it as an informal group of friends who met to entertain themselves. The pivotal figures of the tornatella ‐ those that return in every reference to the circle ‐ were clearly Stradino, Lasca, Niccolò Martelli, Gismondo Martelli, and Miglior Visino. Visino was the only one amongst them who did participate in the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi. 4 Initially the men gathered mostly in the house of Stradino, but other locations are mentioned as well. In a later stage, many of them also met in the house of the Della Fonte family and at Lorenzo Scala’s. Although we have ample information on Lasca, Niccolò Martelli and even Stradino (see chapters 1 and 3), most of the Umidi remain obscure. Bartolomeo Benci, Paolo de’ Geri, Filippo Salvetti and Baccio Baccelli, for instance, left no traces of their literary careers, neither in the Annali of the Fiorentina, nor in poetic production. Others, who were more active but never prominent, are mentioned only incidentally. Of Piero Fabbrini, for instance, little more is known than the fact that he delivered some lectures for the Academy. Michelangelo Vivaldi was active as a lyric poet (see also chapter 3) but his fame did not extend beyond his own age, and on Simone della Volta nothing is known but Lasca’s references to his fame as a an improvising poet (see chapter 1). 5 The idea that the Umidi founders mostly belonged to the mercantile class needs revision. This was first mentioned in the Libro, 6 and has been persistently Plaisance 2004b: 148‐156. Plaisance (2004b: 149) cites from the Libro. 4 The Umidi founders were: Cinzio Romano, Niccolò Martelli, Filippo Salvetti, Simone della Volta, Piero Fabbrini, Bartolomeo Benci, Gismondo Martelli, Michelangelo Vivaldi, Baccio Baccelli, Paolo de’ Geri, Stradino and Lasca. 5 For biographical references to some of the Umidi, see: Plaisance 2004a: 60n. 6 Bartoli 1883: 206: ‘si Creó [...] una Accademia di Alcuni giouani fioni li quali anchor che fussino La Maggior Parte d’essi in exercitij Mercantili occupati’. 2
3
66 repeated ever since without discussion, but the claim lacks actual ground. 7 The myth that Lasca was a professional apothecary may have contributed to its persistence. 8 The mercantile status of the Umidi, however, cannot be proven. By contrast, they all seem to have come from very well‐to‐do, even patrician families. Nearly all information about the tornatella can be found in the work of Lasca and Martelli, who were the most prolific members of the group. 9 Niccolò, for instance, wrote most of the poems that appeared under the auspices of the Accademia degli Umidi. 10 Within time, he would gain a solid position in the Accademia Fiorentina, holding various offices of the magistrature board. Niccolò authored a vast correspondence with numerous men of letters, which contains valuable information for historians of mid‐
sixteenth‐century Florence. His epistolary works are also an important source on the activities and composition of the circle around Stradino in the early 1540s. In Lasca’s poetry, too, the tornatella is frequently discussed, and it is here that we find many of the names associated with it. In the capitolo ‘in lode del tafferuglio’ he lists some of them: 11
[...] nel tempo della Tornatella, noi usavamo a casa lo Stradino. Oh compagnia leggiadra ch’era quella! Lo Scalo, il Varchi, Ugolino e Gismondo, Giomo, Confetto, il Barlacchi e ‘l Centella, Cencio e Visin, che valevano un mondo, e il buon Borgianni della Tegamata, e molti altri ch’a dirli io mi confondo; […]. See for instance: Rodini 1970: 5; Bareggi 1973: 528; Zanrè 2004: 16; Stumpo 2009 (forthcoming). See note 2 of the Introduction. 9 For Martelli’s biography, see: Bogani 1992: 19‐98; Plaisance 2004a: 55‐56n; Stumpo (forthcoming). 10 His name is present on practically every page of the Libro. 11 Capitolo XXXIX, vv. 92‐99, in: Grazzini 1882: 586. Plaisance (2004b: 149n) points out that this capitolo most probably contains parts of the now lost canzone ‘in lode della tornatella, compagnia così detta’. The capitolo ‘in lode del tafferuglio’ was composed after 1550. 7
8
67 In a sonnet to Stradino, Lasca also mentions Ciano (Bastiano della Pace) and (again) Confetto, when he begs Stradino to join them at ‘cena’ in Ciano’s house. 12 We cannot be sure of the identities and professions of all these men, but thanks to Plaisance’s extensive research some veils have been lifted. Some of the men mentioned in Lasca’s poem appear to have been well‐to‐do professionals in the duke’s service. Ciano, to begin with, was the ducal profumiere who was acquainted with Bronzino and Tasso legnaiuolo. 13 Lasca refers to him as ‘il mio Cian profumiere’. 14 Ciano was an important member of the circle. Not only did he house the tornatella on occasion, he also was financier and inventor of private and public festivities, especially during the carnival. During the Lenten festivities, for example, he supplied eggs filled with perfume, which were to be thrown by the people. 15 Martelli describes how Ciano composed his scents: ‘che sempre le mani della sua spoglia maneggino ambra, muschetti, zibetti, olij delicate, polvere odorifere, acque d’angeli et d’arcangeli, e che, componendoli insieme, profumiate un quartieri’. 16 Confetto, secondly, was a woodworker and architect in the service of Cosimo I. Amongst his activities were designing and building prospettive for comedies and public festivities. 17 ‘Cencio’ was the musician Lorenzo degli Organi, an organist. 18 He was a valuable friend to Lasca in the troubled month of August 1547, when, after being excluded from the Academy’s ranks, the poet retreated to Degli Organi’s villa to avoid Florence and the academicians. Here, he stayed in the presence of Andrea Lori and Lorenzo Scala, the latter also a visitor of Sonetto III, vv. 15‐23, in: Grazzini 1882: 6. See: Martelli 1916: 71. Martelli addresses Ciano with ‘Ciano profumiere Ducale’. On Ciano, see also: Plaisance 2004b: 155. 14 Madrigalessa LI, v. 67, in: Grazzini 1882: 330. In this poem, Ciano is named in the same breath as Lorenzo Scala, Luca Martini, Barlacchia, Miglior Visino and Cencio. 15 Plaisance 2004b: 155n. 16 Martelli 1916: 71‐73. Martelli also sings the praise of Ciano’s house, which contained a beautifully decorated court. 17 Plaisance 2004b: 151n. 18 Ibidem. Lasca calls him ‘Cencio organista’ in one poem (Madrigalessa LI, v. 67, in: Grazzini 1882: 330); and in a capitolo ‘in nome di Lorenzo degl’Organi’, makes Cencio exclaim: ‘Ben ch’io sia uso gli organi a suonare’ ( Capitolo XLIII, v. 1, in: Ibidem: 596). 12
13
68 the tornate (mentioned as ‘Lo Scalo’ in the poem cited above). 19 ‘Il Barlacchi’, a comic actor and herald, and member of the Compagnia della Cazzuola, participated in Niccolò Martelli’s canto degli Acconciatori di Fante (see chapter 1). He was also staged as one of the dwarfs in La Nanea, which could be indicative of his connections. 20 ‘Giomo’, a poulterer, and ‘Centella’ as well as ‘Borgianni della Tegamata’ remain obscure. 21 ‘Gismondo’ is Gismondo Martelli, one of the Umidi (who appears in chapters 1 and 3). ‘Visin’ is Miglior Visino to whom we will turn shortly. The professions of these men in particular show that the tornatella ‐ in contrast to the Accademia degli Umidi ‐ was not an exclusively literary circle. Only Lasca, Benedetto Varchi and Ugolino Martelli (‘Il Varchi’ and ‘Ugolino’ in the capitolo) were men of leisure whose main activity was writing literary work. The tornatella was a cross section of Florentine society in more than one way. All social classes were represented, descendents from well‐to‐do and patrician families as well as the local poulterer. The celebrative character of many of the events they were involved in, clearly provoked this mixed composition. Groups such as the tornatella often gathered particularly during the city’s seasonal festivities, whether for the staging of a play or for organizing a carnival procession (see also chapter 1). Habitually, they collaborated with the city’s lay confraternities such as the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia and the Compagnia di San Sebastiano, which were not only involved in writing and reading sermons, 22 but also staged both public events on seasonal occasions and private events for their members. Through Varchi and his friends Carlo Strozzi and Ugolino Martelli, the tornatella kept in close contact with the Paduan Accademia degli Infiammati. This academy had been founded by these three Florentine exiles in June 1540, and was a great source of This stems from Lasca’s letter ‘sull’inondazione dell’Arno’, addressed to Bartolomeo Bettini (Grazzini 1911: 161‐167). On Lorenzo Scala and Andrea Lori, see: Plaisance 2004b: 150n and 153n. At the time Lasca wrote this letter, Lori was banned from Florence for six months after being convicted for attacking Scala with a knife. This happened, curiously enough, only two months before their shared stay in Cencio degli Organi’s villa. On Lorenzo Scala, see also: Nanerie 2006: 142n. On Andrea Lori, see: Pignatti 2005a: passim. 20 Nanerie 2006: 230n. 21 Plaisance 2004b: 151n. 22 See: Van Dixhoorn 2008: 424. 19
69 inspiration for the Accademia degli Umidi. The Paduans corresponded with Lasca, Stradino, Niccolò and Gismondo Martelli, and Luca Martini, who was to join the Accademia degli Umidi in an early stage. In his letters, Varchi kept the Umidi informed of the Paduan situation, the founding of the Accademia degli Infiammati, and the series of lectures he delivered before the Academy. 23 Lasca, in turn, provided Varchi with the latest literary news from Florence. 24 In 1543, Varchi returned to Florence on the instigation of Cosimo I. He soon enrolled in the Fiorentina, to become its most eminent lecturer for many years to follow. Ugolino, who had returned somewhat earlier, also played an important part in the Fiorentina in the first half of the 1540s. In this period their relations with the tornatella were obviously renewed. Another important figure to the tornatella was Miglior Visino, a merciaio, who was a great friend of Stradino (see also chapter 1). Like Stradino he was an entertainer, a poet‐singer, 25 and like Stradino he attracted groups of youngsters that gathered in his bottega. 26 He seems to have been involved in several literary and festive circles; besides the tornatella, he frequented the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia. 27 Apparently, Visino was an actor as well, as he was meant to play the part of Lazzero in Lasca’s La Gelosia during the Carnival of 1551. Unfortunately, he died before the performance and the project came to nothing. Visino’s death came as a blow to Lasca, who incited all who love ‘feste […] farse, commedie, mascherate e canti’ to mourn both him and Stradino, who had died some months before Visino. 28 In a capitolo to Miglior Visino, Lasca lists several other people to whom he was close in the 1540s: Baccio da Sommaia, Bastiano della Pace, 29 Samuels 1976: 625‐627; on Varchi and Martini, see: Plaisance 2004a: 31‐36. In a letter to Varchi of 27 May 1542, Lasca passes on the regards of Barlacchi, Goro della Pieve (who joined the Accademia degli Umidi in a very early stage as ‘rettor perpetuo’), Stradino and Gismondo Martelli. He also writes: ‘Dell’Accademia non vi dico niente, tenendo per fermo, che da Luca Martini, e da Ugolino vostro ne abbiate avuto minutamente ragguaglio’ (cited in: Spalanca 1981: 76). 25 Nosow 2002: 178. See also: Madrigalessa XL, vv. 28‐32, in: Grazzini 1882: 308. 26 Martelli 1916: 23‐24. Bramanti (2004: 30n) locates Visino’s bottega in Via Ghibellina. 27 Bryce 1995: 91. 28 Plaisance 2004b: 214. 29 On Da Sommaia and Della Pace, see: Ibidem: 152n. 23
24
70 Stradino, Luca Martini (‘gran padre Lucone’), Ridolfo Landi, 30 Carlo Strozzi, Lionardo and Giovan Battista della Fonte (‘l’una e l’altra Fonte’). 31 Lasca incites Visino to gather them all to join him in Castelfiorentino, where he was enjoying the pleasures of country‐
life. This group seems to have been a sub‐group within the tornatella. A large part of the men Lasca summoned to the campagna, formed the audience of the performance of Lasca’s Il Frate in the house of Maria da Prato and are addressee of a polizza in the subsequent poetic game (discussed in chapter 1). Ten letters, written by Lasca between 1 March and 22 May 1544, recently discovered and published by Vanni Bramanti, facilitate the reconstruction of Lasca’s contacts in the mid‐
1540s. 32 Lasca wrote these letters on behalf of the rich patrician family Della Fonte, to Giovan Battista della Fonte, the eldest son, who stayed in Rome. The poet frequented the Della Fontes on a very regular basis, not just as a ‘amico in visita’, but rather as a ‘uomo di fiducia’ in the absence of the capo famiglia Giovan Battista. 33 According to the letters ‐ a colloquial mixture of the latest news, gossip and practical messages ‐ a group of men of letters, artists and musicians met principally in the house of the family. 34 Needless to say, this group is largely consistent with the original tornatella around Stradino and with the group Lasca links to Visino. The brothers Giovan Battista (1517‐1570) and Lionardo della Fonte (d. 1550) played a central role in this seemingly cohesive circle of friends. They had contacts with artists such as Francesco Salviati, legnaiuolo Tasso (who also appears in many of Lasca’s and Alfonso de’ Pazzi’s poems) and Bronzino, of whom Giovan Battista commissioned a pietà for their family chapel in the Santa Croce (after 1566). 35 The brothers were both intimate friends of Lasca’s, according to the poems he addresses to them. Lionardo is also recalled in two capitoli to Lorenzo degli Organi Plaisance 2004a: 85n. Ridolfo Landi (unknown‐1559) was the brother of Antonio Landi, who was consul of the Accademia Fiorentina, but no references to his own merits remain. 31 Capitolo VIII, vv. 56, 58‐60, 64, 76‐77, in: Grazzini 1882: 489. See also: Bramanti 2004: 23. 32 Ibidem: passim. 33 Ibidem: 25. 34 The family Della Fonte lived in the Corso Tintori in Quartiere Santa Croce (Ibidem: 21). 35 Ibidem; Pilliod 2001: 88‐89. 30
71 (Cencio). 36 Furthermore, Lasca regularly visited their family’s villa Gli Osoli in the Florentine countryside. 37 What was the nature of the gatherings at the Della Fontes’? In Lasca’s letters, Varchi, Luca Martini, Gismondo Martelli, Miglior Visino, Simone della Volta, Ciano, Doni, the artists Tasso and Francesco Salviati and the musician Babadauro appear as regular guests of the family. They send their regards to Rome, join family dinners, and their cultural activities as well as amorous affairs, travels and family matters were clearly regarded newsworthy to Lasca as he eagerly relates every detail to Giovan Battista in Rome. Indicative of the intimate character of the letters are the references to Luca Martini’s affection for Antonio Lapi, who apparently fell in love at the Della Fontes’. Lasca mocks them, but with affection, as for instance in: ‘Lucone è più bello che mai e va sempre crescendo coll’amore e coll’amicizia di Tonin Lapi […] e ha fatto fare al Bronzino un ritratto sì bello del suo Antonio che il Tasso dice che quella è la più bella testa ch’egli facessi mai’.38 The letters often discuss the lively events at the Della Fontes’. One day, Lionardo invited three singers (Filippo Cambi, Moschino, Giovanbattista de’ Bracci) to perform ‘lamentazioni in volgare’ by Corteccia and Carlo Lenzoni. 39 Another day Migliore Cresci presented ‘una sua operina’ that, with the interference of Varchi, would be presented to Cosimo. 40 The exchange and evaluation of (each other’s) poetry was a binding element 36 For Lionardo Lasca composed a canzone in which he discusses the fear of being dismembered as a result of syphilis (Canzone III, in: Grazzini 1882: 148). The date of this song is noteworthy: 10 November 1542, the second birthday of the Accademia degli Umidi. He also addressed a capitolo to Lionardo, on hunting (‘uccellatura’, v. 26) (Capitolo XXII, in: Ibidem: 524‐526). To Giovan Battista he addressed the capitolo ‘in lode della statua di san Giorgio di mano di Donatello a Orsanmichele a Firenze’ (Capitolo XXIII, in: Ibidem: 526‐
529). For a discussion of this poem, see: De Koomen 2000: 146‐152. The brothers also figure in the capitolo to Miglior Visino mentioned above, and in two capitoli to Lorenzo degli Organi (Capitolo XLI, XLII, in: Grazzini 1882: 590‐595). 37 Plaisance 2004b: 151‐152; Bramanti (2004: 21) locates the villa on the road between Santa Margherita a Montici and Impruneta (nowadays called Via delle Cinque Vie). The villa is now named Palmucci. 38 Bramanti (2004: 38) suggest that the portrait by Bronzino may be that of the unidentified giovane con liuto in the Uffizi. On ‘Lucone’ and ‘Tonin’, see also: ‘bastivi solamente intendere che Lucone è divetato martire d’Amore e Tonin Lapi lo sprone e voglie calcitrar non vale’ (Bramanti 2004: 31); or: ‘Lucone è di maniera inlamorato [sic] di Tonin Lapi, che fuori di lui tutte le cose gli piacciono a un modo’ (Ibidem: 33). Lasca again refers to this love in a sonnet to Luca Martini dating from 1547: Sonetto LXXI, in: Grazzini 1882: 58. 39 Bramanti 2004: 26, 32. 40 Ibidem: 26, 30. 72 in the contacts. For instance, on 22 March, Lasca recalls the copying and sending to Rome of a canzone Giovan Battista had asked for. 41 Lasca reassures Giovan Battista that he has received the sonnets that the latter had sent to him (‘I sonetti mi furon mostri da Luca Martini secondo la vostra commessione’) and that Luca Martini had read them out for a gathering in the workshop of Miglior Visino (‘e gli lesse, in bottega di Visino, Giovan Cavalcanti in presenza di parecchi, che a tutti parvero bellissimi’). 42 In this particular case, Lasca also writes Giovan Battista that he cannot yet report the opinions of Varchi, Martini and Carlo Strozzi on the sonnets (‘non ho già per ancora inteso il parer di Luca, né quel che ne dica il Varchi a Carlo Strozzi’), whose judgment was obviously of particular importance. 43 In a letter of 10 May, Lasca comments on a ‘Pasquino’ by Giovan Battista, jestingly inciting him to finally send something worthwhile: ‘Bastian del Pace nostro dice che il vostro Pasquino è diventato una bacheca e, per mia fé, che mi par ch’egli abbia ragione, io non vidi mai peggio o vero le cose buone non ci vengano; di gratia, mandateci qualche bella compositione’. 44
Although music, song and art were also part of their activities, the men that gathered at the Della Fonte house primarily seem to have shared a literary interest. Nevertheless, as its members had various professional and social backgrounds, the group’s social composition resembled that of the tornatella. Rather than by social status, the hierarchy within these circles, seems to have been primarily defined by age and literary experience. In chapter 1 we have seen how a mentor‐pupil system determined the activities around Stradino. That the same principle was applied within the group that met at the house of the Della Fontes, is suggested by the roles of Varchi and Luca Martini. Varchi (1503‐1565) was of nearly the same age as Lasca. Both were about forty at the time of the gatherings, and both had established a solid literary reputation. The other Bramanti 2004: 29. On 29 March, he confirms that he was pleased to hear that the canzone had indeed arrived (Ibidem: 32). 42 Ibidem: 26, 29‐30. 43 Apparently, Giovan Battista keeps asking after Varchi’s and Strozzi’s opinion, since in the letter of 6 April, Lasca notes: ‘I sonetti non vi posso dire come siano piaciuti, né al Varchi , né al messer Carlo […]’ (in: Ibidem: 33). 44 Ibidem: 38. 41
73 members were much younger. Giovan Battista della Fonte, for instance, was 27 when Lasca wrote the letters on behalf of his family; his brother Lionardo was even younger. In poetic respect, Varchi evidently fulfilled a senior, mentor‐like role. He commented on the group’s poetic efforts, as can be concluded from Giovan Battista della Fonte’s insistence on hearing Varchi’s opinion. Varchi even fulfilled this role for Lasca, who often passed his poems on to him for advise or judgment. 45 Luca Martini (d. 1561) also belonged to the generation of Lasca and Varchi. 46 He was a versatile man: engineer, poet, Dante expert, and a key figure in Florence’s cultural networks; he fulfilled an eminent role as a patron of art and was one of Cosimo I’s favourites. In 1547 he obtained a high‐ranked post in Pisa in ducal service. 47 To be sure, his standing gave him a position of prominence within the group. Considering this, Lasca’s allusions to Luca’s love affair with the obscure and probably much less authoritative ‘Tonin Lapi’ in his letters to Giovan Battista are telling. The homo‐erotic gossip is very similar to Lasca’s later allusions to Stradino’s affection for his pupil Gismondo Martelli (discussed in chapter 1, and, more extensively, in chapter 3). Apparently, within circles like these, the hierarchy based on age and experience, was often translated – whether in reality or only in jest – into pederastic relationships between senior and junior participants. It is noteworthy that allusions to homo‐erotic and pederastic relations were vital to the groups’ identities, and play a significant role in processes of bonding (see also chapter 4). The tornatella and the groups around Visino and the Della Fonte brothers overlapped with the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia (discussed in chapter 1). Lasca mentions to Giovan Battista that he will take part in the activities of the Compagnia planned for the next day, as well as ‐ if the weather permits it ‐ in those of the ‘Bechello’ See the above‐mentioned letter Lasca wrote to Varchi (1542), cited in: Spalanca 1981: 75‐76. With the letter, Lasca thanked Varchi for his comments on his poetry and praises him for improving each single sonnet. Lasca expresses the importance of Varchi as his teacher and example as follows: ‘In fine voi siete il mio secondo Maestro, già per i consigli vostri avendomi eletto il Petrarca pel primo’. 46 Although Luca Martini’s date of birth is unknown, it is safe to assume that he, too, was amongst the eldest in the group. This may be inferred from the fact that he had already gained an prominent position in Cosimo’s entourage in the 1540s. 47 Brock 2002: 150. 45
74 (the Compagnia di San Sebastiano): ‘Domattina colla gratia di Dio si fanno certi passatempi alla Cicilia che per insino di Quaresima furono ordinati; dopo, rispetto al tempo tristo, cioè piovoso, e di poi alle lamentationi <in volgare> del Bechello’. 48 In this circuit he and his friends also worked with Alfonso de’ Pazzi, eminent member of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia (see chapters 1 and 2). This also goes for Iacopo Bientina, the playwright of a comedy for the Compagnia. 49 His relationship with the tornatella may be derived from the canzone Lasca composed on the death of Stradino. Apparently, Bientina was a friend with whom Stradino indulged in literary pastimes: ‘Ma lo spirito angelico e divino / del gran padre Stradino / si vive in cielo, e col buon Carafulla, / col Bientina ride ora e si trastulla’. 50 After 1545, the house of Lorenzo Scala (‘Lo Scalo’) in Fiesole, became more and more prominent as a platform for the staging of spectacles of various kind. The guests recited poetry or sang carnival songs, and it seems probable that the poetry was staged using decors and costumes, as painters, architects, musicians and actors were also involved in these events. Plaisance notes that these meetings were called sequente, and the people attending the sequente again appear to overlap largely with the circles mentioned above. 51 Lasca wrote two carnival songs entitled ‘Alla Sequenta’, which were sung during dinners in Scala’s house: 52
già tra’ canti a tra’ suoni facemmo spesso a mensa recitare da valenti strioni cose da far la mente rallegrare. Bramanti 2004: 39. The ‘lamentazioni’ referred to could well be the very same Lasca alluded to in a previous letter, the ones that were performed at the Della Fontes’. 49 See: note 12 of chapter 1. 50 Canzone IV, vv. 19‐22, in: Grazzini 1882: 150. 51 Plaisance 2004b: 155‐156. In one of Martelli’s letters, Visino, Lasca and Ciano are acknowledged as friends of Scala. 52 Cited in: Ibidem: 156n. For the songs, see: Canto carnascialesco XXXV and XXXVI, in: Grazzini 1882: 215‐
216. 48
75 With this interlude, I hope to have shown how much cultural life of mid‐sixteenth‐
century Florence functioned through bonds of friendship and informal networks. Lasca was part of a dynamic landscape of social circles that mostly seem to have evolved around steady groups of friends and one or two regular meeting places. The varied character of these circles is noteworthy. The composition of their members is quite interdisciplinary. We find professional writers such as Lasca, scribes such as Girolamo Amelonghi (who is thus mentioned by Lasca in a letter to Giovambattista della Fonte) and scholars such as Luca Martini and Varchi. Also included are professional visual artists (Bronzino), actors (Barlacchi), musicians (Lorenzo degli Organi) and artisans (like Miglior Visino). The men were also of varied social status: merchants (Visino and Giomo) as well as patricians (the Della Fontes, the Martellis, Carlo Strozzi). Lasca’s participation in these informal circles strongly affected his view on formal literary life. The democratic foundations of the Accademia degli Umidi are in line with the social composition of these circles: anyone could join and everyone contributed to the gatherings and activities with what he had to offer: a house, music, a witty pen, a sharp eye for corrections of works of others, performing skills, the ability to build a décor. As the Accademia degli Umidi was established from such loose structures, it seems a typical organization of late medieval and early modern Europe, which are all ‘on a continuous spectrum from formal to informal’ and remain mixtures of ‘formalized and non‐formalized behaviours’.53 As Arjan van Dixhoorn has recently put it: ‘When insiders and outsiders recognize an organization as an entity in itself existing independently of the individuals in it, in theory, the previously loose group has transformed into a corporation with a potentially continuous life’. 54 When the Accademia Fiorentina became increasingly formalized, it also became less democratic and less interdisciplinary, and many of its members became excluded (see also chapter 3) because they did no longer fit in with the new elite and scholarly profile. It seems that they could easily fall back on their old informal habits in circles that functioned on the Van Dixhoorn 2008: 431‐432. Ibidem. 53
54
76 fringes of the official Fiorentina. Many of the people that were active in these circuits would have fallen into oblivion, if not for the references to their existence by their more prominent and eloquent colleagues. As a member of at least one of the city’s lay confraternities as well as of several informal circles of friends, Lasca took full advantage of the literary enjoyments offered by the city. The institutionalization of informal poetic gatherings in the Accademia degli Umidi had one major advantage: it offered Lasca and his literary views continuity and a place in history. The establishment of the Accademia degli Umidi, then, signifies a shift in Lasca’s career from the predominantly ephemeral enjoyment of poetry to an increasingly formalized experience. 77 78 Chapter 2 Cantando al paragone. Alfonso de’ Pazzi and Academic Debate (1541‐1547) The Accademia Fiorentina inherited the organizational structures and the activities that came with the Umidian spirit. Clearly, this orientation was at stake from the moment the Accademia degli Umidi was renamed Accademia Fiorentina in early 1541 (1540 s.f.) and became gradually transformed into a state‐controlled institution. From 1547 onwards organizational structures that could provoke chaos and polemics were definitely banned from the public life of the academy. However, until that day the performative poetic tradition of the Umidi continued to shape academic private life. In the years between 1541 and 1547 ‐ the period that was needed to definitely transform the Accademia degli Umidi into the state controlled Accademia Fiorentina ‐ Lasca was a notorious rebel within the Academy. He voiced his discontent in the numerous burlesque poems in which he ridiculed academic life and many of its academicians. Within this corpus, one addressee stands out: a noteworthy part of Lasca’s poetry in this period is addressed to Alfonso de’ Pazzi, also named l’Etrusco. In fact, Pazzi can compete with both Stradino 79 and Varchi, and with Raffaello de’ Medici who frequently was the dedicatee in a later stage of Lasca’s career (see the next chapter). 1
Pazzi, who enrolled in the Accademia Fiorentina on 7 September 1543, enjoyed a tremendous popularity in his own time, but has become quite obscure with the ages. Robert Nosow, a musicologist, has recently argued convincingly that Alfonso de’ Pazzi was a renowned entertainer during the private meetings of the Academy. He shows Pazzi to have been an improvising poet‐singer, in the tradition of the cantimbanchi, who sang his satirical songs in front of the members, accompanied by the lira da braccio. 2 Besides that, the Annali show that Pazzi was also a prominent lecturer and that he fulfilled some of the magistrature’s board offices. Clearly, these two different roles were not incompatible, and the combination made Pazzi a man to be reckoned with. His versatility made him a factor of influence within academic discourses. The fact that Pazzi represented the old tradition of the poet‐singers surely appealed to Lasca. His frequent mocking of the poet‐singer, however, suggests that he sensed frustration over the latter’s non‐commitment. His many poems to Pazzi show that he hoped to press Pazzi into committing himself to his cause and to keep on practising his musical, poetic performances. The entire group of poems reflects on academic debate, and shows that Lasca would like to see the continuation of performative poetry as a medium for that debate. Before we turn to that point, I will sketch how the developments within the Fiorentina were principally directed towards outruling the freedom of speech that was inherited from the Umidi. Pazzi scholar Giorgio Masi (2007: 301) defines the significant part Alfonso de’ Pazzi plays in Lasca’s poetry as follows: ‘ora semplicemente citato, ora – in una lunga serie di componimenti – oggetto di feroce derisione, ora di apprezzamento per la satira da lui indirizzata contro nemici condivisi, ora imitato (o parodiato) nei versi che il Lasca scrisse in suo nome’. Hence, the corpus under discussion here is considerable. It consists of: 11 sonnets, 1 incomplete canzone (song), 1 ballad and 2 madrigalesse that are addressed to Pazzi. Furthermore several poems refer to him or have him as subject, for instance: 3 sonnets (1 to Lasca in name of others, one to Goro della Pieve, 1 in nome di Alfonso), the octave ‘sopra il compor canti moderni’, 2 epigrams, and some sonnets on Pazzi’s death, of which two are written in Pazzi’s name from the other side. For the complete overview, see: Masi 2007: 302. 2 Nosow 2002: 192‐211, in particular 199. 1
80 A Transition Period in the Accademia Fiorentina (1541‐1547) Between the founding of the Fiorentina and the reforms that were decisive for the orientation of the Academy, academic practice had to steer a middle course between the heritage of the Umidi and the learned culture desired by the reformers. ‘New intellectuals’ gained a central position in Cosimo’s cultural politics that sought to control and distribute their knowledge for the good of the city and the dominio. 3 Public lecturing was considered to be essential in the distribution of knowledge and hence became a permanent characteristic of the academic organization. The academic lezioni also came to occupy a central place in the education of Florentine students, who were encouraged to come and listen or lecture themselves. 4 But the academy did not change overnight. Especially in the early 1540s, the new, learned direction was simply juxtaposed to the traditional, joyous Umidi activities; old and new co‐existed. The first changes to the Accademia degli Umidi had been instigated on 31 January 1541. Newly admitted members proposed public lecturing to become the central activity of the Academy. 5 At a gathering in the house of Cosimo Bartoli, four men were elected (Cosimo Bartoli, Lorenzo Benivieni, Alessandro del Caccia, Bartolomeo Panciatichi), who, together with the consul, would be authorized to create new statutes. Their primary task, formulated as such in the Libro, was to redraft the statute governing public and private lectures: 6
Essendo la nostra accademia degli humidi cominciata a multiplicare deliberamo et per partito vincemo quattro homini a riordinare li capitoli e l’ordine de leggere in publico et im privato per darli più pensato fondamento. Although the Umidi had considered lecturing an important part of their programme, they had never tried their hands at ‘reading and explaining’ poems by Petrarch or other Bryce 1995: 100‐101. Plaisance 2004c: 272‐273. 5 Plaisance 2004a: 86‐87; Zanrè 2004: 18. 6 I use a transcription by Zanrè (2004 : 18) based on: Libro, c. 4v. Evidently, the Umidian statute that had to be rewritten was: ‘E Anchora quando a i detti Consoli o Rettori uenga bene di far leggere exporre Sonetti o altre Compositioni Del Petrarca o d’alcuno Altro Lodato Toscano Compositore La Prima Volta Possino Eleggere chi Piace loro et sempre Durante i loro offitio’ (in: Bartoli 1883: 203‐204). 3
4
81 Tuscan poets. Due to the new members, however, lecturing became a more and more prominent aspect of the Academy’s programme and practice. The first lecture, which was delivered by the philosopher Francesco Verino on 1 February 1541, is the earliest testimony of the new direction. The second lecture, by Andrea Dazzi, which followed on 6 March 1541, had a similar, learned character. 7 By now the duke had appointed the Sala del Papa, in the monastery of the Santa Maria Novella, to the academicians for their lecturing. 8 Although lecturing became a key activity, discussion and free debate remained part of academic practice. Discussion, in fact, remained an essential part of the academic culture. In 1544, Ugolino Martelli, at that time consul of the Fiorentina, describes the difference between a private and a public meeting in a fragment that is vital to our understanding of the functioning of the private Academy. Although in Ugolino’s view public lecturing was the ultimate achievement of an academician, he underlines the stimulating and cultivating effects of discussion and debate, especially for young academicians: 9
quale hordinanza migliore et più utile alla eruditione dei gioveni si poteva immaginare non che trovare che quella delle tornate nostre privatamente, ove ragionando, discorrendo, leggendo, disputando, potessero cominciare a prendere animo i gioveni di mettersi a più lodate et celebrate imprese; […]. In this didactic aim of discussions we recognize the aspirations of the Umidi, who, through commenting and discussing, evaluated and practised poetic skills, knowledge and taste. During the consulates of Ugolino Martelli (1544) and Niccolò Martelli (1545), academic life in some ways still resembled that of the Accademia degli Umidi. Besides the private discussions, the academicians still participated in festive activities and De Gaetano 1976: 112. Both lectures are recorded in: Annali, I, c. 3r. Apparently, the Sala del Papa was decorated with a portrait of the duke, as three sonnets were composed ‘sopra il ritratto di Suo Eccellenza ch’e nell’Accademia degli Umidi’. One of them is by Lasca: ‘S’io guardo al tempo andato, retto parmi’ (Libro, cc. 65v‐66v). 9 Cited in: Plaisance 2004a: 106. 7
8
82 several plays were performed. 10 Considering the apparent continuity in the academic activities, it comes as no surprise that many of the tornatella participants became members of the Academy: Giovambattista della Fonte, Miglior Visino and Marcantonio Villani are among those elected on 8 January 1545 (1544 s.f.) and on 17 March Benedetto Arrighi, Lionardo della Fonte, Lorenzo Scala and Ciano joined them. 11 But whereas the alterations to the academy had been made gradually in the early 1540s, and learned culture had far from replaced the Umidi’s most valued traditions of free debate and festive performative poetry, ducal intervention became open and stringent after 1545. 12 When Bartolomeo Panciatichi, known for his loyalty to the court, succeeded Varchi as consul on 23 August 1545, 13 the wind changed for good. From now on, there was no mistake about the ambition of the Academy’s leadership. Firstly, a round of reforms in 1546 aligned the Academy’s practice to state politics. The control of the state was felt particularly in the academic structure: all magistrates were now at the court’s service. The Academy’s mission became manifestly political, the defence of the Tuscan volgare its prime task. 14 The importance of lecturing was again underscored during these reforms, for a new voting system was designed which outruled the democratic system developed by the Umidi: henceforth, the right to vote could be won only by delivering a lecture, either private or public. 15 The special status of a lecturer was furthermore accentuated by seating arrangements that visualized the hierarchy of the academicians. The prominent magistrates were positioned hierarchically and in full view of the audience. Important public figures ‐ as for instance the ducal secretary ‐ were placed next to the academic board, to underscore the state control of the Plaisance 2004b: 136‐140. On Ugolino’s consulate, see also: Zanré 2004: 37. Plaisance 2004b: 140. 12 Bareggi 1973: 538. 13 Annali, I, c. 27. 14 Bareggi 1973: 538. 15 Ibidem: 537; Zanrè 2004: 20. 10
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83 academy. 16 Within this hierarchy, the academicians who had lectured gained a more prominent position than those who had not. 17
Subsequently, the most far‐reaching step to discipline academic life ‐ and the ritual of lecturing in particular ‐ was taken at the reforms of 1547, when drastic behavioural codes were laid down. During public lectures, members, now bound by a regulation of obedience and silence, were no longer allowed to comment. During the private lectures, comments were only allowed after the explicit consent of the consul: 18 Nelle pubbliche lezioni non vogliamo, che almeno arguisca, ma nelle private sì bene come in luogo atto a questo esercitio e più comodo a trovare il vero, pure che sia con modestia. La quale, accioché interamente s’osservi, ordiniamo che niuno arguisca in maniera alcuna senza consenso, e licenzia espressa di esso consolo. The regulation also stipulates that, apart from commenting ‘con modestia’, speakers could reflect solely on the subject matter at hand (‘intorno alla cosa, che si ragiona’) and should speak in turns (‘e a uno a uno’). Furthermore, the discussion had to remain gentle (‘chi vuole arguire arguisca benignamente’). Misbehaviour was to be recorded and punished: ‘Ma chi facesse altramenti sia notato per immodesto, e prosuntuoso da esser castigato dal consiglio de’ magistrati’. 19 These resolute limitations of academic debate show that free debate could not be tolerated in the state controlled Academy. It was uncontrollable, and therefore it was safest to prohibit any form of argument during public meetings. In the shelter of the private Thursday meetings, discussions on the lecturing remained allowed, albeit within strict limits. The contrast with the 1540 Umidian mission statements could not have been more striking. Freedom of speech, which guaranteed the Umidi’s debating culture, no longer existed after 1547. Before then, by contrast, it was still very much in custom, For an overview and interpretation of this new system of seating arrangements and behavioural codes, see: Ibidem: 38‐39. 17 Zanrè 2004: 40. 18 Cited from: capitolo 24, ‘Dell’Arguire a’ Lettori’, in: Bareggi 1973: 567. See also: De Gaetano 1976: 109; Zanrè 2004: 44‐45. 19 The citations stem from: capitolo 24, ‘Dell’Arguire a’ Lettori’, in: Bareggi 1973: 567. 16
84 especially in the private sphere, which explains the necessity of new regulations. This chapter explores the form of these discussions. One possible form of academic debate, of course, was plain discussion: ‘ragionando, discorrendo, leggendo, disputando’, in Ugolino’s words. However, the Academy was still an institution in development. It was a dynamic organization that searched for new forms, but in point of fact it still had to deal with two contradictory literary cultures. The main argument for every new round of reforms was the need to impose ‘buon ordine’ upon the gatherings, which implies that in fact they were not nearly as orderly and polite as the reformers wished them to be. The reorganization of 1541, for instance, was announced as follows: ‘et parendo non ci fussin fra loro quel buon ordine, che ricercherà una cosa tale, dettero authorità a duoi [Cosimo Bartoli and Giovanni Norchiati], che facessino di nuovo loro capitoli’. 20 Order and good behaviour were obviously linked to the institution’s chances of success. This was phrased even more explicitly when the reforms of 1547 were announced. These reforms were justified by the claim that disorder had caused the Academy to be underdeveloped: ‘E per questo sommamente difficile, anzi quasi impossibile il rimediare a quegli inconvenienti, e disordini, che insino a questo dì le hanno tolto l’accrescimento, e la perfezione, e che sempre l’hanno impedita’. 21 This stress on ‘order’ suggests that chaotic debating and quarrels were not uncommon in the private gatherings in 1541‐1547. 22 However, besides that, it may also be a rhetorical way to justify the outruling of academic activities that were not controllable, such as poetic performances that were often dominated by satire and improvisation. Alfonso de’ Pazzi was exemplary of the conflicting cultures within the Fiorentina. As an improvising poet‐singer he represented an older tradition that fitted in with the poetic culture embodied by the Umidi. As a prominent lecturer of the Fiorentina, however, he can also be regarded representative of the new style. Operating Zanrè (2004: 17) quotes from: Annali, I, c. 1v (25 December 1540). Emphasis added. Zanrè (2004: 44) cites: Capitoli, cc. 3v‐4r. Emphasis added. 22 Plaisance (2004b: 129), too, proposes that during the private gatherings the members clashed and academic debate took on a passionate tone. See also: Zanrè (2004: 45) who suggests that when discussion was silenced in the public sphere, ‘there was a chance that it could boil over into the private sphere’. 20
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85 on both fronts, he gained an authoritative position in the Fiorentina. Because his activities illuminate the relationship between performative literary culture and academic debate before 1547, a short overview of his understudied career is in order. Pazzi’s Fame After Pazzi’s death in 1555, Girolamo Amelonghi decided to collect the satirical sonnets in which Pazzi mocks Benedetto Varchi. 23 In the prefatory capitolo, which recommended the poet and his sonnets to Cosimo I, Amelonghi underlines the rapid dissemination of Pazzi’s poems and depicts the enthusiastic reactions of the people in the street, who followed Pazzi around and sang his praise: 24 E vorria ’l popul, quando andate fuori, Com’alla procession, venirvi dreto, E gir cantando a gara i vostri onori. Indeed, Pazzi’s poetry, which ranged from carnival songs and burlesque poetry to pastoral, spiritual and love lyric, 25 was extremely popular in mid‐sixteenth‐century Florence. According to several testimonies, he had an exceptional appeal to the crowds. A considerable part of Pazzi’s success may be explained by his powerful performance; as a ‘poet‐singer’ or ‘poet‐musician’ he accompanied his sung poems with music, most probably performed on the lira da braccio or maybe the lute. 26 Poet‐singers supported their memory and performance through the use of arie. The term ‘aria’ in the sixteenth‐century was used to refer to ‘a more or less stereotyped melodic pattern used as the base for improvisatory singing of narrative or lyric verse’. 27 So generally speaking, Amelonghi’s manuscript collection, completed in 1557, still remains (see: Castellani 2006: 57). The capitolo is cited in: Pedrotti 1902: 18‐22 who transcribed: BNCF, Magl. VII, 1061, c. 46a. 25 Masi 2007: 307. 26 Nosow 2002: 181‐183. 27 Haar 1998: 223. An informative essay on the improvisatory tradition in sixteenth‐century Italy is: Haar 1986: 76‐99: ‘Improvvisatori and Their Relationship to Sixteenth‐Century Music’. 23
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86 these poet‐singers improvised their songs, which were based on lyric and epic tales and used musical settings of madrigal verse, sonnets, ottave rime, and Petrarchan canzoni. 28
Nosow suggests that Pazzi’s music should be associated with the improvised music of the cantimbanchi, the poet‐singers of the city squares. 29 Lasca, too, associated Pazzi’s performances with this tradition. When Alfonso entered the Accademia Fiorentina, Lasca welcomed him with a tailed sonnet to Stradino, in which he alludes to Pazzi’s success as street entertainer before he enrolled in the Academy. He exclaims that since ‘Alfonso pazzissimo’ has joined the academy, it has become ‘la burla, e ’l passatempo de’ plebei’. 30 The membership of a street performer, a man of the people, degraded the academy, Lasca mockingly argued. More telling still is the fact that the most repeated invectives for Pazzi used by Lasca (and others for that matter) are ‘cerretano’ and ‘ciurmadore’. In ‘agli accademici fiorentini, in nome di Alfonso de’ Pazzi’, for instance, Pazzi introduces himself as ‘io Alfonso de’ Pazzi cerretano / della vostr’Accademia’. 31 Both ‘cerretano’ and ‘ciurmadore’ refer to pedlars, itinerary traders who frequented the cities with commodities, provided occasional medical help, played games and entertained the crowds with magical tricks and treats. Figuratively speaking, both terms also mean impostor or charlatan, and both are associated with the arts and performances of cantimbanchi. According to James Haar, an expert of sixteenth‐century Italian music, many terms were used for performers who were specialized in cantari, which was nothing more than ‘the generic name for poetry designed for improvised musical performance’. Haar lists: improvvisatore, dicitore in rima, sonatore, cantore, cantatore, canterino, cantastorie, cantimbanco and ciarlatano or cerretano. 32 He underlines that: 33 Nosow 2002: 184. Ibidem: 197. 30 Sonetto VII, vv. 3‐4, 14, in: Grazzini 1882: 9. For support of this interpretation, see also: Nosow 2002: 197‐
199. 31 Sonetto XLVI, vv. 2‐3, in: Grazzini 1882: 40. See also: ‘Fatappio bigio e magro cerretano’ (Sonetto L, v. 1, in: Ibidem: 43). Or: ‘Alfonso ciurmadore’ (Canzone a ballo I, v. 9, in: Ibidem: 159). 32 Haar 1986: 77‐78. 33 Ibidem: 78. 28
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87 we are not dealing with a single category, but with a wide range of careers, from that of a recognised poet who cultivated a style – an aria – of his own, imitating popular culture if not by class background a part of it, through that of a performer valued at court for his skills in playing and singing his own impromptu verse along with the poetry of others […], to that of an itinerant street singer who set himself up in a piazza to entertain the crowd and perhaps sell trinkets and quack remedies. The epithets provided by Lasca, then, by no means prove that Pazzi actually performed in the streets. They probably aimed at a comic effect by associating Pazzi, who was of noble birth, with street entertainers, who were ‘at the bottom of the social scale’. 34 However, the fact that Lasca playfully links Pazzi’s poetry to the practice of the cantimbanchi is indicative of its nature. Music, rhyme and trickery were key elements of his performances. A central aspect of Alfonso de’ Pazzi’s musical skill was improvisation. Nosow demonstrates that in the sixteenth century Pazzi was regarded champion of ‘la musica senza le note’. Authors such as Lasca, Amelonghi, Martelli and Doni employ this notion to refer to his musical presentation. 35 Nosow’s explains this characterization by detailing Pazzi’s pivotal role in a musical debate that raged within the Accademia Fiorentina from 1543 onwards: ‘the debate on song’ – as he labels it. In this debate two views clashed; it brought ‘two visions of Italian song into sharp definition: one based on the oral conception in the performance of accompanied song, the other based on musical composition and the notation of mensural polyphony’. 36 Contemporary writers presented Pazzi as the defender and ultimate representative of the monodic, unwritten tradition. 37 An anonymous pamphlet of 1544, for instance, in which the naturalness of Haar 1986: 79. To give only one example: Niccolò Martelli (1546: 71) wrote to Pazzi: ‘Il quale (vostro cervello) ritrovò anchora infino alla Musica senza note; lassando a Carpentras et a Iosquino, et agli altri erranti la lor zolfa; che chi prima tal nome gli pose, non sognava; pero che e’ pescon con le scale le voci in aria’. 36 Nosow 2002: 176. 37 Nosow puts forward as evidence the anonymous pasquinata of 1544, a letter by Niccolò Martelli of 1546 and other sources that refer to this debate, such as Amelonghi’s preface to La Gigantea and several poems by 34
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88 improvised compositions is preferred to the complex artificiality of written parts, praises Pazzi for being able to ‘ascendere al Grado perfetto della Musica senza Note’. 38 Nosow thus reveals Pazzi’s reputation as an improvising poet‐singer, but evades the question of whether his poems (or rather, his lyrics) were improvised as well. Haar, however, in the passage cited above, assumes that the text, too, was ‘impromptu’. One of Pazzi’s poems was particularly well‐known: the octave ‘Trentasei candellieri et un secchione’ (entitled ‘Al caso di Montemurlo’ in Il terzo libro dell’opere burlesche). 39 This political, pro‐Medicean song alludes to the failed attempt of the Florentine fuorusciti to conquer Montemurlo in August 1537. 40 Several authors refer to the song. Michele da Prato in his ‘Capitolo de’ Rulli’, for instance, uses the verse to add meaning to Pazzi’s madness: 41
De’ Pazzi Alfonso l’otto, un pazzachione, de’ pazzi pazzo più ch’ogn’altro pazzo, Trentasei candellieri e un secchione. Lasca, too, recalls the incipit of the poem. In his sonnet to Stradino, which presents Pazzi as the ‘passatempo de’ plebei’, he suggests that Pazzi’s membership lowers the status of the Academy as people will ridicule it: 42
Or si ridon di lei, e si fan beffe tutte le persone, <trentasei candellieri, ed un secchione.> Lasca. As for Lasca’s poems, I endorse Nosow’s interpretation of elements that refer to the debate on song. I do think, however, that he misreads irony and mockery on some occasions, and hence erroneously assumes that Lasca disliked Pazzi and his poetry. 38 For a transcription of the pasquinata, see: Nosow 2002: 216‐219, ivi 218. For a discussion of the pasquinata, see: Ibidem: 186‐190. 39 Il terzo libro 1723: 375. 40 Masi (2007: 331‐334) convincingly interprets ‘Trentasei candellieri et un secchione’ as a reference to a crucial moment in the consolidation of the reign of Cosimo I. In his opinion, it refers to the attack of Montemurlo by fuoruscito Filippo Strozzi (il secchione) and his army (trentasei candellieri), which was repulsed by the ‘lione di Firenze’ (Cosimo I). For a different reading, see: Castellani 2006: 83‐84. According to Masi, Pazzi’s pro‐Medicean attitude can also be inferred from several other poems (Masi 2007: 333). 41 Bogani 1992: 225, vv. 67‐69. Emphasis original. 42 Sonetto VII, vv. 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 9. Brackets original. 89 In Lasca’s version, the verse is shouted by the people in the streets who hoot the poet and the Academy that holds him in its ranks. Whatever the truthfulness of this allegation, Lasca’s poem again suggests that Pazzi’s songs circulated among the people of Florence. But Pazzi’s popularity reached beyond the streets. Before all, he was active and respected within the many literary circles he frequented. He was ‘governatore’ of the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia, the lay confraternity for which he composed several songs (see chapter 1). Furthermore, he was a member of the Accademia del Piano, which probably came into being in the early 1550s. 43 Allegedly, he also participated in the Accademia de’ Piattelli o Piacevoli, of which very little is known except that it was a ‘compagnia di cacciatori’. 44 Of all Pazzi’s diverse activities within the organized literary world of Florence, his membership of the Fiorentina is by far the best documented. On 7 September 1543 he was admitted as a member, to become one of the Academy’s most notorious entertainers, lecturers and polemicists. Academicians analyzed his poetry; Lionardo Tanci, for instance, commented on the succhiello, a carpenter tool that recurs in Pazzi’s poetry. His esposizion del Tanci sopra il suchiel de l’Etrusco, according to both Masi and Castellani, was a reflection of a lecture held in private in the Fiorentina. 45 Another example is Pierfrancesco Giambullari’s annotated manuscript collection of Pazzi’s poetry, entitled: Rime et sonetti del Etrusco cioè Alfonso de’ Pazzi nobilissimo gentiluomo et accademico fiorentino In vari sugietti e generi diversi con annotationi del Gianbulari. 46
Pazzi’s academic colleagues clearly demonstrate their familiarity with and interest in both Pazzi’s verses and appearance. Doni, Lasca, Martelli and others frequently refer to Pazzi and his work. One often mentioned characteristic of the poet was his foul language. 47 Even more common are the references to Pazzi’s ‘pazzia’. In a membership roll of the Accademia del Piano Pazzi is listed as ‘Bibone Etrusco’, see: Zanrè 2001: 189‐
191. 44 Pedrotti 1902: 37. 45 Castellani 2006: 113; Masi 2007: 328. 46 Ibidem: 330n. 47 Michele da Prato in his ‘Capitolo de’ Rulli’ scorns this rudeness: ‘O che dolce piacer, che gran sollazzo! / Se due vesciche avessi sotto il mento, / non sarebbe in Firenze il più bel cazzo!’ (cited in: Bogani 1992: 225, vv. 70‐72). Lasca voices this aspect of Pazzi’s performance as follows: ‘a quel che ben non si conosce appieno / se 43
90 Cultivated by Pazzi himself, ‘pazzia’ was applied to his person as well as his poetry; it was almost a name of honour (see also chapter 3). Contemporaries recognized the particularities of Pazzi’s poetry and called them ghiribizzi. Doni, for instance, refers to Pazzi’s poetry as follows: ‘Poi si diletta scrivere per passare il tempo alcuni sonetti più che alla burchiellesca, e chiama questi suoi ghiribizzi capricci rime in ghiri.’ 48 The term ‘ghiri’ can be regarded as a key concept for understanding Pazzi’s poetry, both in respect to its individual lexicon (to which we will return below), its satirical vein and Pazzi’s musical skill. 49 Masi suggests that the ‘ghiri’ should be considered as ‘gli effetti visibili di una fantasia libera e sbrigliata’. 50 Clearly, contemporaries highly appreciated these effects of Pazzi’s poetry. 51 Pazzi’s performances were part of Thursday evening banquets, where cicalate, satirical verses or humorous after‐dinner speeches were staged. 52 Indeed, the majority of his burlesque works centres on the Fiorentina and its members and is therefore likely to have been produced for use within the Academy. Amelonghi’s capitolo, describing the success of Pazzi’s poetic performances within ‘circles’ (‘cerchi’), suggests as much: ‘E ciurmador ne’ cerchi a cicalare / Ficcando a quest’e quel dreto carote’. 53 Here, again, Pazzi is portrayed as a ‘ciurmadore’. Interesting for our understanding of the role of satire in Pazzi’s poems and in the Academy, is the mention of the ‘carrots’ he ‘stuffed in people’s backs’. Nosow interprets Amelonghi’s carrots as ‘lies’, and Pazzi as a ‘musical charlatan who hawks his wares in front of (or behind) his potential customers’. 54 Lasca’s above‐mentioned sonnet on Pazzi’s entrance in the Fiorentina uses the same imagery. It dove tutti gli uomini hanno il viso, / ha muso, grifo, ceffo, o pur mostaccio, / a quel pazzo uccellaccio’ (Canzone VI, vv. 5‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 154). See also: Bogani 1992: 225n. In addition, Lasca himself is tempted to call Pazzi names in a similar upfront manner. Instead of his usual abuse through images with double meanings, he openly calls Pazzi: ‘viso di cazzo’ (Sonetto XLV, v. 3, in: Grazzini 1882: 39). 48 Nosow (2002: 193 n) and Masi (2007: 322) cite Doni’s Libraria. Obviously, ‘ghiri’ also recurs in Lasca (Ibidem: 323‐324). 49 Ibidem: 322‐323. 50 Ibidem: 324. 51 On this contemporary appreciation, see: Ibidem: 302‐303, 322‐324. 52 De Gaetano 1973: 111; Nosow 2002: 177. Within the Accademia della Crusca ‘cicalate’ or ‘cicalamenti’ were ‘ragionamenti’ on a subject of little importance (Parodi 1983a: 9). 53 Cited in: Pedrotti 1902: 18‐22. 54 Nosow 2002: 199. 91 warns Stradino for precisely this treacherous effect of getting stabbed in the back: ‘Queste, padre Stradin, son le carote, / che vi son fitte dietro a tradimento’. 55 In Lasca’s reading, when he points out to Stradino what the Academy is to expect with Pazzi in its ranks, the treacherous carrots are not necessarily ‘lies’, but seem to refer to the venomousness of Alfonso’s satirical verses. However, the discourse on the function of satire, with respect to Pazzi, indeed centres on lying versus exposing lies. In a sonnet that could well have been a response to his representation as a charlatan, Pazzi defended himself against charges of being a malicious liar, and downplays his satire as plain and innocent ‘burla’: 56
Giambullari, io non gambo, o metto in burla Nè voi nè altri, ma dico da vero, E bene spesso al Varchi dico il vero, Che non lo crede, e se la piglia in burla. Voi cominciati, mi pens’io, per burla Il Comento di Dante, e poi da vero, Lo seguitasti; alfin, per dire il vero, Ei fuor non esce, e con voi resta in burla: Burli chi vuol, ch’io non burlo da vero. Che cosa è sotto il Ciel, che non sia burla? Ogni cosa allafin, che non è vero: Il ver ci mostra alfin, che ’l mondo è burla. Contrasting ‘il vero’ and ‘la burla’, Pazzi mockingly explains that rather than being a liar, he sets out to expose liars and reveal the truth. Lasca was not blind to this effect of Pazzi’s poetry. In two poems on his colleague’s death, he celebrates his truthfulness. Indeed, anyone in favour of the truth should, according to these verses, mourn Pazzi’s decease: ‘Chi pregia la vertute, / chi Sonetto VII, vv. 5‐6, in: Grazzini 1882: 9. Sonetto XLI, in: Il terzo libro 1723: 355. 55
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92 ama il vero ed in odio ha la bugia, / pianga Alfonso de’ Pazzi tuttavia’. 57 The second tailed sonnet ‘in morte di Alfonso de’ Pazzi’ describes more explicitly how Pazzi used to defend truth and expose liars. He sought to incite or curb their activities with his witty remarks, elevating what was right and tuning down what was wrong: 58
or potran far passerotti [mistakes] a migliaia lo Scuro [Varchi] e ’l Gello e tutta l’Accadema. Rallegrinsi godendo i Berrettoni: faccin festa gioiosi gli Aramei, che non aranno più sferza, nè sproni. Alfonso è morto, onor d’uomini e Dei, che con punture e con ricordi buoni alzava i giusti ed abbassava i rei. Whether truthful or not, Pazzi’s performances evidently had a powerful effect on the members of the Fiorentina. He figured both as a satirical entertainer and as a critical conscience, and his role was therefore comparable to that of the traditional court jester. It is not without reason that Lasca ever so often calls him ‘buffone’. 59 Circulating in literary circles and sung on the city squares, his critiques had an impact on the entire Florentine society, which made Pazzi a powerful opinion maker. Pazzi the Improviser Despite his contemporary popularity and dominant presence in Florentine cultural life, twentieth‐century scholarship has paid only scarce attention to Alfonso de’ Pazzi. 60 An exception is the monograph by Giorgio Pedrotti (1902), devoted to Pazzi’s poetry and membership of the Accademia Fiorentina. But on the whole it is fair to conclude that the poet can only boast the doubtful fame of being that writer who constantly ridiculed Sonetto LIV, vv. 18‐20, in: Grazzini 1882: 46. Sonetto LIV, vv. 7‐14, in: Ibidem. 59 See for instance: ‘non ti vergogni tu, che sei buffone’ (Sonetto L, v. 3, in: Ibidem: 43) or: ‘scquaquerato buffon da scoreggiate’ (Sonetto XLIII, v. 2, in: Ibidem: 38). 60 For an overview, see also: Masi 2007: 304‐305. 57
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93 Benedetto Varchi. So stinging and prolific were Pazzi’s attacks, that Varchi’s biographer Pirotti even calls him ‘mignatta’ (‘leech’). 61 This rather unflattering characterization has been typical of the poet’s reputation for several decades. Only recently has scholarly interest in Pazzi increased, and he has become an object of study in his own right. 62 Nosow’s argument that Pazzi performed his poems accompanied by improvised music obviously has far‐reaching consequences, and the enormous amount of poems Pazzi has left behind still needs to be studied in this light. 63 Giorgio Masi has also contributed to our understanding of Pazzi’s enigmatic oeuvre with lectures and in particular with his extensive article of 2007. 64 His recent find of an unknown codex containing 838 autograph carte in the Archivio di Stato of Florence will undoubtedly further stimulate the present re‐appreciation of Pazzi. 65
The fact that Pazzi has long been neglected may well have been caused by a lack of early editions of his work. Although his production was prolific, none of his poems were published during his lifetime. 66 Amelonghi made an attempt to get part of his works published, but it was not until two centuries later that a small number of his poems were actually published: a series of 113 (mainly) sonnets in derision of Varchi was included in Il terzo libro dell’opere bernesche di M. Francesco Berni e di altri (1723). Pazzi’s canti carnascialeschi have suffered an even worse fate. They were not included in Lasca’s Tutti i trionfi, carri, mascheaate [sic] ò canti carnascialeschi andati per Firenze dal tempo del magnifico Lorenzo vecchio de Medici: quando egli hebbero primo cominciamento per infino a questo anno presente (1559), the only contemporary anthology of Florentine carnival songs, and only fragments appeared in Rinaldo Bracci’s eighteenth‐century reissue of Pirotti 1971: 29. Two examples of the last few years: Zanrè’s chapter ‘Sonnets and Satire in the Academy: The Poetry of Alfonso de’ Pazzi’ (in: Zanrè 2004: 111‐139) focusses on Pazzi’s presumed political non‐conformity and on his complex relationship with Varchi. Aldo Castellani’s edition of Pazzi’s carnival songs (2006) contains a substantial introduction, which contributes to the poet’s biography and the interpretation of his poetry. 63 While writing this dissertation, Giorgio Masi informed me that Philippe Ganguilhem, a French musicologist, has started working on Pazzi. 64 Pazzi is amongst the ‘pasquinisti fiorentini’ discussed by Masi at the Colloquio internazionale Lecce‐Otranto (2005), published in Ex Marmore 2006: 221‐274. Masi 2007 is the reflection of his eponymous lecture at the Seminario internazionale di studi Urbino 2006. 65 Masi 2007: 312 (ASF, Guardaroba Medicea, filza 221). 66 See also: Werner 2007b. For an overview of Pazzi’s entire production, see: Masi 2007: 303, 305. 61
62
94 Grazzini’s edition. 67 In Charles Singleton’s early twentieth‐century collections of Florentine carnival songs, Pazzi was again left out. 68 Masi undercores that due to this lack of editorial fortune, Pazzi’s reputation is extremely limited, based as it is solely on the 113 published poems practically all mocking Varchi. 69 In stark contrast with printed editions, the manuscript diffusion of Pazzi’s poetry is extensive. Yet problems arise in that field too. 70 Castellani describes how reconstructing autograph canti became a challenging paleographic exercise. Not only did the quaderno he worked on prove to be work in progress, interspersed with corrections and omissions, Pazzi’s mercantile shorthand turned out to be nearly illegible as it is highly personal and subject to variations. 71 To complicate matters, most autograph collections seem to have been notebooks more than anything else. They contain drafts of his texts, in various stages of completion, recycled verses and experiments, but also drawings and musical notations. 72 Luigi de’ Pazzi apparently worked on a ‘raccolta ordinata’, probably with the intention to publish his father’s complete works. 73 Masi identifies one manuscript as a ‘testo idiografo’, a collection authorized by Pazzi himself. A core of 36 poems in Amelonghi’s collection seems to stem from these collected works. 74 Other than these rather univocal manuscripts, the manuscript transmission is characterized by variations. One explanation for the confused manuscript dissemination of Pazzi’s poetry would be its performative nature, which may or may not have included improvisation. Amelonghi states that his poems were often conceived all’improvviso and that they Tutti i trionfi 1750. Canti carnascialeschi 1936. Castellani (2006) has rehabilitated Pazzi with his recent publication of the canti carnascialeschi. This edition presents approximately forty of his carnival songs, each of them annotated and provided with an introductory commentary. The vital body of this collection (about thirty songs) has been drawn from an autograph codex, a quaderno dedicated in its entirety to this type of composition. 69 Masi 2007: 305. 70 For (incomplete) overviews of the manuscripts that contain poems by Pazzi, Masi (2007: 310) refers to Pedrotti (1902) and his reviewer Giuseppe Secchi (1903). Castellani (2006: 109‐111) provides an overview of both autograph manuscripts and miscellanies. For the most elaborate overview of the (autograph) manuscripts collections, see: Masi 2007: 310‐320. 71 Castellani 2006: 115‐120. 72 Masi 2007: 310. 73 Ibidem. 74 Ibidem: 311, 315. 67
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95 circulated only in memorial reconstructions. Amelonghi’s collection was an attempt to rescue Pazzi from oblivion. He aimed at: ‘[…] mettere insieme quegli che sono restati dopo la morte del componitore, per dar fine a’ molti imperfetti che s’apparorono a mente quando gli recitava’. 75 If part of Pazzi’s texts, like his music, was created during his performances, this could be an explanation for the chaotic and complex state of the non‐autograph manuscripts. It would mean that the poetry recorded by Pazzi himself show versions of songs written down after the oral conception or drafts worked out in advance to be used from memory. As for the non‐autograph manuscripts, the many variant readings suggest that they are memorial reconstructions of performances. Castellani, the modern editor of Pazzi’s carnival songs, seems all too right to point out that all manuscript renditions were ‘lectiones faciliores’. 76
The performative nature of Pazzi’s poetry may explain the fact that his work was never published, which obviously stands in sharp contrast with the author’s popularity. 77 It may also clarify why Lasca did not include poems of Pazzi in Il primo libro (1548) nor any of his carnival songs in Tutti i trionfi (1559). The choice seems to have been prompted by the illegibility of the autograph manuscripts and the unreliability of the non‐autograph renditions of Pazzi’s songs. In the preface to Tutti i trionfi Lasca justifies his choice: ‘havendo trovato pochi libri, e tutti scorretissimi, scritti alla mercantile, dove no[n] erano mezze le parole, con certe abbreviature le più strane del mondo’. 78 Whereas Amelonghi took it upon him to work through the ‘molti imperfetti’ for eventual publication, Lasca understandably decided not to. Apparently, being widespread and famous can in some cases also further poetry’s fall into oblivion. To modern readers, Pazzi’s surviving poems are inscrutable on another level as well: the imagery he uses is virtually incomprehensible. This aspect, too, may be related to the improvisational nature of his work, but it also foregrounds the code‐like quality of burlesque imagery. Masi’s article ‘Politica, arte e religione nella poesia dell’ Etrusco Cited in Castellani (2006: 57n) from Amelonghi’s dedicatory letter to Cosimo I. Ibidem. 77 It may serve as an illustration of the philological disregard for performative literary culture that the link between the absence of publications and the improvised nature of Pazzi’s work has not been made earlier. 78 Cited in: Castellani 2006: 116. 75
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96 (Alfonso de’ Pazzi)’ is an important break‐through for our comprehension of Pazzi’s metaphors. Masi shows that Pazzi developed ‘una lingua cifrata’, a coded language that was transparent only for an inside circle. For instance, he created a burlesque variant of the zodiac, which included the sign of his own miraculous and wise horse Ambraino. 79 His lexicon also included four animals (granchio, ranocchio, papagallo, pippistrello) and four carpenter tools (succhiello, pialla, sega, ascia). 80 These all had a symbolic value that was highly individual and closely intertwined with Pazzi’s opinions on cultural issues. Departing from the idea that with these symbols, Pazzi created allegories that all reflect ‘significati morali’, Masi manages to de‐code Pazzi’s language to a considerable extent. 81 He concludes that Pazzi’s poetry: 82 nasce dalle idee, da nuclei di contenuto ben definiti; l’approdo formale è subordinato all’espressione di concetti alti o ritenuti essenziali, anche a prezzo di un indisponente groviglio logico‐sintattico e di una sorta di coazione a ripetere (quasi in nome di un didattico repetita iuvant). Both aspects described by Masi, the use of recurring images and repetition, support Amelonghi’s statement that Pazzi’s poetry was often conceived on the spot. Both elements are structuring devices that facilitate creation from memory, as does music and meter. 83 The lack of logical and syntactic order Masi points to could appertain to Pazzi’s style, but it also seems in place in improvised texts. These are strong indications that not only Pazzi’s music was improvised, but parts of his poetry as well. The fact that Pazzi sang his partly improvised, satirical poetry during the private gatherings shows that the performative literary culture of the Umidi indeed remained part of the academic practice between 1541 and 1547. It is also clear that the oral Both Lasca and Amelonghi refer to Pazzi’s horse. See: Masi 2007: 322. For Lasca’s sonnets, see: Sonetto XLVI, in: Grazzini 1882: 40. Or: Canzone a ballo I, in: Ibidem: 159: ‘Pianga ognuno a capo chino, / chè gli è morto l’Ambraino’. 80 Masi 2007: 324‐326. 81 Ibidem: 331‐337. 82 Ibidem: 346‐347. 83 Edwards and Sienkewicz (1990: 39‐58, 141‐179) discuss the use of repetition, verbal elaboration, riddles and proverbs as features of oral performances. On music, song and meter, see: Ong 1982: 57‐68. See also: Mostert 1998: 14. 79
97 performance of poetry stirred up exactly the kind of polemic and disorder the reformers wanted to rule out. Performances such as Pazzi’s were by definition uncontrollable, which clearly conflicted with the tendency of ever increasing censorship within the Academy. And Pazzi was not the only one who performed during the private gatherings. Other (burlesque) poets may have performed their verses as well. As we shall see, this may also be true for the group of poems Lasca addressed to Alfonso de’ Pazzi. Rather than being part of a written, manuscript culture, circulating in paper copies, posted on strategic places in the city, or distributed by hand, this cluster of sonnets rooted in the very performative culture embodied by its addressee. As it turns out, Lasca’s poems to Pazzi will show how, in burlesque poetry, academic discourse was advanced as a counter‐discourse to the learned, public lectures. The Terms of Debate Pazzi’s biographer Pedrotti relates how one day, upon leaving the Academy, Benedetto Varchi threatened Pazzi with a knife because he was furious about the latter’s continuous poetic slander. Allegedly, Pazzi replied cool‐headedly that their fight had to be fought out in words. 84 Anecdotal as the incident may be, it speaks volumes about Varchi’s frustration. Pazzi’s poetic performances were a central element of the Academy’s (private) gatherings, so Varchi was exposed to Pazzi’s satire on a weekly base. Clearly, as Pazzi’s musical performances were so popular, they must have affected Varchi’s reputation. Performative poetry being the most important medium by which Pazzi entered academic debate, his academic fame (or notoriety) was not only based on his poetry. He also participated in academic debates on another level. According to Antonfrancesco Doni, who described the impact of Pazzi’s entrance in the Fiorentina, Pazzi was a pointed debater: 85
Pedrotti (1902: 14) cites Rilli 1700: 167. Nosow (2002: 193) quotes from La Libreria. Not entirely coincidentally, Pazzi is also staged as an interlocutor in Doni’s I Marmi discussing the question of the language. 84
85
98 Questo è un dei mirabili intelletti che abbi oggi tutta la Toscana, arguto, presto nelle riposte, pronto e, brevemente, fa bellisimi fiori e buoni frutti d’operazione. The Annali show that he lectured on a regular basis. That his lectures were not without success is suggested by, for instance, the fact that he initiated a public debate on Petrarch’s Madonna Laura, on 29 July 1546. 86 He posed the question of whether she was a historical person or an allegorical figure created by Petrarch, a question which was indeed discussed, albeit almost a year later, in May 1547. 87 Petrarch was a favourite subject of Pazzi’s, he would return to the great Florentine’s sonnets on other occasions. 88 This preference may have also inspired his attacks on Gelli, ridiculing the latter’s position of official Dante lecturer within the Fiorentina. 89
Pazzi was not only a sharp debater, he was also a versatile one: in his poetry he phrased his opinions on literature, politics, religion, art, music and philosophy. 90 His poems all centre on the contrasting notions ‘naturalness’ versus ‘artificiality’ and, closely related, ‘volgare’ versus ‘dotto’. 91 He stood at the heart of several cultural discussions in the 1540s and the first half of the 1550s and his dichotomies often dictated the terms of these debates. 92
His central role in the debate on song, in which he was champion of the ‘musica senza le note’, may serve as an illustration. The contrast voiced in this debate on written versus improvised music seems representative of all themes central in Pazzi’s literary, musical and cultural beliefs and consequently of his attitude towards many of the issues raised within the Accademia Fiorentina and the cultural world of Florence. Nosow analyses a poem by Pazzi that can be read as ‘lyrical defence of orally conceived and performed song against its detractors, Varchi and Corteccia [maestro di cappella of the Annali, I, c. 37. See also: Pedrotti 1902: 32‐33. Ibidem: 33. 88 See his lectures on 11 Augustus 1547 and 21 November 1549 (Ibidem: 33‐34). 89 Ibidem: 52‐52. 90 See: Masi 2007: passim. 91 Ibidem: 325‐328. 92 Nosow 2002: 198, 200. 86
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99 Duomo]’. 93 In Pazzi’s view, Varchi, protagonist of the polyphonic tradition, was his complete opposite: Varchi was exactly the kind of pedantic ‘dotto’ Pazzi opposed. In Pazzi’s characteristic carpentry imagery, Varchi is always the ‘pialla’ (‘fraise’), which symbolizes his concern with outward appearances, his superficiality and his artificiality. Pazzi himself, on the other hand, is the ‘succhiello’ (‘brace’), which drills to the core of the material to which it is applied and yields only natural results. 94 Naturalness was the stake in Pazzi’s ongoing battle against Varchi, and he appointed himself as its main defender. 95 A phrase in one of his ‘notebooks’ shows the extent to which he identified, or wanted to be identified, with his crusade: ‘Questo è scritto di mano d’Alfonso de’ Pazzi detto L’Etrusco, antagonista di Benedetto Varchi’. 96 Lasca was interested in the debate on song as well. He wholeheartedly supported Pazzi. In the octave ‘Sopra il compor canto moderni’, 97 he addresses the issue of the traditional Florentine trionfo or mascherata, which under the auspices of Corteccia and Varchi had become replaced by the complex madrigal, which was written in advance instead of being ‘improvised, performed and then transmitted by ear’. 98 In the octave, he compares the old style with the new: 99
Io mi ricordo già quando gli andava un canto, prima che fusse riposto, che tutto quanto a mente s’imparava, tant’era bello e chiaro e ben composto; ma or non pure un vero se ne cava, e non s’intende il nome che gli è posto, Nosow 2002: 190, 202‐211. Masi 2007: 326. 95 Ibidem: 326‐328. For a similar (exclusively musical) reading, see: Nosow 2002: 192‐211. I disagree with Zanrè (2004: 115‐122) who suggests ‘una lite amorosa’ in which Pazzi is jealous of Varchi’s education and Varchi does not take his continuous attacks seriously. 96 BNCF, Mgl. VII, 534, c. 99r. For a characterization of this autograph, see: Masi 2007: 310. 97 Ottava LXVIII, in: Grazzini 1882: 407‐409. This octave was composed after Pazzi’s death (in November 1555) judging by Lasca’s exclamation: ‘O Alfonso de’ Pazzi, tu sei morto!’ (v. 8). 98 Nosow 2002: 201. 99 Ottava LXVIII, vv. 33‐40, in: Grazzini 1882: 408. 93
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100 chè madrigaluzzi a i lor suggetti troppo stitichi sono e troppo gretti. Lasca complains that the songs have become so incomprehensible that people need a commentary to understand them. He sides with Alfonso when he concludes that ‘Chi lascia la via vechia per la nuova, / suo danno poi, s’ingannato si trova’ and exclaims: ‘di mille Alfonsi ci saria bisogno’. 100 And, like Pazzi, Lasca expresses his disapproval of the artificiality and complexity of the new songs, and adds one important element to the debate: chauvinism. Both Pazzi and Lasca felt that the culture of written polyphony, imported to Italy by Josquin des Prez, Gombert and Verdelot, was essentially foreign. 101 Hence, polyphony was not only a threat to existing Florentine musical and poetic traditions, it was also a threat to fiorentinità. As Masi puts it, in this period of strong political and cultural change, ‘La tradizione culturale autoctona in quel momento è messa in discussione su più fronti: la risposta dell’Etrusco è un’orgogliosa esaltazione municipalista’. 102 As champions of tradition and fiorentinità, one would expect Lasca and Pazzi to join forces, and to create a shared language or method to phrase their discontent with the developments in the literary and musical fields. 103 This does not seem to have been the case, however. It is tempting to surmise about the reasons for this lack of collaboration. The friendship between Lasca and Varchi, who seem to have remained loyal to each other even under difficult circumstances, may have put Pazzi off. Or maybe they remained divided over details. Issues such as dramatic theory and the appreciation of the burlesque poets Burchiello and Berni were areas of dispute between Lasca and Pazzi, which they were apparently unable to overcome. 104 A very likely Ottava LXVIII, vv. 23‐24, 16, in: Grazzini 1882: 408. Nosow 2002: 187, 191. 102 Masi 2007: 347. 103 See: Zanrè (2004: 1) unites Lasca and Pazzi as poets who ‘were able to produce alternative literary responses within a dominant, officially‐sanctioned cultural milieu that attempted to contain and, in some cases, exclude them’ (see also the Introduction). 104 Pazzi’s poem ‘E ci hanno recitato letanie’ (Sonnet XXXIII, in: Il terzo libro 1723: 324) most probably mocks Lasca’s comedy La Gelosia which was staged for the first time during the carnival festivities of 1550 in the 100
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101 reason is the fact that Pazzi, in contrast to Lasca, gained himself a solid position within the ‘new’ Academy and had less problems with the change of daily practice. No certainty can be obtained on this issue. Lasca did however undertake several attempts to bond with Pazzi and to win him over for taking an active stand in favour of poetic performance and freedom of speech, as I will detail below and in the next chapter. ‘Cantando seco al paragone’ The group of tailed sonnets Lasca addressed to Alfonso de’ Pazzi can be characterized as one side of a tenzone, a verse parley. Whether this ongoing discussion between himself and his colleague actually existed or sprang from Lasca’s imagination, is hard to determine because we only possess Lasca’s half of the polemic. Merely two fragments and one entire sonnet in which Pazzi addresses Lasca have remained. 105 Lasca’s desire to revenge himself for Pazzi’s frequent affronts and several explicit references to their dialogue, however, imply that his sonnets did not remain unanswered. In one sonnet, for instance, written ‘in someone else’s name’ (‘in nome altrui’), Lasca playfully pretends to be on guard against Pazzi’s poetic attacks. Gelli and Tasso – as Varchi both notorious victims of Pazzi’s – are staged as negative examples warning Lasca to stay clear of the poet‐singer. After so many affronts they have learned their lesson and are no longer tempted to react when Pazzi starts to ‘bray like a donkey’: 106
Volgi altrove il pensiero e lascia andare un sì solenne e sodo babbuasso; impara, impara dal Gello e dal Tasso, ch’un asin fanno conto udir ragliare. The speaker of the sonnet subsequently reproaches Lasca for his constant attempts to vie with Pazzi, despite the example of Gelli and Tasso: 107
Sala del Papa of the Santa Maria Novella monastery (Pedrotti 1902: 55). Lasca was primarily a Bernesque poet, whereas Pazzi was inspired by Burchiello. See for instance: Masi 2007: 336‐337. 105 Pedrotti 1902: 55. 106 Sonetto XLVII, vv. 5‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 41. 107 Sonetto XLVII, vv. 1‐4, in: Ibidem. 102 Intendi, intendi, Lasca, il mio parlare, lascia ire Alfonso e pigliati altro spasso: vedi ch’egli è come pisciar in un chiasso; e tu vuoi pur seco contrastare. Though this sonnet ironically suggests that competing with Pazzi is useless, Lasca’s need to defend himself seems rather concrete, as we can see in another sonnet. It gives him a tool to get his revenge: 108
per che cantando seco al paragone di mille ingiurie mie farei vendetta, ove or m’è forza star sodo al macchione. Lasca expects that if he fights Pazzi with his own weapons (‘cantando seco al paragone’) he stands a chance to get his revenge for the insults he has suffered. In another sonnet, again, Lasca suggests that Pazzi has offended him: 109
tu credi forse avermi sbigottito con queste goffe tue magre cruscate? il tempo mi par or di Ciolle abate, poi ch’oggi contro a me ti mostri ardito. Henceforth, in the terzina, Lasca warns Pazzi that he will not be scared: he knows Pazzi like the back of his hand, as he has written and told him already a thousand times: 110
Io ti conosco infin dentro all’elmetto, e so quanto tu pesi ad un danaio, come t’ho scritto mille volte e detto: […]. In the tail, a somewhat hyperbolic statement underlines Lasca’s warning that this time he will be clement, but next time he will show no mercy. Sonetto XLIV, vv. 12‐14, in: Grazzini 1882: 39. Sonetto XLIII, vv. 5‐8, in: Ibidem: 38. 110 Sonetto XLIII , vv. 9‐11, in: Ibidem. 108
109
103 Highly exaggerated intimidations abound in this cluster. It is excessive to such an extent that one comes to question the poet’s intentions. What are his reasons to boast like this? Similar mechanisms of exaggeration appear in the way Lasca provokes his colleague. An outstanding aspect for example is the large amount of burlesque imagery describing either Pazzi’s character, his looks, or, as in the sonnet mentioned above, his value (‘so quanto tu pesi ad un danaio’). The following tailed sonnet is illustrative for this abundance: 111
Bufolo in carne umana travestito, scquacquerato buffon da scoreggiate, occhi di malandrin, tempie di frate labbra di mula e barba di romito: […] un vil cagnaccio poltron da pagliaio, un passerotto solitario in tetto, un nuovo barbagianni in lucco e ’n saccio, un Giustaccio bottaio, che non è buono a nulla e nulla vale, un uom, che non sei uom, nè animale. This burlesque abuse is obviously part of the genre, its superabundance secures both irony, inversion and humour. This sonnet is a targeted provocation: Lasca demonstrates his poetic skills, and challenges Pazzi to counter his attacks. This is true for most of the sonnets, many of which end with challenges and therefore anticipate an answer. In the following poem, we catch a glimpse of the nature of this exchange, as Lasca looks forward to Pazzi’s reply: 112
Il Lasca ha men cervello di te sei volte; ed a ghiri di pazzo non gli saresti dietro un buon ragazzo. Sonetto XLIII, vv. 1‐4, 12‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 38. Sonetto L, vv. 24‐29, in: Ibidem: 43. 111
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104 Io sento già il rombazzo, ed udir parmi le tue maccatelle in versi, in prosa, in frottole e ’n novelle. Here the claim that it should not be hard for Pazzi to outclass Lasca is again a clear provocation, but Lasca’s assertion that he can already hear the ‘sing‐song’ of Pazzi’s answer, suggests the anticipated pleasure he derives from the exchange. 113 Despite the seemingly viciousness of Lasca’s attacks, there is little heartfelt aggression in these provocations; rather, they are comic incitements, meant to initiate or continue an entertaining poetic contest. 114 Obviously, Lasca treasured Pazzi’s activities as a poet‐
singer both for the poetic entertainment he offered as well as for his critical sound and satirical speech. Hence, in the tailed sonnets, he actively stimulated Pazzi to produce more of his songs. Even without Pazzi’s responses, we can draw conclusions from Lasca’s sonnets. Above all, they show that their author delighted in poetic battles. In Lasca’s case, this obvious delight had the character of a statement: he treasured it as part of the poetic heritage. But supposing Pazzi did respond to Lasca’s challenges, which is the simplest and most probable scenario, and that the poets were indeed involved in a poetic battle, there is more to be said about the exchange. Considering the performative, partly oral tradition in which Pazzi operated, and in which verse parleys such as the one that was presumably fought out between Lasca and Pazzi had their roots, a comparison between Lasca’s ‘Pazzi cluster’ and historical and literary studies on oral culture is expedient. After all, as the medievalist Marco Mostert notes, the study of cultures that are entirely oral can provide a model to understand cultures that contain(ed) elements of both oral and written traditions. 115 Or, in the words of Walter Ong, all features of oral cultures also appear in a written culture, but in a Sonetto L, vv. 24‐29, in: Grazzini 1882: 43. As Edwards and Sienkewicz (1990: 84) claim, the performer who wants to ‘urge a subject to behave in a more acceptable way’ uses blame instead of praise. 115 Mostert 1998: 14. 113
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105 weakened or altered form. 116 This theory may certainly be applied to the Fiorentina, the practice of which, in the first decade of its existence, can be characterized as an ambiguous mixture of oral and literate approaches. 117 One of the most salient aspects of oral cultures is the profusion of abusive speeches. 118 In illiterate cultures, vituperation occupies a central place, and frequently occurs in a ritualized context. As Edwards and Sienkewicz note: ‘in many oral cultures abuse takes the form of a competition between two sides’. 119 The subtitle of Edwards and Sienkewicz’s study Oral Cultures Past and Present is: Rappin’ and Homer, and in the introduction they raise the question: ‘Was Homer a rapper?’ Afro‐American rap culture, Edwards and Sienkewicz show, tantalizingly shares some key characteristics with ancient oral cultures embodied by Homer. Their approach of oral cultures, then, in time as well as in space, is extremely broad. 120 The central idea explored by the authors is that in oral cultures performer and audience form a ‘community’, with ‘special codes and a special mindset which allows only members of the group to understand what is being said’. 121 Edwards and Sienkewicz claim that the ‘ritual invective in oral cultures is broader and more formalized and ranges over a wider variety of forms and topics than its literate counterpart’. 122 The tradition of invective is usually established with fixed patterns of behaviour for such abuse. Of course, slander and abuse are also present in highly literate cultures, but whereas authors of satire, for instance, commonly attack political or religious opponents they want to distance themselves from and may not even know personally, ritualized oral abuse functions as a contests of wit in closely knit communities.123 Codes and conventions, but also body language, ensure that what for Ong 1982: 8; Edwards/Sienkewicz 1990: 6; see also: Mostert 1998: 14. See: Bryce 1995: 79‐80. 118 Mostert 1998: 80‐81. 119 Edwards/Sienkewicz 1990: 115. 120 Ibidem: 1‐12. 121 Ibidem: 11. 122 Ibidem: 113. 123 Ibidem: 84‐85. 116
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106 outsiders may seem to be hostile on paper, is understood by all participants to be part of an exercise. Edwards and Sienkewicz show that performers in oral cultures tend to draw all individual members of the community into their performance. They make extensive use of allusions, reference and direct address to members of the group, whether present or not, whether dead or alive. 124 As oral performances are interactive ‐ performer and audience are members of one community ‐ the performer sets out to create a ‘dialogue’. ‘Referential structures’, such as direct addresses or personal references, used to create a ‘web’ into which the members of the community are drawn, are: praising, blaming, boasting and abusing. 125 Everyone present understands the extent to which the performer is allowed to be offensive. Burlesque poems often fit in well with modern oral theory; the burlesque genre has exactly those characteristics that, in specific circumstances, render it particularly suited for oral performance. Intrinsically abusive, the ‘ritual’ of abuse is prominently present in this genre. Lasca’s sonnets to Pazzi, I will argue, can be better understood when situated in an oral (performative) context. In arguing that Lasca’s sonnets to Pazzi were part of a performative tradition, I do not mean to suggest that all written burlesque poetry should be regarded as an exclusively oral phenomenon. There are many examples to show that it is not. Nor do I regard the poems analyzed below exclusively as orally conceived pieces that were drawn up after their conception. Obviously, improvisation cannot be proven when one has to rely on written sources only. 126 And it cannot even be positively proven that Lasca’s poems were meant for text‐based performances. Unfortunately, contextual documentation that describes the exact practice at the private Academy has not survived; the Annali, for example, only refer to the lectures. Yet despite these reservations, I hope to show that at the very least, Lasca’s burlesque poems to Pazzi Edwards/Sienkewicz 1990: 81‐82. Ibidem: 133. 126 Edwards/Sienkewicz (1990: 5‐6) discuss the problems of translation from oral to written language. 124
125
107 have distinct oral features and were particularly suitable for a performative presentation. Like the oral contests of wit described by Edwards and Sienkewitcz, Lasca’s poems to Pazzi were conceived within a narrowly circumscribed community, the Accademia Fiorentina, which supplied the audience and participants of the tenzone with the ‘mindset’ that was required to appreciate the performance and to interpret the ‘performative language’ that was part of it. An intimate knowledge of the literary mechanisms of the burlesque is essential to understand Lasca’s poems to Pazzi. Without such knowledge, one may read, as Robert Nosow does, 127 Lasca’s poetic attacks as a sign of true hostility rather than as carefully chosen provocations which remain strictly within the boundaries of the burlesque convention that was so familiar to all Academy members. Readers or audiences that are able to interpret the poems will recognize the ambiguity of Lasca’s provocations, how to judge his praise, blame, boasting and abuse. Praise and blame are actually closely connected in these sonnets. Both praise and blame are indicative of Lasca’s emotional attachment to Pazzi’s poetry, and both are geared to provoke a poetic reaction from Pazzi. To start with an example of blame: when Pazzi had become podestà of Fiesole (1547), Lasca, in a tailed sonnet, blames Pazzi for being negligent of his poetry: 128
Saresti tu mai itone in badia, o doventato affatto Fiesolano? ch’è di quel stil, col quale or forte, or piano, facevi spasimar la poesia? Dove sono i capricci e i ghiri? or dove quel dir, che tanto piaceva a i plebei, […]. By blaming Pazzi, Lasca implicitly praises him, as he apparently misses new poems. In most of these sonnets, appreciation is expressed, or rather concealed, in negative terms. His burlesque suggestion to crown Pazzi as a poeta laureato is another apt example: ‘e in For literal interpretations of Lasca’s mockery, see: Nosow 2002: 198, 201‐202. Sonetto LII, vv. 5‐10, in: Grazzini 1882: 45. 127
128
108 cambio alle ghirlande e le corone, / per dïadema vi porta un migliaccio’. 129 A crown of sausages: it is hard to imagine a bigger compliment from one burlesque poet to the other. The examples above show mechanisms that are comparable to the rituals of praise and blame in oral language, but by no means do they prove that the sonnets were of an oral nature. The literary mechanisms of hyperbole, irony and inversion could also work very well on paper. Lasca’s abuse of Pazzi, by contrast, offers more positive evidence for the nearness between his poetry and the oral contests of wit described by Edwards and Sienckewicz. Especially the directness of the poems and their abuse of Pazzi’s body seem to require Pazzi’s presence, if not in reality, then at least in the audience’s mind. The directness of the sonnets is increased by the fact that Lasca consistently addresses his colleague with ‘tu’ instead of the more conventional ‘voi’. This colloquial and direct form of address largely causes the aggressive tone of his poems. Seemingly rude on paper, this style makes more sense if one imagines Pazzi hearing Lasca’s provocations and able to respond on the spot. Edwards and Sienkewicz show that ‘referential performance’, to which both direct address and abuse belong, ‘cannot succeed without an audience psychologically prepared for such an event. Not only are members of the audience vulnerable themselves to potential references in these performances, but they are also expected in some oral cultures to become active participants’. 130 The right ‘mindset’ within the Academy would explain the fact that poetic abuse was allowed. A striking example of abuse of Pazzi, which seems incredibly rude to modern eyes, is Lasca’s mockery of the effects of syphilis that Pazzi allegedly suffered from. Alluding to one of the disease’s more visible symptoms, called ‘la pelatina’, Lasca Sonetto LI, vv. 7‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 44. Edwards/Sienkewicz 1990: 135. 129
130
109 suggests that he became bold. 131 Pazzi’s allegedly frequent visits to prostitutes were cited as the cause of his affliction: 132
Tu parrai tosto, Alfonso, una gallina Padovana che mudi, od una gazza; sì che datti piacere adesso e isguazza, per che la tua vergogna è già vicina. Da qualche fante, o sudicia sgualdrina, o se si trova in chiasso peggior razza, come sei uso, beendo alla tazza, hai pur cavato alfin la pelatina. Such violent abuse, as Edwards and Sienkewicz note, can only be tolerated when it is abundantly hyperbolic or openly untrue. Only if the real Pazzi was known as a loyal husband could allusions to his fornication be funny. 133 The reference to ‘pelatina’, which would have been embarrassing if Pazzi was indeed becoming bold, would have been hilarious if he was in fact an extremely hairy man. Especially in a performance, where the audience would immediately see the striking contrast with reality, such an inversion could be used to great effect. Indeed, remarkably many of the frequent references to Pazzi’s body are concerned with his hair. According to Lasca, Pazzi has ‘tempie di frate’, a ‘barba di romito’ and he calls him ‘barbagianni’. 134 Equally significant in this respect are Lasca’s constant references to Pazzi’s monstrous, animal‐like appearance. He calls him a ‘bufolo in carne umana travestito’, 135 who ‘non è uom, e non è animale’. 136 Just as often, Pazzi is Goro della Pieve alludes to the same symptoms, he writes: ‘Certo cosa divina / fu, Alfonso, pigliar la pelatina; / ch’avendo bella moglie, / vostre soverchie voglie / vi condusser al bel chiasso de’ Buoi’ (cited in: Castellani 2006: 87). Castellani (2006: 88) also discusses Pazzi’s respons. On Pazzi’s alleged pelatina, see also: Masi 2007: 309. 132 Sonetto XLII, vv. 1‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 37. 133 That this may indeed have been the case is suggested by the fact that Pazzi’s biographer has recorded that Pazzi was a very religious man who was devastated when his wife Camilla died (Pedrotti 1902: 69). 134 Sonetto XLIII, vv. 2‐3; 14, in: Grazzini 1882: 38. ‘Barbagianni’, according to Toscan (1981: 1573) can be found in Burchiello, who uses the word as a methaphor for the penis. 135 Sonetto XLII, v. 1, in: Grazzini 1882: 38. 131
110 called simply ‘mostro’. 137 No contemporary portraits of Pazzi survive, but if Lasca’s poems are anything to go by, Pazzi was a striking appearance. 138 His (hairy) monstrosity obviously roots in carnivalesque imagery, or ‘grotesque realism’, as Bakhtin would define it, and may well be related with the ‘pazzia’ associated with Pazzi’s name. 139 Both physical monstrosity and mental craziness were, after all, regarded as punishments of God that in the sixteenth‐century were regarded as fascinating and repulsive at the same time. Yet while relying on these carnivalesque topoi, Lasca’s mocking of Pazzi’s appearance ultimately requires distinct, individual features in order to be effective. Only if Pazzi’s face was dominated by hair, would Lasca’s invocation of ‘santa pelaia’ ‐ begging the invented saint to make the last hairless features of Pazzi’s face fall off ‐ have the desired humorous effect: 140
Ma tu, santa pelaia, se affatto ci vuoi far lieti e contenti fagli cadere il naso e i denti. A Poetic Counter‐Discourse Although I have argued in this chapter that Lasca’s poems to Pazzi should be understood within the performative context of the private gatherings of the Academy, this does not imply that they were unrelated to ‘serious’ academic debate. By contrast, in 1541‐1547, a sharp distinction between traditional, performative poetry and academic discussions had not yet been made. Even though it was increasingly under pressure, 136 Sonetto LV, v. 3, in: Grazzini 1882: 47. Other examples of this kind are: ‘un uom, che non sei uom, nè animale’ (Sonetto XLII, vv. 1; 17, in: Ibidem: 38) or ‘animalaccio travestito’ (Sonetto XLVI, v. 14, in: Ibidem: 40). See also an epitaph in Pazzi’s honour: ‘Colui ch’ebbe sì stratta fantasia, / de’ Pazzi Alfonso è qui sepolto; il quale / vivendo non fu uom, nè animale, / or morto non si sa quel ch’ei si sia’ (Epitaffo I, in: Ibidem: 635). 137 Examples are: ‘mostro a dito’ (Sonetto XLVI, v. 12, in: Ibidem: 40); ‘scellerato mostro’ (Sonetto L, v. 21, in: Ibidem: 43); ‘così raro mostro’ (Sonetto LIV, v. 17, in: Ibidem: 46). 138 Bocchi, in his Bellezze di Firenze (1591), mentions a (lost) portrait of Alfonso painted by Titian that was part of the collection of his son Luigi de’ Pazzi. See: Bocchi 1677: 369. 139 Bakhtin 1984: passim. 140 Sonetto XLII, vv. 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 38. Other examples in which Pazzi is represented as an animal‐
like monster: ‘Beltramo bue’ (Sonetto LI, v. 17, in: Ibidem: 44); ‘la Biliorsa gaia’ (Sonetto XLII, v. 14, in: Ibidem: 38). 111 performative poetry was still very much part of the academic discourse. Lasca’s humorous provocations should be read as attempts to curb the pressure of the reformers who wanted to exclude this poetic practice as it did not fit in with their idea of ‘buon ordine’. Besides being a representative of the tradition Lasca sought to preserve, Pazzi was also an authoritative opinion maker who raised and voiced academic issues. He was the appropriate ally for Lasca’s cause. One may expect that Lasca, in addressing Pazzi, would explicitly enter into current discussions. In this entire corpus, however, there is only one sonnet that indeed refers to a concrete matter under academic discussion. In the 1540s, Varchi had written a treatise on the prevalence of Alamanni’s Il Girone over Ariosto’s Orlando furioso. 141 This viewpoint was subsequently ridiculed by Pazzi in the poem: ‘Il Varchi ha fitto il capo nel Girone, / e vuol ch’è sia piu bel dell’Ariosto. 142 Varchi’s treatise, which contributed to an important debate on the perfect epic that was to continue well into the second half of the sixteenth century, 143 inspired Lasca to enter into a concrete academic discussion for the first and only time in this sonnet sequence. Like Pazzi, Lasca ridiculed Varchi’s claim: 144
Egli ha di nuovo composto un libello da far crepar di rider le persone, dove egli afferma e dice, che ’l Girone è del Furioso migliore e più bello. After this introduction, Lasca recapitulates Varchi’s arguments only to mock the latter’s abundant references to classical authors and his denouncement of Berni’s modernization of Boiardo’s Orlando innamorato: 145
Aristotil, Platon, Virgilio, Omero allega spesso e col Berni si cruccia, Pirotti 1971: 33. Cited in: Crescimbeni 1731: 35. This poem ressembles another of Pazzi’s sonnets: ‘Varchi, ch’hai fitto il capo nella cronica, / E credi, e pensi, e tien di dirci il vero’ (Sonetto LVIII, vv. 1‐2, in: Il terzo libro 1723: 366). 143 See, for instance: Brown (1970: 183‐227) on Lionardo Salviati’s contribution to the debate. On the debate in the Florentine Academies, see: Plaisance 2004h. 144 Sonetto XLI, vv. 5‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 37. 145 Sonetto XLI, vv. 9‐12, in: Ibidem. 141
142
112 che del Bojardo non ha scritto il vero, e dice l’orazion della bertuccia; […]. Although Lasca certainly reflects on the content of academic debate, the tail of the sonnet shows that exposing Varchi’s blunders is only of secondary importance to Lasca. His main purpose is to incite Pazzi to put his opinion into poetry: 146
Se quando egli scappuccia gli dai colle tue rime scaccomatto, a questa volta tu lo spacci affatto. Rather than entering into academic discussion with Pazzi (or Varchi, for that matter), Lasca engages in debate on a meta‐level: his poems reflect on the way the debate itself is or should be held by Pazzi. In every poem Lasca brings the power and effect of Pazzi’s poetry under discussion. The large variety of definitions of Pazzi’s style in Lasca’s poems is symptomatic of its prominent position. 147 He discusses Pazzi’s poetic contributions to academic debates in various ways. In the first place, Lasca often mentions Pazzi’s favourite addressees, such as Varchi, Tasso and Gelli. In doing so, he sometimes sides with Pazzi, inciting him to continue his poetic crusade against their colleagues. This is done for example in two poems that present Pazzi as a prisioner, ‘e sotterra cacciare / col tuo furioso stile, ornato e bello / il Tasso, l’Accademia, il Varchi e il Gello’. 148 On the other hand, he may at times also defend people from Pazzi’s attacks. On one occasion, for instance, Lasca mockingly reproaches Pazzi for suggesting that Michelangelo was Sonetto XLI, vv. 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 37. See, for example: ‘queste tue goffe magre cruscate’ (Sonetto XLIII, v. 6, in: Ibidem: 38); ‘il vostro stilaccio’ (Sonetto LI, v. 4, in: Ibidem: 44); ‘un stil da voi sol conosciuto […] componete di maniera, / che fa venire a i dotti il mal di fianco’ (Sonetto XL, vv. 7, 10‐11, in: Ibidem: 36); ‘quel stil, col quale or forte, or piano, / facevi spasimar la poesia’ (Sonetto LII, vv. 7‐8, in: Ibidem: 45); ‘un sonettino / asciutto, secco, stiracchiato e gretto, / in istilaccio furfante e meschino’ (Sonetto L, vv. 9‐11, in: Ibidem: 43); ‘quel satirico stile ornato e bello [...] colle leggiadre tue vaghe chimere, / dando a noi spasso, diletto e piacere’ (Madrigalessa II, vv. 17; 21‐22, in: Ibidem: 248). 148 Sonetto XLIX, vv. 15‐17, in: Ibidem: 42. The second poem with a similar message is: Madrigalessa II, vv. 17‐25, in: Ibidem: 248. 146
147
113 dead: ‘poi che, sendo ancor vive le persone, / le fate morte col vostro stilaccio’. 149 He also jestingly warns others against Pazzi. In a sonnet to Goro della Pieve, he advises him not to damage his reputation by choosing Pazzi as a subject: 150
Troppo debole e basso e vil soggetto è, messer Goro, a voi scriver d’un tale, che non è uom, e non è animale, nato per fare a i buon onta e dispetto. Masi has noticed that Lasca is keen on evaluating Pazzi’s style. He rightly regards it as an example of the fact that Pazzi’s poetic style was ‘percepito come “diverso” e personale’. 151 There is more to Lasca’s exceptional attention for Pazzi’s poetic skill, however. Constantly evaluating Pazzi’s poetry and reflecting on its social function and implications, Lasca stresses the importance of the way in which academic debate is waged, and emphasizes the power of performative poetry. It is Pazzi’s participation in the academic discourse that is under discussion rather than the academic issues. The most literal example of this is the sonnet in which Lasca warns Pazzi of competition by Raffaello Franceschi. 152 Lasca claims that Franceschi was gaining popularity within the Fiorentina, the court and the Studio fiorentino, and threatened Pazzi’s dominant position. If Pazzi did not react to Franceschi’s coming lecture, which was scheduled on the next Sunday, the latter’s coup would be complete: ‘Tu, pazzo onniponte, / per ch’alla fin non sai quel che ti peschi, / vatti a riporre, o impara dal Franceschi’. 153 Hence, Lasca’s tenzone evolves mainly around questions of ‘form’. This insistence on ‘form’ instead of ‘content’ is in line with his preoccupation with the ideal form of academic practice. His strategy was to provoke Pazzi, to make him sing his improvised, Sonetto LI, vv. 1‐4, 18‐20, in: Grazzini 1882: 44. Masi (2007: 337n) mentions one poem of Pazzi to Michelangelo (in: BNCF, Magl. VII, 534, cc. 127r‐129r ‘A Michelagnolo Bonaroti’). I have tried to study the carte, but have not been able to decipher Pazzi’s handwriting. So it remains unclear whether this is the intended poem. 150 Sonetto LV, vv. 1‐4, in: Grazzini 1882: 46‐47. 151 Masi 2007: 337. 152 On the identification of the intended Franceschi, see: Ibidem: 323n. 153 Sonetto XLV, vv. 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 39‐40. 149
114 satirical songs, in order to continue a poetic tradition based upon freedom of speech and performance. Relying heavily on traditions of performative poetry, Lasca’s poetic contribution to the debate can be regarded as a counter‐discourse for the serious ‘ragionando, discorrendo, leggendo, disputando’ that was becoming increasingly dominant. In Lasca’s view, Pazzi’s poetic participation in the academic debate had become a goal in itself. Edwards and Sienkewicz, in Oral cultures past and present, underline that the system of praise, blame, boasting and abuse, which is particularly applicable to the cluster under discussion, is used to evaluate the social values and the standard agreed on within a certain community. They state that the system aims at ‘preserving the social equilibrium: oral artists focus on the social values that are important for a community and evaluate the ways in which individuals achieve or fall short of the societies’ standard in both real and imagined ways’. 154 In this cluster, the members of the Fiorentina are the ‘community’, and the ‘oral artist’ Lasca makes them witnesses of a tenzone that focuses on the social values he considers to be important in the academic discussions. Lasca evaluates whether Pazzi, authoritative as he was in academic discourse, lives up to his responsibility. He blames Pazzi for failures, praises him for pursuing his attacks, boasts that he can compete with the master, and sincerely abuses Pazzi where and whenever he can. It must have been frustrating for Lasca however, that the equilibrium he sought to preserve no longer existed: the Academy and its psychological ‘mindset’ were changing drastically. Pazzi himself seems to have been aware of Lasca’s strategy of blame, praise and abuse. In one of the only three fragments known of him in which he addresses Lasca, he mocks his poetic overtures: ‘Lasca, io non so se tu non sai dir bene, / ma veggio ben che tu non sai dir male’. 155 Edwards and Sienkewicz 1990: 140. Cited in: Pedrotti 1092: 54. 154
155
115 From Lasca’s viewpoint, it may seem odd that Pazzi was not excluded from the Accademia Fiorentina with the reorganizations of August 1547. After all, like Lasca, Pazzi had caused trouble with his polemic opinions as well as with his satirical and provocative poetry. The regulations of 1547 effectively ruled out performative practice, and implied that satirical poems were ‘composizioni dishoneste e malediche’. 156 Zanrè assumes that in the 1550s Pazzi had indeed fallen out with the Academy. As a member of the Accademia del Piano that he presumably joined in the early 1550s, Pazzi composed two poems that allude to hostility of the Pianigiani towards the members of the Fiorentina. He also boasts of no longer being a member of the Fiorentina. 157 Indeed, after 21 February 1552 (1551 s.f.) we do no longer find references to Pazzi in the Annali. The merit of this finding is debatable, as in the Annali records between 17 November 1552 and early 1558 are lacking. 158
However, between 1547 and 1550, the first years of the Academy in its new style, Pazzi’s position within the Fiorentina remained particularly solid and even prominent. The Annali show that he had a voting right, and took an active part in the election rounds, both as elezionario and elezionato. On the crucial Thursday 11 August 1547, when many of his performative colleagues were excluded, Pazzi was actually the lecturer on a sonnet by Petrarca. 159 Henceforth he also was chosen to become proveditore of the renewed Academy. 160 Maybe these official activities made him cut back on his poetic performances. If so, Lasca had indeed every reason to keep provoking him. In the following chapter, we shall see how Lasca strongly resents Pazzi for his solid position in the Fiorentina. In La Guerra de’ Mostri he gets back at his colleague by portraying him, again, as a grotesque monster. Bareggi 1973: 559‐562: Capitolo ‘Dell’Uficio de’ Censori’. Zanrè 2001: 191. The poems are: ‘Isprezzon l’accademia i pianigiani’ and ‘E’ pianigiani studian Cicerone’ (both in: BNCF, Magl. VII, 270, cc. 6r and 48r). 158 Annali, I, c. 71. See also: Zanrè 2004: 112; Pedrotti 1902: 17. 159 Annali, I, c. 44. 160 Ibidem, c. 45. 156
157
116 Part 2 Social Poetry
Chapter 3 La Guerra de’ Mostri. Reviving the Spirit of the Umidi (1547) The spring and summer of 1547 were a turbulent period in the history of the Accademia Fiorentina. In a short timespan, a group of reformers led by Pierfrancesco Giambullari attempted to create ‘una bene ordinata accademia’ by introducing stricter rules and by excluding members who were deemed unworthy of the new state‐controlled Fiorentina. Lasca reflected on the academic transformation in many poems, but his most outstanding work in this respect is the comic‐heroic epic La Guerra de’ Mostri (dated 15 April 1547). In this chapter the epic is investigated in order to detail the motives underlying Lasca’s dissent, and to analyse his literary strategies to revive old alliances. The Reforms of 1547 The struggle within the Academy in its early years has so far been explained politically. In his article ‘Culture et politique à Florence de 1542 à 1551: Lasca et les Humidi aux prises avec l’Académie Florentine’ (1974/2004b), Michel Plaisance divides the Florentine Academy of the early years into two factions. As the title makes clear, he regards the Umidi as the dissenting faction, who opposed the regime’s take‐over of the Academy. In Plaisance’s account, this faction consisted of the actual founders of the original academy, 119 strictly spoken ‘the Umidi’, together with some close friends such as Varchi and other tornatella members (see the Interlude). Plaisance regards Lasca as the main representative of this opposition. The other faction, in his view, are the Aramei. Philologist Pierfrancesco Giambullari can be regarded as their leader, his academic name was after all ‘l’Arameo’, and his entrance in the Accademia degli Umidi on 25 December 1540, together with Cosimo Bartoli, initiated the change in orientation. 1 Like Carlo Lenzoni, who also became a key figure among the Aramei, both men were related to the Medicean court. Hosier Giambattista Gelli was a fourth member of the Arameic faction, and one of its most important theorizers. His political theories on the origin of Florence and the Florentine language, especially his influential treatise Della Origine di Firenze, would occupy a central place in the political ideology of Cosimo’s regime, and were imitated by Giambullari. 2 The attempts of these four men (Lenzoni, Bartoli, Giambullari and Gelli) to link the Florentine language to the Aramaic soon earned them the nickname ‘Aramei’. They foremost represent the conformist attitude towards and an active participation in the political mission of the Fiorentina that Plaisance attributes to their faction. Domenico Zanrè takes a similar dualistic approach. He too distinguishes between sharply defined factions, although from a slightly different point of view. In his Cultural Non‐Conformity in Early Modern Florence (2004) Zanrè not only focuses on hostility between the Umidi and Aramei, he describes the diversity of the academic scene as a phenomenon that has a broader reach: cultural life in early modern Florence was divided in ‘cultural conformists’ and ‘cultural non‐conformists’. Among the latter group he classifies Lasca, Amelonghi and Alfonso de’ Pazzi. All the evidence suggests that the Aramei did indeed form a faction. Lasca, who refers to the Aramei in several poems, was not the only one who regarded them as such. It is crystal clear that Giambullari and Gelli were the core of this group; they were the ideologists, who developed a clearly outlined political programme, which they made Plaisance 2004: 12. De Gaetano 1976: 40‐43, 125. 1
2
120 public in treatises and lectures in the first decade of the Academy’s existence. At a crucial stage in the transformation of the Academy into a state‐controlled organ, Giambullari and Gelli rose to power, Giambullari being elected on Sunday 13 March 1547 (1546 s.f). Elections were held twice a year, in March and in August, but during this election round much more was at stake than usual: it so happened that Lelio Torelli, first secretary of the Duke and ‘aditore agli accademici’, had pressed for reforms. 3 On 4 March, a ‘Costituzione dell’obbligo degli accademici’ had been formulated, which announced a selection of the members. Those who had not fulfilled the obligations of a Florentine academician were warned that they were to be expelled from the academy at the next election round (in August). 4 Hence, the academicians decided to appoint six members, the present and the future consul and their consiglieri, to implement the requested ‘reforma’. This made the March election of huge importance, as the future of the Academy was at stake.
That Pierfrancesco Giambullari emerged triumphant in this round is not surprising. As the interventions and control of Cosimo I had become more open and pressing since the reforms of 1546, the appointment of someone whose loyalty to the Medici court was beyond dispute was inevitable. Giambullari chose Cristofano Rinieri and Bartolomeo Panciatichi as his counsellors. Three ‘aroti’ were added to their team. 5 On 25 March 1547, New Year’s Day, the inaugural ceremony was being held with the usual ritual proceedings that underlined state control. Thereupon the consul and his counsellors presented the magistrates in their board. 6 To conclude the meeting, Niccolò Martelli, the new proveditore, read a statement on the origins and mission of the Accademia Fiorentina which stressed the importance of the volgare as a means to spread knowledge. 7 The finest hour of Giambullari’s consulate was the presentation of ‘i nuovi Annali, I, c. 40v. ‘[…] per quelli, che non hanno operato cosa alcuna sin a oggi, l’abilità dell’anno sopraddetto sia finita, e terminata alla creazione del prossimo futuro consolo’. The ‘Costituzione dell’obbligo’ can be found in: Capitoli dell’Accademia Fiorentina, Florence, BNCF, Magl. IX, 91, cc. 31r‐33r. Published by Bareggi 1973: 570‐
571. 5 Annali, I, c. 41. 6 Ibidem, cc. 41‐42. 7 Ibidem, c. 41v. 3
4
121 capitoli’ (the new statutes) on 11 August 1547. 8 The membership composition, the board offices and the ritual practice were all severely altered. In fact, the reformers dissolved the entire academy and then founded a ‘new’ one, with the same name, but with a different constitution. Due to this move it was possible to exclude a large body of members: ‘in ogni altro suo membro la prefata Accademia s’intenda estinta, e finita, e del tutto spenta, e annullata’. 9 The new membership list was then read out aloud. Two explanations have been forwarded for the drastic policy pursued by the Academy’s leadership in 1547. The capitoli state that Cosimo’s wish expressed to do anything necessary to create ‘una bene ordinata accademia’ was at the bottom of it. 10 The exclusion of members has therefore been regarded as an opportunity to deal with dissidents such as Lasca. 11 Whereas Plaisance argues that the expulsion ‘de Lasca et de ses amis’ was politically motivated, 12 Bryce has suggested that the exclusion of members may be explained by a ‘tendency towards a social and cultural elitism’ within the Academy. 13 Having analysed the membership composition and social interaction between the academicians, she points out that the reformers’ demand that members should show their ambition through a considerable literary productivity, ‘has as much to do with the aims and aspirations of the dominant letterati as with any more specifically political control on the part of Cosimo I’. 14 As no single generalization is completely valid, the most plausible explanation for the outcome of the member selection is that the reformers who drew up the new membership list have evaluated each member individually. The retention of Umidi founders such as Niccolò Martelli, Stradino and Michelangelo Vivaldi shows that Plaisance’s Umidi‐Aramei dichotomy is at least a simplification. Bryce’s social Annali, I, c. 44. For the Capitoli della nuova riforma, see: Bareggi 1973: 548‐570. Ibidem: 550. 10 Ibidem: ‘Appresso maturamente considerando quello che sia necessario a una bene ordinata Accademia, e a quell’effetto massimamente, che desidera Sua Eccellenza habbiamo fatto la presente nuova elettione d’Accademici, desiderosi e atti, per le molte qualità loro a soddisfare comulatamente a quegli gloriosi esercitii, che sono stati eletti di sopra. E i nomi sono questi: […]’. 11 See, for instance: Rodini 1970: 13. 12 Plaisance 2004b: 188‐189. 13 Bryce 1995: 101. 14 Ibidem. 8
9
122 explanation seems all too realistic, but the continued membership of Gelli, a hosier, and the expulsion of Lasca (a full‐time writer) and Vincenzo and Gismondo Martelli (both from a Florentine patrician family) show that if there was a tendency towards (cultural) elitism, it was not universal. Instead, a complex of motives must have guided the reformers, and personal preferences and friendships doubtlessly influenced their decisions. It is therefore highly unlikely that sixteenth‐century Florentine letterati actually experienced their academy as being divided in two opposing factions. In fact, this division seems to be a modern construct to come to terms with a dynamic and complex society. Instead of two factions opposed on political grounds, we should consider the Fiorentina, which was after all still in transition until this turbulent period, as a dynamic community, ranking individuals each with their own social status, cultural and ideological issues, taste, ambitions and political and educational background. Plaisance’s division of the Academy into two camps, then, cannot be maintained. The Aramei, or at least Giambullari and Gelli, in this period seem to have taken a firm and unchangeable position, as did Lasca. But after the founding of the Fiorentina, a clearly defined Umidi faction no longer existed. In the years preceding 1547, the Umidi founders or their friends did not adopt one single programme. Neither Varchi, nor Niccolò Martelli, Stradino or Alfonso de’ Pazzi positioned themselves as Umidi resisting an Arameic take‐over. Varchi, who should be regarded as an influential friend of the Umidi, and who joined the tornatella after his return to Florence, conformed to the new arrangements and became a prominent lecturer of the Academy. Still, his political past as an anti‐Medicean exile seems to have haunted him. Niccolò Martelli, Umidi founder, worked hard to ingratiate himself with Cosimo. 15 In time, he gained a solid position within the Academy, and even fulfilled a central role in the implementation of the reforms as the proveditore. Pazzi’s position is highly ambiguous, as we have seen in chapter 2. In the Accademia Fiorentina, he was both a renowned lecturer, notorious opinion maker, as well as the ultimate representative of the poetic and musical Plaisance 2004a: 75‐77. Marconcini (1910: 20) is very explicit about Martelli’s wish to ‘far bella mostra di sè a principi e signori’ to a point where he sought alliance to the court of France. 15
123 traditions which were particularly threatened by the reforms. Still, he seems to have found a way to thrive within the Academy. Indeed, the attitudes of the individual Umidi founders and the tornatella members (excluding Lasca) towards the reforms remain very obscure. Their tacitness may well have been a conscious strategy to survive the turbulent period, but could just as well indicate conformism. Lasca, then, was the exception rather than a factional spokesman. In this chapter, I will re‐examine Lasca’s role during the reforms of 1547. The actual nature of Lasca’s antagonism should be reconsidered because there is no proof that his dissent was politically motivated (see introduction). His objections merely seemed political as he denounced the effects of state control on the Fiorentina. I will argue that he resented the reformers’ innovation of the Academy because of their way of regulating and shaping the Academy’s activities. The previous chapters have demonstrated how Umidian academic practice gradually disappeared from the Fiorentina as it became organized along the lines of order and obedience. The Academy was turned into a state organ, in which unpredictable and uncontrollable aspects such as free debate and satire were no longer desirable elements of academic life. The slow but sure erasure of ‘freedom‐based’ Umidi activities from the Academy’s organization eventually meant the overthrow of Lasca’s poetic and academic ideals. Lasca’s ‘cultural non‐conformity’, I will contend, did not derive from subversive political views, but from cultural conservatism. Above all, intense nostalgia for the Academy’s poetic origins provoked his dissent. In several ways he defended the Florentine poetic traditions. In the tenzone with Alfonso de’ Pazzi, we have already seen how Lasca worked to prolong the existence of Umidian poetic practice within the Academy (chapter 2). In La Guerra de’ Mostri, under discussion in this chapter, a similar effort is being made. By appealing to his former comrades in their own language and form, Lasca tried to persuade them to remain true to their old poetic habits. 124 Dating the Epics La Guerra de’ Mostri is part of a sequence of three: it was composed in reaction to La Gigantea by Girolamo Amelonghi, alias Gobbo da Pisa, and La Nanea by Michelangelo Serafini. This triad represents the internal struggle for power over the Accademia Fiorentina as a battle between Gods, Giants and Dwarfs. In La Gigantea, Amelonghi describes how armies of giants climb the Olympus to attack the Gods. In contrast to the giants of the classical gigantomachia, they succeed and become masters of the divine mountain. La Gigantea contains 128 octaves preceded by a foreword ‘Al famosissimo Alfonso de’ Pazzi’. The second epic, La Nanea, depicts armies of dwarfs, who come to the rescue of the Olympian Gods. 16 In two canti of 96 and 95 octaves respectively, they free Heaven and kill the giants. The first ottava of La Nanea refers to the events in La Gigantea, thereby declaring itself to be the latter’s sequel: 17
Io canterò degli Dei rovinati la rabbia, el batticuor, la stizza e ’l fiacco, dei nani et giganti sbudellati lance, spade, cervella et sangue a macco, fatte nel tempo ch’i giganti armati presero il cielo e lo mandaro a sacco, e ’l giganteo furor che vien di botto, dal cielo a’ monti travagliato e rotto. Lasca, too, sings the history of the struggle for Heaven. The first octave refers to the classical gigantomachia: it relates how the giants were beaten by Jove and died. 18 This episode was continued, the next octave states, because ‘Gobbo da Pisa’ created some giants that recaptured Heaven from the Gods. 19 Subsequently some dwarfs appeared, Fragments from La Gigantea are drawn from: Poemi di diversi 1772: 2‐49; fragments from La Nanea are cited from Nanerie 2006: 179‐278; fragments from La Guerra de’ Mostri stem from Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 346‐
356. 17 Nanerie 2006: 187. 18 Ottava V, vv. 1‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 347. 19 Ottava V, vv. 8‐12, in: Ibidem. 16
125 who freed Heaven from the giants – a most unlikely course of events, according to Lasca: 20 Ma ora un gobbo, poeta Pisano, da certi gigantacci sgangherati ha fatto a’ Dei togliere il Ciel di mano, tal che pel duol si sarian fatti frati; se non che dal valor del popol nano l’altro dì fur difesi e liberati, con modi, non so già, se begli o buoni; ma chi lo crede, Dio glie ne perdoni. The chronological order of the three epics is thus specified by the authors themselves: Serafini reacts to Amelonghi’s La Gigantea and La Guerra de’ Mostri was composed as a sequel to those two. Unambiguous as the order of the three epics may seem based on intertextual references, the dates provided in the dedications have nevertheless led many scholars astray. The dating of La Gigantea is unproblematic, as all editions and manuscripts provide the same date: 15 April 1547. 21 The editions and a contemporary manuscript of La Nanea reveal a similar consistency: all dedications are dated on the last day of the Florentine year, 24 March 1548 (s.f.) – which corresponds to our year 1549, almost two years after La Gigantea. 22 The sixteenth and seventeenth‐century editions of La Guerra de’ Mostri were undated, 23 but both eighteenth‐century editions, which published La Guerra Ottava V, vv. 9‐16, in: Grazzini 1882: 347. In the sixteenth‐century La Gigantea together with La Nanea were printed for the first time in 1566 (Gigantea 1566). In 1612 all three epics were published together in a Florentine edition by Antonio Guiducci (Gigantea 1612). A second complete edition did not follow until 1772: La Gigantea La Nanea e La Guerra dei Mostri, poemi di diversi, Yverdon [but Florence]. On this false location see: Parenti 1996: 201‐202. On the dating of La Gigantea: although an autograph manuscript of La Gigantea is lacking, the sixteenth‐century codex BNCF, Magl. VII, 1348 contains a transciption of La Gigantea, and here, too, we find 15 April 1547 for the dedication (c. 120). 22 The contemporary manuscript (BNCF, Magl. VII, 1149), drawn up by a certain A.C. [Alessandro Cecherelli?] on 3 August 1549, provides the same date (c. 5v). For an overview of the manuscripts and prints, see: Nanerie 2006: 159‐161. 23 Grazzini 1584; Gigantea 1612. 20
21
126 de’ Mostri with its original dedication, date the dedication to Stradino on half May 1548. 24 This, however, is due to a misreading. The dedication in Lasca’s autograph of La Guerra de’ Mostri clearly states: ‘Di Firenze à mezzo Maggio, Del M.D.X.X.X.X.V.i.I, Il Lasca tutto vostro’, 25 which proves that La Guerra deʹ Mostri, like La Gigantea, dates from the Spring of 1547. 26 A possible explanation for the adjusted date of La Guerra de’ Mostri in the eighteenth‐century editions is that their Florentine editors mostly drew from the codex Lucch. 474, which is a sixteenth‐century codex dedicated in its entirety to Lasca’s poetry. In this codex the dedication of La Guerra de’ Mostri is dated 1548. 27 The anomalous dating of the dedication of La Nanea shall be discussed in detail below. For my purpose here, it suffices to conclude that the dates provided by La Gigantea (15 April 1547) and the autograph edition of Lasca’s Guerra de’ Mostri (mid‐May 1547) fix the time limits of the sequence’s appearance. Textual evidence shows that La Nanea must have been composed somewhere in between these two dates. This situates the conception of all three epics in a short period of time immediately following the announcement of an ultimate round of reforms and the promise to select the Fiorentina members. The Topicality of the Epics The connection between the three epics and the tensions in the Accademia Fiorentina is beyond questioning. All scholars who have written about this period agree that the three epics about revolt were allegorical comments on the Arameic dash for power. 28 Yet there is little agreement about the question what the authors actually tried to achieve, as the various interpretations are in conflict with each other, and sometimes even internally inconsistent. The confusion about the three mock epics is due to the presupposition that Poemi di diversi 1772; Grazzini 1741‐42. BNCF, Magl. VII, 1348, c. 2. 26 Verzone (in: Grazzini 1882: 347), Plaisance (2004b: 182) and Crimi/Spila (in: Nanerie 2006: 152, 157) all date the dedication on 15 April 1547. Zanrè (2004: 105) suggests that La Nanea as well as La Guerra deʹ Mostri was composed in 1548. 27 Grazzini 1882: LXX. 28 Stauder (1996) takes a different approach. He centres on the use of the myth of the gigantomachy. 24
25
127 the Academy was divided in two camps. Both Plaisance and Zanrè have argued that the Giants in La Gigantea represent the Umidi, 29 which is in keeping with the fact that the dwarfs in La Nanea have been identified as Aramei by Crimi and Spila, Serafini’s editors. 30 Lasca’s monsters, however, have also been interpreted as Aramei. 31 This is problematic, because Lasca positions his epic as a sequel to La Nanea. Why would his monsters (Aramei) attack the dwarfs (also Aramei)? In this paragraph, I will give a new interpretation of La Guerra de’ Mostri, which neutralizes most of the inconsistencies in the current scholarship. The core problem of the current readings of Lasca’s epic is the difficulty to identify the monsters. Rodini was the first to suggest that the monsters could be identified as the Aramei. He claims Lasca attacked them for academic pedantry, since one of the monsters was covered in paper and taught grammar. 32 Plaisance has actually been tempted to identify them in his brief interpretation of the three epics. 33 Most of his identifications are convincing. It is very likely that Finimondo, the captain of the twelve divisions in the monstrous army, represents Pierfranceso Giambullari. Finimondo’s two‐
faced head (‘egli ha due visi come Giano’) might well be a reference to Giambullari’s Il Gello, where Noah is compared to Janus. Furthermore, the giant wears ‘chiocciola marina’ as a shield, in which Plaisance sees a reference to the arc Noah used to travel to Tuscany. 34 Succialardo, who is qualified as ‘pazza’ is identified as Alfonso de’ Pazzi. The most witty example of how each monster reveals an aspect characteristic of the academician represented is the thievish Forasiepe. In him, we might well read Amelonghi, who used Forabosco as an alias in La Gigantea and, more importantly, was accused of plagiarism. 35 This accusation is reflected in Forasiepe’s armoury, as it consists Plaisance 2004b: 179; Zanrè 2004: 105. Nanerie 2006: 153. 31 Rodini 1970: 14‐15; Plaisance 2004b: 182‐183; Zanrè 2004: 68‐70. 32 Rodini 1970: 14‐15. 33 Plaisance 2004b: 178‐184. 34 Ibidem: 183. 35 When Amelonghi used the theme of battling giants in his Gigantea, both Lasca and Doni accused him of plagiarism. They claimed he stole the idea from Betto Arrighi. Apparently Amelonghi borrowed Arrighi’s manuscript Gigantomachia from Stradino’s armadiaccio, and did not return it before he copied ‘l’invenzione, i 29
30
128 of ‘carta sugante’ (‘blotting‐paper’). 36 The monster teaching grammar (Guazzaletto) hides Piero Vettori and the physical description of Pappalefave in Plaisance’s view matches a description of Varchi in a sonnet on the literary man. 37 I agree with all of Plaisance’s identifications but the last. Yet Plaisance’s identifications of the monsters are inconsistent with his reading of the poem as a whole. Amelonghi, Varchi and Pazzi are not the first names that come to mind considering the Arameic faction, so if his speculations should be correct, his assertion on the Arameic identity of the monsters is at issue. Plaisance himself recognizes this inconsistency and accounts for it by suggesting that Lasca took the opportunity to settle some scores with his friends and enemies alike. 38 He also argues that Lasca’s inconsistency might be guided by prudence. Rodini and Zanrè, too, surmise that the obscurity of the epic is dictated by prudence and diplomacy. 39 It is striking that all three scholars that have worked on La Guerra de’ Mostri, when confronted with inconsistencies in their allegorical readings, suggest a deliberate veil dropped by the poet in order to defend his reasoning. Prudence alone cannot account for the fact that the army of monsters cannot be recognized as some clear‐cut academic faction. There is no point in writing an allegory which is so prudent that it cannot be deciphered. The heart of the matter is that in Lasca’s perception there simply is no neat division of the academic community in two camps. Below, I will show that in La Guerra de’ Mostri Aramei and Umidi battle side by concetti, le parole, e i versi interi’. Unfortunately, Arrighi’s gigantomachy has gone lost. On the plagiarism, see: Grazzini 2005: 281n; Zanrè 2004: 88‐89; Masi 2007: 313. 36 Ottava V, v. 144, in: Grazzini 1882: 351. 37 Plaisance 2004b: 183‐184. 38 Ibidem: 184. In the case of La Gigantea similar inconsistencies occur. In his chapter on Girolamo Amelonghi, devoted almost entirely to the epic, Zanrè (2004: 10) firmly situates the poem in the context of the academic reforms. In the giants he recognizes various academicians, among whom Lasca, Stradino, Pazzi and Amelonghi, which leads him to believe that Amelonghi depicted the victory of the Umidi and their supporters at a time when they came off worst in the academic field. His main conclusion however, is that Amelonghi’s work is of a ‘multi‐faceted nature’ and is ‘deliberately ambiguous’. Reminiscent of Plaisance, he surmises that this obscurity is dictated by prudence; like Lasca, Amelonghi had to veil his attacks on academic debates. 39 Rodini 1970: 15; Zanrè 2004: 69. 129 side. First, however, I will discuss how Lasca’s criticism of the Academy was not concerned with politics, but with the new forms that were advocated by the reformers. Concern about the increasing scholarism and formalism of the academic debate was prominent in all three epics. In La Gigantea, Amelonghi did not only relate a gigantomachy to the academic struggle for power, he also addressed the theories on the questione della lingua and the origins of Florence that dominated the political agenda of the reformers. In two major treatises of the early 1540s, both unmistakably political, giants play a leading part. Gelli’s Trattatello sull’origine di Firenze (1544) and Giambullari’s Il Gello (1546) both argue that the Florentine volgare derived not from Latin but from Aramaic. Gelli stages giants as the native inhabitants of Tuscany, who clashed with Noah when he landed in Tuscany after the Deluge and founded twelve cities on their land. Peace was only gained after the arrival of the Egyptian Hercules, who stayed in Tuscany for thirty years. In the first decade of his stay he killed all giants, in the following twenty years he founded Florence by splitting Mount Golfolina. In doing so, a river took its rise that was called ‘Arno’, after Hercules’ own coat‐of‐arms. That device showed a lion, and ‘arno’ was the Aramaic word for ‘lion’. Since the symbol of Florence was the ‘marzocco’, a lion, the etymologic origin presented by Gelli legitimized the assumption of various academicians that the Florentine language was of Aramaic origin. 40 Expansion of the Florentine territory, the submission of the local people and water control were all issues on Cosimo I’s agenda when Gelli wrote his treatise. In Il Gello Giambullari elaborated on Gelli’s theory. He stages Gelli as one of the interlocutori in the treatise, who describes the people of Tuscany when Noah arrived: ‘la gagliarda e robusta complessione di corpi si grandi […] perche essendo tutti Giganti, cioè di statura senza comparatione maggiore che la nostra’. Later on he narrates how Hercules murdered this people: ‘fu in favore degli Iddei nella guerra contro i giganti […] On Gelli’s treatise, see: Pirotti 1976: 40; De Gaetano 1976: 41‐43, 125; Cipriani 1980: passim; Plaisance 2004: 19‐22; Van Veen 2006: 28. 40
130 andò per il Mondo spegnendo i Mostri’. 41 Both treatises contain a list of kings that ruled Tuscany after Noah. Several of their names – for example Osiris, Lestrigone and Ogigi – are identical to the names of Amelonghi’s giants. Based on this and other resemblances, Zanrè convincingly argues in his analysis of La Gigantea that the epic should be regarded as a ‘parodic evocation’ of the treatises of the two frontmen of the Aramei. In glorifying ‘la pazzia’, inverted wisdom, in his dedication to Alfonso de’ Pazzi, Amelonghi furthermore ridicules the ‘pedantic mania’ raging within the academy. 42 In La Guerra de’ Mostri Lasca also criticizes the academic pedantry of the reformers. In the dedication to his epic, addressed to Stradino, he stages an epic eulogy that contains a ridiculous amount of similes comparing Stradino to the sun. Lasca claims that this comparison was inspired by the ‘discorsi’ of Fra Santi Marmocchini: ‘e mi piace molto l’opinione di fra Santi Marmocchini, che ne i suoi discorsi vi [Stradino] agguaglia al sole, dicendo che come egli è solo in cielo, voi sete solo in terra’. 43 This Santi Marmocchini was a Black Friar from San Casciano who lived in the monastery of San Marco in Florence between 1542 and 1545. He was a historian, mathematician, and theologist, who mastered Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In 1542, he was one of the padri of the Sagro Collegio della Teologale Università Fiorentina. Nowadays, he is primarily known for translating the Bible from Hebrew to Tuscan, a work published in Venice in 1538. 44 His obscure manuscript treatise, Dialogo in defensione della Lingua Toscana, is probably one of the ‘discorsi’ Lasca refers to. 45 In the Dialogo, dedicated to Cosimo I de’ Medici, Marmocchini discusses the origins of the Tuscan language with an unspecified ‘accademico’. Marmocchini argues that neither Aramaic, Latin, Greek nor Etruscan are as closely related to Tuscan as is Hebrew. In his opinion, ‘[l]a Lingua Toscana ha le Zanrè (2004: 104) cites: Giambullari 1546: 8, 37. Zanrè 2004: 104. 43 Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 346. 44 Negri 1722: 490. 45 BNCF, Magl. XXVIII, 20: the quarto is in a bad shape. Many pages cannot be deciphered because the condition of the paper is very bad. This manuscript allegedly is the only copy preserved of Marmocchini’s Dialogo, which remained unpublished. The treatise is likely to have been written between Santi Marmocchini’s arrival in Florence in 1542 and his death in 1545 in the San Marco monastery. Plaisance (2004d: 241n) saw this treatise too, and links it to the period in which Il Gello appeared (hence around 1544). 41
42
131 proprieta della lingua Hebrea adunque la lingua Toscana e o lingua hebrea o derivata da quella’ (c. 5). He compares the alphabets of the various languages and lists specific words in extensive tavole. His discourse on the grammatical differences and similarities then concentrates on Tuscan and Hebrew, in an attempt to point out which characteristics of Hebrew can be traced in Tuscan. To this aim, he compares various linguistic categories, as for instance verbs, prepositions, the use of the plural, and proper names. Lasca’s reference to the ‘discorsi’ suggests that Stradino and Santi Marmocchini were acquainted and that Stradino appears in the latter’s work. A possible connection between them was the religious life of the quartiere they both lived in. For his church visits, Stradino, who lived in the Via San Gallo, may very well have turned to Marmocchini’s San Marco church. Lasca mocks Stradino’s piety on some occasions, for instance in a 1542 capitolo to Stradino ‘in lode di Giovanni’, Stradino’s Christian name. 46 On top of that, in the Libro we find a sonnet ‘fatto dal Reverendo Padre Don Anselmo Venturi eremita di Camaldoli, mandato al molto religioso Stradino Humido’. 47 Apparently Stradino’s devotion was commonly known. Stradino could even have been the unidentified ‘accademico’, the opponent in Marmocchini’s dialogue. For in the Dialogo, in the category ‘Articolo il Nominativo de Propri nomi’, Marmocchini picks a striking example to draw his comparison between Tuscan and Hebrew: ‘dicendo giovanni di giovanni a giovanni giovanni o giovannj da giovanni non muta al’Accusativo l’articolo come fa alcuna volta ancora l’Hebreo di qui hanno preso i Latini quando dicono nomi barbari’ (c. 32v). (At this point, the quality of the paper turns so bad that the rest is unreadable.) Possibly, the character Marmocchini, who set out to convince the unnamed academician in the dialogue, here used Stradino’s first name to illustrate his argument. And, if we continue the speculation a bit further, if that is true, Lasca may refer to this passage when he ridiculously compares Stradino’s proper name Capitolo IV, in: Grazzini 1882: 470‐475, ‘Al generoso e virtuossisimo M. Giovanni Mazzuoli, altrimenti lo Stradino, o il Consagrata’. 47 Libro, c. 128v. Emphasis added. 46
132 to the sun’s: ‘egli ha nome sole principalmente; e voi principalmente avete nome Giovanni’. 48 The nature of Stradino’s acquaintance with Marmocchini must remain uncertain, but that does not alter the fact that Lasca copies the pedantic style of the friar’s treatise. In a broader sense, taking into account the extravagant extent to which Lasca develops his ridiculous comparison, it is obvious that he is mocking a mode of reasoning which was not particular to Marmocchini, but a fashionable academic phenomenon. When for instance, in Della origine di Firenze, Gelli claims that Etruscan as well as Hebrew descend from Aramaic, and that the Florentine language for its part derived from Etruscan and Latin, he supports his theory by pointing out that in Tuscan nouns are used according to Aramaic, whereas verbs are conjugated as in Latin. He also sums up Florentine words that are derived from both Aramaic and Hebrew. 49 This way of reasoning is very similar to Marmocchini’s. Lasca, then, shares Amelonghi’s criticism of Gelli and Giambullari’s theories. But more than Amelonghi, who merely alludes to the content of the treatises by evoking the giants, Lasca openly ridicules the form of the debate. Like the poems to Pazzi (see chapter 2), La Guerra de’ Mostri does not enter into the debate but discusses its formal aspects. The new academic debate was uniform, it was practiced on a strictly theoretical level, and it was characterized by complex and pedantic argumentation. This practice was of course in sharp contrast to the Umidian free and performative discussion culture. In his dedication, Lasca resented the Arameic mode, not the political implications of the treatises. Yet, further analysis of the dedication and the canto show that he resented the loss of Umidian practice even more. La Guerra de’ Mostri illustrates that poetic motives were underlying Lasca’s dissent in 1547: his resentment of the Aramei was fueled by frustration over how they overruled Umidian ideals. More than a political manifest, his epic should be interpreted as an attempt to revive old habits and bonds of friendship. Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 346. De Gaetano 1970: 41‐43. 48
49
133 Horns and Tails in Giambullari’s Army Scholars’ attempts to identify the monsters in La Guerra de’ Mostri as Aramei have failed, because Lasca’s main purpose is not to attack the Aramei, but to appeal to those Umidi and tornatella members who have betrayed their roots. This aim is apparent both in Lasca’s dedication to Stradino, under discussion in the next paragraph, and in the mock‐
heroes of the epic, the twelve monsters that crowd the canto itself. Plaisance’s identification of the first two monsters in La Guerra de’ Mostri is undisputed. 50 Finimondo, the monsters’ ‘capitano’, indeed represents Giambullari, and Radigozzo, his follower, obviously alludes to Gelli, as the following lines show: 51 dopo il gran Finimondo entra nel ballo, ch’acquistò già cogli Orchi eterna fama, e Radigozzo per nome si chiama. As Gelli’s Trattatello sull’origine di Firenze centers on ‘orchi’ (‘giants’), academicians would have had little problems identifying these two monsters. However, these identifications do not imply that all monsters are Aramei. The third monster in line, Pappalefave, who Plaisance identifies as Varchi, 52 is in fact none other than Lasca’s mentor Stradino. The first hint that Pappalevave is not one of the Aramei, but rather the central figure of the Umidi circle is given in the following octave: 53
Un altro poi, che sempre ride a ciancia, e tutti allegri sono i gesti suoi, seguita dopo benigno e soave, che si fa nominar Pappalefave. Pappalefave is here presented as a kind and cheerful monster, which is in line with the image of Stradino that Lasca evoked in the song on his death (1549). 54 That entire poem Plaisance 2004b: 183; Zanrè 2004: 68. Ottava V, vv. 78‐80, in: Grazzini 1882: 349. 52 Plaisance 2004b: 183. 53 Ottava V, vv. 101‐104, in: Grazzini 1882: 350. 54 Canzona IV, in: Ibidem: 149‐152. 50
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134 centres on Lasca’s memories of Stradino as a laughing and joking entertainer (see chapter 1). Apparently, Lasca considered this to be one of his most striking characteristics. The second aspect of Pappalefave’s appearance that points towards Stradino are the monster’s looks: 55
È grosso e grasso come un carnasciale, fresco nel viso, e va sempremai raso: un bel capone ha grande e badïale, che fatto nella madia pare a caso: […]. In his poetry, Lasca regularly referred to Stradino’s coarse features. He had ‘un viso torto, abbozzato’ and ‘[l]e ciglia irsute e la bocca gonfiata, / il naso a beccastrin, le luci torte’, and an equally rough posture with ‘membri strani e sconci’. 56 In Pappalefave’s appearance a similar roughness is expressed, for instance by the image of the ‘madia’ in which his head was created. Stradino’s own face was mutilated with war scars. In the ‘Capitolo in lode delle Barbe’, Lasca mocks Stradino’s ‘faccia rattoppata’. 57 Apparently Stradino wore a beard to hide his deformity, a fact that is mocked in the monster’s ‘e va sempremai raso’. Pappalefave’s shield, furthermore, is embellished with the image of ‘un Lanzi che bevea’, a drinking mercenary soldier, referring to Stradino’s past as a soldier in Giovanni delle Bande Nere’s army. That Stradino is the third monster to appear in La Guerra de’ Mostri, directly after Giambullari and Gelli, is indicative of the position Lasca assigns to him within the academic ranks. Stradino had been ‘padre’ to the Umidi, 58 and he remained an authority within the Fiorentina. Apparently, his opinion was of substantial influence, as in the ‘Lamento dell’Accademia degli Umidi’ (1547), Lasca recalls how Stradino’s impressive ‘grida’ (‘roar’) could be a counterpoise to the powerful Aramei. This image recurs in Ottava V, vv. 105‐108, in: Grazzini 1882: 350. Sonetto XI, vv. 39‐40, in: Ibidem: 13; Sonetto VI, vv. 5‐6, in: Ibidem: 8; Sonetto XI, v. 40, in: Ibidem: 13. 57 Pignatti 2005: 162n. See for the capitolo: Capitolo V, in: Grazzini 1882: 476. 58 On the transformation of the Accademia degli Umidi to Accademia Fiorentina, Martelli writes: ‘perchè a ogni modo voi ne sarete sempre cognominato Padre, come voi eravate […]’ (Martelli 1916: 20, ‘al Padre Stradino’, 1 November 1542). 55
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135 other poems as well. 59 His prominent position within the academic ranks may also appear from the fact that when the new academy was constituted in August 1547, Stradino was elected ‘Padre’, and gained the honorary title of ‘massaio a vita’. 60 Lasca however, in the monster’s name, mocks his success. ‘Le fave’ refers to the white and black beans that were used for elections and that the monster, as the first part of his name suggests, eats voraciously. Yet Lasca also mocks Stradino’s attitude towards the reforms, as in ‘pappare’ a hint of ‘exploiting’ or maybe ‘buttering up’ may be heard.’ 61 He thereby suggests that Stradino doted on his powerful position. Another Umidi founder who was not excluded in 1547, but actually did well in the academy was Michelangelo Vivaldi. 62 Although Vivaldi is one of the more obscure Umidi founders, some of his texts have remained. 63 According to Negri, he was known as an authority on Greek and Latin poetry. 64 This seems to be confirmed in one of Lasca’s sonnets, in which he recommends Giambardi and Burchiello to Vivaldi, who apparently did not hold them in high esteem. 65 Struggilupo, a monster pointedly portrayed as a classical poet is probably meant to represent this Umido. Struggilupo’s classical tastes are expressed as follows: the monster’s warhorse is Pegasus and his ‘ad un grida sol del Consagrata [=Stradino] / tremava tutto Neri Dortelata’ (Ottava IV, vv. 95‐96, in: Grazzini 1882: 344). Neri Dortelata was the personification of a group of academicians working on the orthographic reforms of the alphabet. On the identity of Dortelata various suggestions have been made: it could either be a pseudonym for Pierfrancesco Giambullari or Cosimo Bartoli, or a creation of a group of people including those two and Carlo Lenzoni. See: Fiorelli 1956 and Zanrè 2004: 105. Bryce (1983: 215‐218) argues that Gelli may also have been part of the group, which would equate them with the Aramei. Other examples of the powerful roar of Stradino: in 1543, at the entrance of Alfonso de’ Pazzi in the Fiorentina, Lasca writes: ‘Gridate ad alta voce, o Consagrata’ (Sonetto VII, v. 9, in: Grazzini 1882: 9). Elsewhere: ‘Però ch’ei grida forte’ (Sonetto XV, v. 18, in: Ibidem: 17). 60 Bareggi 1973: 552; Zanrè 2004: 21. 61 In the song on the death of Stradino, Lasca uses ‘pappare’ (‘to eat voraciously’) as well. He refers to the Aramei, who, without Stradino’s supervision, are able to alternate the consulate among themselves: ‘faranno gli Aramei sicuro guasto / dell’Accademia, ov’io fui già beato, / poppandosi a vicenda il consolato’ (Canzone IV, vv. 63‐65, in: Grazzini 1882: 151). ‘Poppare’ would mean sucking. In Grazzini 1741: vol. 1, 18 however we find a different spelling: ‘pappandosi’. 62 The Annali show that Vivaldi lectured on some occasions (Annali, I, cc. 8, 10v), that he was elected as one of the official private lecturers (c. 11v) and that he actively contributed to the election rounds, both as ‘elezionario’ and ‘elezionato’ (cc. 8v, 12v, 13v, 19v, 20, 27, 33). 63 Plaisance 2004a: 60n. 64 Negri 1722: 414. 65 Sonetto LVIII, v. 32, in: Grazzini 1882: 49. 59
136 armoury is that of Perseus, ‘che (come scrisse Ulisse) fur di vento’. 66 More telling, still, is his coat of arms, inherited from Catullus, the most renowned lyrical poet of Antiquity: 67 ha per insegna la lira d’Orfeo, che gli lasciò Catullo in testamento: e quella, come sia sua duce e scorta, sempre nel scudo e sopra l’elmo porta. In this fragment Lasca mocks the pride Struggilupo takes in his coat of arms. The same idea of misplaced pride is expressed in the four sonnets he wrote to Michelangelo Vivaldi. According to Lasca, his colleague presents himself as the figurehead of poetry: ‘voi, Michelagnol gentile, / che sete delle Muse e di Parnaso, / come dire, le campane e ‘l campanile’. 68 But his way of doing so was not effective, for Lasca reproaches him of vanity: ‘sei del tuo stile innamorato, / nè altro piace a te che i versi tuoi’. 69 Vivaldi even regards Petrarch and Dante his inferiors: ‘tal ch’a giudizio suo Petrarca e Dante / a male pena gli son buoni araldi’. 70 Lasca also jokes that Vivaldi should go to Rome, because the people of Florence do not appreciate his talent: ‘cieco, che l’alte tue vertù non vede, / sordo, che i chiari versi tuoi non ode’. 71 It seems however that Vivaldi’s poetic performance was not all that inspiring, as Lasca also ridicules one of his pedantic acts: 72
E quando un sonettin raccontar vuoi, Vivaldin mio, tu ti fai da un lato, e poi ch’un pezzo te stesso hai lodato, narri il soggetto finalmente a noi. Dopo segui il sonetto tuo cantando tre volte e quattro; e pedantescamente Ottava V, vv. 193‐196, in: Grazzini 1882: 352. Ottava V, vv. 197‐200, in: Ibidem: 350. 68 Sonetto LX, vv. 9‐11, in: Ibidem: 51. 69 Sonetto LVIII, vv. 2‐3, in: Ibidem: 48. 70 Sonetto LIX, vv. 7‐8, in: Ibidem: 50. 71 Sonetto LVII, vv. 9‐10, 16, 21, in: Ibidem: 48. 72 Sonetto LVIII, vv. 5‐12, in: Ibidem: 49. 66
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137 ad ogni passo lo vai commentando, come se non sapesse altri nïente; […]. Apparently, Lasca considered Vivaldi’s performance to be uninspiring and tiresome. It is therefore significant that Struggilupo’s weapon is a crane’s feather with which he harasses the troops just as Vivaldi tormented the tornatella with his writings: 73
Scambio di stocchi, spade e mazzafrusti di gru porta una penna temperata: con essa mena colpi aspri e robusti: con essa uccide e storpia la brigata. Apart from Vivaldi, two more monsters may yet be identified, both of whom were allied to the former Umidi. For reasons I will specify below, the monster Salvalaglio is probably Umidi founder Gismondo Martelli. In Fieramosca, finally, I suspect an allusion to Benedetto Varchi. For one, Fieramosca is a name that also occurs in La Gigantea (one of the giants) and La Nanea (one of the dwarfs). 74 A man of Varchi’s academic standing would not be neglected in these epics. More important is the reference to Fieramosca’s main weapon, his arrogance: ‘caval non vuol, nè insegna, nè armadura, / tanto si fida e in sè stesso assicura’. 75 This haughtiness is also one of the main themes in Lasca’s sonnets to Varchi. 76 The monsters in La Guerra de’ Mostri seem to be an incoherent lot. We have identified the frontmen of the Academy (the two Aramei Gelli and Giambullari, and Piero Vettori and Varchi) as well as various Umidi founders (Stradino, Gismondo, Vivaldi) and tornatella members (Pazzi, Amelonghi). What is the explanation for this apparent contradiction? The key to understanding La Guerra de’ Mostri is recognizing the fact that most of the (Umidi/tornatella) colleagues Lasca depicts did well in the Academy, and can hence be regarded disloyal to their roots. Stradino, from Lasca’s perspective, Ottava V, vv. 201‐204, in: Grazzini 1882: 350. Nanerie 2006: 244n; 251. 75 Ottava V, vv. 215‐216, in: Grazzini 1882: 353. 76 See for instance: ‘Tu non sei però Varchi semideo / uscito di Lutrecche, o di Borbone, / ma nato in villa ’n un borgo a pigione, / vile e superbo più che Campaneo’ (Sonetto XXII, vv. 5‐8, in: Ibidem: 23). 73
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138 would obviously be the main traitor. Martelli (in his letter to Stradino on the first of March 1547) mentions how one of the Umidi with reason (‘con giusta cagione’) accused Stradino of being unfaithful: ‘Lo Stradino è pien d’amore, ma e’ si volge dove è il favore’. 77 Who other than Lasca would have phrased his distress so bluntly with such adequate rhyme? A second turncoat would be Michelangelo Vivaldi. Like Stradino, he was one of the four Umidi founders who remained members of the Fiorentina after August 1547. The other two were Niccolò Martelli and Piero Fabbrini, and if my thesis is correct, they may be hidden in the monsters that must remain unidentified: Guastatorte, Malandrocco or Sparapane. Gismondo seems to have been present among the monsters as a continuation of Stradino: to his role I will come shortly. Pazzi remained a member of the Fiorentina after the refounding as well. His prominence within the Fiorentina and his inclination to conform (sufficiently it would seem) were a constant source of frustration to Lasca, as Pazzi’s poetic activities were precisely in line with Lasca’s taste (see chapter 2). Amelonghi’s presence in this company is due to the fact that he was the author of one of the epics, and as such was involved in a literary game of a well‐defined group of poets, as I will detail below. Thus, the principal aim of La Guerra de’ Mostri is not to attack those who stole his Academy away from him, but to mock Lasca’s former friends and allies who let themselves become ‘incorporated’ in the Arameic ‘army’. This reading of events is supported by the fact that at two points in the epic Lasca labels his monsters either as deceivers or as the ones deceived. After all, he does make them wear a tail or a horn, the first a symbol of devilish betrayal, the second a token worn by those deceived. This depiction first appears in the dedication, getting the more emphasis through its position, at the very end: ‘[…] i mostri, che vi parrano altra cosa nel vero, che non furono i nani e giganti, avendo la maggior parte le corna e le coda’. 78 And in the sixth octave of the canto, where Lasca characterizes his monsters, he repeats the specification once more: Martelli 1916: 118. Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 347. 77
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139 ‘quei che sono i più gagliardi e i più saputi, / ch’hanno dietro la coda e son cornuti’. 79 Rather than a mere attack directed at Aramei or enemies, including some ‘friends’ for reasons of safety, La Guerra de’ Mostri is a statement that ridicules all those who conformed to the Academy’s transformation. Censorship During the Reforms If the epics were a response to the developments within the Academy, what was the status of their interventions? Burlesque mockery had been an intrinsic part of Florentine literary culture for a long time, and to a certain extent it had been an accepted medium for subversive messages. At the time of the reforms, however, this kind of humorous verse was under pressure in the academic field. During the summer of 1547 it became clear that Cosimo and the ‘riformatori’ sought to repress public manifestations of discord. As it happens, in the middle of May, when Lasca dated his dedication, all activities of the Fiorentina had been suspended. How was this possible? It seems that a strategic lull was created in which the reformers could work without turmoil. It so happened that the circulation of the epics coincided with the arrival of a Turk in Florence, as the Annali show. On Sunday 8 May this Turk first appeared in the city, who ‘faceva cose sopra naturali’ (‘did supernatural things’) near the duke’s palace on the other side of the Arno, the Palazzo Pitti. Since the potential public for academic lectures massively went to see him perform, the academicians decided to postpone their lecture until the next week. 80 Ten days later, however, matters had not improved. When on 18 May Cosimo had decided to assign the square in the monastery of the Santa Maria Novella, the Fiorentina’s seat, to the Turk, public lecturing became virtually impossible, for the roaring of the drums and the crowd was so overwhelming that any speaker would have been inaudible. 81 While the ‘riformatori’ kept on gathering every once in a Ottava V, vv. 47‐48, in: Grazzini 1882: 348. Annali, I, c. 43. 81 Ibidem: ‘havendo concesso sua eccza Illma al Turcho il prato dei chiostri di Santa Maria Novella perche lo strepito delle genti el romor de’ Tamburi impedivano i Lettori et per Tal causa bisogno oferire Imprivato’. 79
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140 while (the Annali record a meeting on 2 May for instance), 82 all public lectures were postponed, and soon the private ones as well. Why would Cosimo transfer the spectacle of the performing Turk to the other side of town? And why did he assign precisely the square in the monastery that was overlooked from the Sala del papa, seat of the Fiorentina, as a place for the vociferous crowd? It is hard to imagine him unaware of the effect this would have on academic life. The Academy’s secretary seems to have felt that he had to defend Cosimo’s dealings. In the Annali, he stipulates that there is no harm in the fact that lecturing could not proceed, since the academy was waiting for the outcome of reforms anyway: ‘[... ] non sequirno Le letioni per aspettar che resolutione piglavano i nove riformatori della Accademia che per questo non mancava chi leggesse’. 83 The apologetic overtone in the records is striking and somewhat suspicious. Especially the fact that ducal intervention is mentioned at all ‐ let alone justified ‐ in the Annali, is highly exceptional and strongly suggests that Cosimo moved the Turk to facilitate the academic reforms by literally making it impossible for the opposition to be heard. In this context, it is suggestive that Lasca, in a madrigalessa written in August, did associate the Turk with the Academy’s reorganization. 84 But even if Cosimo’s positioning the performance of the Turk in the heart of academic life was not a strategic decision, it was at the very least convenient to some that he brought academic debate to a halt. If, however, we accept the relocation of the Turk as a conscious political act, the incident indicates that Cosimo took care to avoid public academic controversies at this stage. The satirical allegories of the reforms in the three comic‐heroic epics are only one example of the reactions provoked by the reforms. One of a different category was Benedetto Varchi’s famous public lecture on a sonnet by Michelangelo, which was Annali, I, c. 42v. Ibidem, c. 43. 84 Madrigalessa III, vv. 11‐14, 18‐19, in: Grazzini 1882: 249: ‘Io vel dirò. Non già che tosto, o tardi, / o guerra o peste sia, / nè manco carestia; / che ’l Turco passi, o che sia finimondo; / […] / la misera Accademia fiorentina / per ch’ell’è stata maritata al Gello’. Apart from the significance in the timing of the Turk’s presence in Florence, his performances must have been quite impressive events. Next to Lasca’s references contemporary sources mention him as well. See for instance Doni 1551: c. 10r. Bryce (1995: 86) refers to a sixteenth‐century chronicle, cited in: Biagi 1906: 81‐82. 82
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141 followed by the equally famous disputo della precedenza della scultura o della pittura. In my view, Varchi’s lecture was in fact a respons to the reforms, be it a rather mild one, which conformed to the Academy’s official view on the proceedings of academic debate. The election of the magistrates that would guide the reforms was not the only activity planned for that crucial day in the Academy’s existence, Sunday 13 March 1547 (1546 s.f.). Preceding the voting, Varchi continued the lecture he had started a week earlier (6 March). The Annali record the success of the first part: the people came in crowds (‘con grande concorso di popolo’) and the lecture was much appreciated (‘con piacere di tutti’). 85 The second part, too, was received by the public ‘with highest praise and great delight’ (‘con somnia lode et gran piacere degli uditori’). 86 Varchi’s lecture indeed was something special. Not only did it enthuse the gathered crowd and academicians, it had a much wider appeal: with it, Varchi incited the most famous Florentine artists to respond to his disputation, and thus initiated the paragone debate. 87 Was it a coincidence that this important lecture took place during this weighty election round? Varchi was seriously preoccupied with visual arts and artists. His friendships with painters such as Bronzino and Pontormo are well‐documented. 88 The Annali indicate that he valued the participation of artists in the Fiorentina: during the months of his consulate (1545) three artists were elected members: Cellini, Bandinelli and Francesco Salviati. 89 The participation of these artists was threatened by Giambullari’s reforms, however, since they did not contribute any literary or scholarly work. The abolition and refounding of the Fiorentina in practice meant a definitive break with the performative culture of its founders, and the dismissal of artists, musicians and actors as members was part of Giambullari’s attempt to rid the Academy of the old practices. Varchi sensed the artists’ imminent weak position, and phrased his concern in his paragone lecture. He obviously intended to discuss the position of the visual arts within the Academy, and Annali, I, c. 40v. Ibidem. 87 On the paragone debate, see: Barocchi 1960: vol 1, 3‐82; Mendelsohn 1982: passim; Barocchi 2001: passim. 88 Heikamp 1957: 144‐145; Quiviger 1987: passim; Cecchi 1990: passim; Cecchi 1991: passim; Cialoni 1998: passim; Parker 2000: 40ff. 89 See: Annali, I, c. 25 (Cellini, on 23 April); Ibidem, c. 25v (Cavaliere M. Bartholomeo Bandinelli, Francesco Salviati pitt, on 21 May). 85
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142 maybe he even tried to influence the outcome of the reforms. But despite the success of Varchi’s lectures, they did nothing to turn the tide. Most of the visual artists were excluded from the Academy in August. 90 The events of that summer make clear that various reactions were provoked with various results. As for the reception of the epics: regulations implemented in 1546 and 1547 show how meticulously silence and obedience were forced on the academicians. In the nuovi capitoli of 1547, censors were even instructed to burn or rip apart ‘composizioni disoneste, o malediche’. The epics fitted easily within this description. 91 In that sense, the circulation of the epics can surely be considered an example of disorder that would arouse the Duke’s discontent. Unlike Serafini’s Nanea, Lasca’s Guerra de’ Mostri was not composed anonymously. The poet must have known that this epic would put his membership of the Academy at risk. But still, he chose this genre to address a group of colleagues whom he knew had a particular interest in the epic and the mock‐epic: the Umidi founders and Stradino’s tornatella. Through mock‐epic humour he endorsed their poetic taste and conventions in order to revive their old poetic spirit. As such, his Guerra de’ Mostri turns out to be a strategic plea to those he hoped could still be won for his case. A Poetic Discourse on Monstrosity How was La Guerra de’ Mostri designed to appeal to the tornatella members? In chapter 1, I have already pointed out Stradino’s particular interest in chivalric romances and comic‐heroic epics such as Pulci’s Morgante. His passion for the genre was clearly connected with a fascination for the monstrous beings that crowd the epics he loved so much. This fascination is reflected in the armadiaccio, the collection of books and curiosities that provided the material for the tornatella’s education. It contained A notable exception is Michelangelo, who gained the honorary title of ‘padre’ of the academy (see: Bareggi 1973: 552). 91 Bareggi 1973: 560, in: Capitolo ‘Dell’Uficio de’ Censori’. 90
143 ‘cocodrilli e denti di giganti’ and ‘reliquie d’orchi e di giganti’, 92 and in the armadiaccio’s inventory we find, for example, the ‘Libro di febusso et breusso in stanze con le sua historia’, on the two famous Arthurian giants. 93 Considering Stradino’s passion, it is only logical that Lasca dedicated La Guerra de’ Mostri to the Umidi mentor, thereby assuring its insertion in the armadiaccio. Nor is it surprising that Serafini, too, claims to have been requested to hand over a copy of his Nanea to Stradino (see below). Crimi and Spila, the editors of La Nanea, and Plaisance all associate the armadiaccio with the three comic‐heroic epics: they suggest that Stradino’s epic passion explains the fact that Amelonghi, in his Gigantea, disguised the Umidi as giants. 94 Lasca’s strong attachment to Pulci in the 1540s, which is also apparent in the Guerra, reflects the generic preferences of Stradino’s circle. 95 Indeed, the conception of all three epics originated in the literary interaction of the former tornatella. The persistence of the tornatella’s literary preference for the monstrous is also reflected in the Carnival activities of 1547 (1546 s.f.). 96 During these celebrations in late February, Varchi staged a mascherata accompanied by the ‘Canzone de’ mostri innamorati’. The carnival act centered on the subject of physical malformity: Varchi’s staged love‐sick monsters, in line with the sixteenth‐century notions of monstrosity, were physically aberrant creatures, in this case dwarfs and giants. They competed for the favours of the women of Florence. In processions giants and dwarfs were often contrasted, 97 but the competition introduced during this carnival would keep the academicians of Florence in its grip for months to follow. The Carnival festivitities of that year only shortly preceded the academic election of 13 March, and the Carnival’s Sonetto II, v. 20, in: Grazzini 1882: 5; Capitolo III, v. 90, in: Ibidem, 469. Vincenzo Martelli wrote Stradino a letter in which he offers him ‘i denti gigantei’, quoted in: Marconcini 1910: 22n. 93 Maracchi Biagiarelli 1982: 56. Stradino, who took the habit of providing his books with scribblings in the binding, relates how he gave this particular book to his friend, the painter Franciabigio, in order to provide it with illustrations. Franciabigio filled its margins with aquarelles of warriors and weaponry, horses and combat scenes (ibidem: 54). 94 Nanerie 2006: 152n; Plaisance 2004b: 178. 95 Lasca’s attachment to Pulci is illustrated in Pignatti’s analysis of the Comento di maestro Nicodemo dalla Pietra al Migliaio sopra il Capitolo della salsiccia (Pignatti 2005: passim). 96 In 1546 (s.f.) carnival fell on 20, 21 and 22 February, see: Cappelli 1983: 74. 97 Nanerie 2006: 148n. 92
144 subject matter became linked to the Fiorentina’s struggle in the three comic‐heroic epics. Amidst the reforms, the tornatella members seized upon the carnivalesque theme to reflect on the current developments within their Academy. This section investigates this discourse in order to detail the social context in which the epics were conceived. The tornatella was deeply involved in the staging of the ‘Canzone de’ mostri innamorati’ and its aftermath. Stradino himself actually participated in the procession. He rode along on a donkey, exuberantly dressed up and equiped with various atrributes. Indeed, Stradino could pass for a monster. As we have seen, Stradino’s face was heavily scarred from injuries suffered in battle. 98 Niccolò Martelli carefully observed Stradino’s contribution: on 1 Marchi 1547 (1564 s.f.) he addressed him a letter that describes his performance. 99 Amelonghi and Lasca contributed to Varchi’s mascherata as well. 100 They composed songs for the event: Lasca’s wrote a ‘canto de’ medici cerusici’ in which the practice of doctors was mocked. 101 Amelonghi’s ‘canto de’ scolari’ stages students who come from Pisa to court the Florentine women. 102 As a consequence of this collaboration, Lasca and Amelonghi got involved in a polemic that would continue outside the context of the festivities. 103
A procession that was thematically related to Varchi’s was the Trionfo di tutto il mondo. This huge mascherata, the like of which had never been seen in Florence before, is described in several contemporary sources. The central cart of this procession carried a towerlike pile of ‘quanti pazzi, quanti gobbi et malfatti erano in Firenze’. 104 These madmen and physically deformed persons – themes that were closely intertwined – Plaisance 2004a: 57. Martelli 1916: 116‐120. Niccolò describes how Stradino was dressed in a beautiful satin costume, red with golden polka‐dots and tails, wearing a scarlet hat and a staff. He was seated on a donkey covered in a yellow suit and he carried a portrait of Petrarch and Laura and several ‘scartafacci antichi e moderni’, obviously drafts from his famous library. With these visual references to his interest in literature, Stradino appears, as Martelli exclaims, ‘il procaccio delle Muse’. The imagery Martelli describes henceforth is very complex and quite obsure. Stradino’s attributes and the donkey seem to stage him as a mock personification of a poet. I am most grateful to Franco Pignatti for his generous help with the interpretation of this letter. 100 Plaisance 2004b: 176. 101 Canto carnascialesco XII, in: Grazzini 1882: 183‐185. 102 Amelonghi’s poem is also entitled ‘canzone degli studianti di Pisa’, see for instance: Trionfi e canti carnascialeschi 1986: 323‐325. 103 Plaisance 2004b: 176. 104 This citation stems from San Gallo’s diario, quoted in: Grazzini 1742: vol. 2, 330‐332. 98
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145 entertained the public with all sorts of games and caprices. The fools in the Trionfo di tutto il mondo glorified folly. The pile was contrasted by a long line of fifty couples who represented the ‘cento arti’, hundred professions. In this way, the audience was alerted to the commonplace wisdom that every person is deluded in his own individual way and even the wisest and most competent are in some way derided. 105
Most scholars assume that the Trionfo should be dated in 1547 (1546 s.f.), which would situate it in the immediate wake of Varchi’s love‐sick monsters. 106 Recently, however, Masi has argued persuasively that the correct year must be 1546 (1545 s.f), which would make it a year older than Varchi’s song. 107 In both cases, the temporal as well as thematic proximity underlines their connection. 108 Socially, this connection was clear as well. The procession was organized by Alfonso de’ Pazzi, whose very name ensured an ever active interest in the topic of madness. Apparently, he took advantage of the mascherata to mock Girolamo Amelonghi, who participated in the act as one of the hunchbacks in the pile of fools. 109 Pazzi and Amelonghi’s relationship seems to have been a complex one. There was mutual competition and jealousy, but also admiration, at least as far as Amelonghi is concerned. 110 One of Pazzi’s few published poems refers to Amelonghi’s participation in the mascherata; he rubs Amelonghi’s nose for the fact that See Doni’s description: ‘si risolverono che ognuno pazzeggiasse a modo suo, e manifestamente si vedeva per l’opere di ciascuno che ogni uomo fusse savio quanto volesse o paresse, sempre teneva del pazzo la sua parte’ (in: Nanerie 2006: 145‐146n). Crimi and Spila (in: Ibidem: 146) claim that Giovanbattista Ottonaio’s ‘Trionfo de’ Pazzi’ was also related to this period. However, Singleton (in: Canti carnascialeschi 1936: vol. 1, 314‐315) convincingly argues that this trionfo went through the streets in 1552. 106 Plaisance (2004b: 175‐176) dates the Trionfo di tutto il mondo in 1546 (1545 s.f.), one year before the ‘canzone de’ mostri innamorati’. Pignatti (2005: 174n) and Crimi and Spila (in: Nanerie 2006: 146n) choose 1546 (s.f.), as do I, since between the events there seems to have been a ‘stretta continuità temporale’. Furthermore, Crimi and Spila provide evidence for the staging of quite different acts in 1545 (s.f.). 107 Masi 2007: 313n. Carnival in 1545 (s.f.) started on Sunday 7 March. So, if the Trionfo di tutto il mondo took place in 1545 (s.f.), this would mean it was staged on either the Thursday preceding Carnival (4 March) or on Ash Wednesday (10 March), which neither seem suitable days for festive processions (see: Cappelli 1983: 104). If by contrast the Trionfo took place on 10 March 1546, the occasion would have been the Holy Day of the 40 martyrs (Ibidem: 98). 108 Varchi remained fascinated by the theme of monsters. More than a year after this carnival, he revisited the argument, in a different setting. He delivered a public lecture for the Accademia Fiorentina on the first and second Sunday of July 1548, entitled ‘Sopra la generazione de’ Mostri, & se sono intesi dalla Natura, ò nó’ (see: Annali I, c. 47v). The lecture deals with giants, phoenixes, satirs and pigmei, dwarfs, amongst others. It is published in: Varchi 1560: vol. 1, 92‐140. 109 Zanrè 2004: 93; Nanerie 2006: 146n. 110 Masi 2007: 312‐314. 105
146 he was staged among the fools, whereas Alfonso himself, the legitimate ‘pazzo’, was not. 111 Amelonghi tried to have his revenge on Pazzi for this mockery in three ways. 112 He addressed a capitolo to Cosimo I, called ‘il Lamento dell’Etrusco’, with a prefatory letter that relates of a dream he had (‘cominciai a sognare arcipazze fantasie’). In this dream, Amelonghi observed Alfonso performing a capitolo before Stradino, in which he complained that during the trionfo he had lost his position as king of fools to Re Piccino, the mythical king of the Dwarfs who had dominated the Trionfo di tutto il mondo. 113 Besides that, Amelonghi composed a ‘capitolo contro al Pazzi’. 114 Finally, he dedicated La Gigantea to his adversary. In the dedication of this work, Amelonghi again pursues the subject of madness. In this period, the battle between giants and dwarfs seems to have captured the minds of the former tornatella members. Lasca’s ‘La scusazione dei Nani’ is another example of a poem that explores the theme. 115 Like La Nanea, this octave stages a clash between giants and dwarfs, which ends in favour of the dwarfs. The dwarfs compensate for the fact that their physical power and dimension subordinates them to the giants (vv. 17‐18). Through wisdom and zeal, they try to put the giants in their place during the carnival festivities: 116
però con mascherata ricca e nuova voglion fare i giganti stare a segno, perchè quivi non ha luogo, o potere, forza di corpo, ma industria e sapere. Pedrotti 1902: 57: ‘O gobbo ladro, spirito bizzarro, / Che di’ tu or di me? hai tu veduto / Che i pazzi come te vanno sul carro, / Ed io, che pazzo son sempre vissuto, / E morrò pazzo al trionfo de’ Pazzi, / Non son per pazzo stato conosciuto?’ 112 Also: Grazzini 1742: vol. 2, 330‐332; Plaisance 2004b: 176; Nanerie 2006: 148n. On Amelonghi’s poems to Pazzi and vice versa, see in particular: Masi 2007: 313n. 113 The dwarf called ‘il re Piccino’ also figures in Ottava VIII, v. 1, in: Grazzini 1882: 357. For a portrait, see: Nanerie 2006: 287, tavola 10. 114 Masi 2007: 313n. 115 Nanerie 2006: 148‐149. For the Lasca’s octave, see: Ottava IX, in: Grazzini 1882: 358. 116 Ottava IX, vv. 22‐25, in: Ibidem. 111
147 Whether or not the dwarfs’ qualities of ‘industria e sapere’ suffice to resist the giants will become clear before the end of the festive period, as Lasca announces (‘prima che passi questo carnovale’, v. 32). Lasca seems to anticipate the tremendous Trionfo di tutto il mondo, which, as we learned from Amelonghi’s letter to Cosimo, was to represent the victory of Re Piccino, the dwarf who gained power over the reign of fools. The three comic‐heroic epics, then, continue a long‐standing interest in the themes of the monstrous and the foolish, and more specifically, battles between various monsters. Two of the epics’ authors, Lasca and Amelonghi, had already participated in the thematic discourse, like their dedicatees, Stradino and Pazzi. Serafini’s involvement in the discourse is less clear. We have no record of his participation in the Florentine literary circuit before this epic, and in contrast to Amelonghi and Lasca, he was not a member of the Fiorentina at this moment yet. His contribution to the epic sequel may have been provoked by an extraordinary interest in the comic‐heroic epic genre, which could very well have been inflicted on him by his teacher Andrea Dazzi, for whom he pronounced a funeral oration before the Accademia Fiorentina (late in 1549). 117 When the poemata of Dazzi were published posthumously, Serafini provided a dedication preceding the Aeluromyomachia, a comic‐heroic poem in three books that he had received as a present from Dazzi. Apparently, his teacher also fostered a special interest in dwarfs or the dwarf‐like, for he composed the epigram Ad Bassum. 118
Lasca seems to have started a row with Serafini mocking his participation in the sequel. Among the many intertextual relations in the three epics, one is particularly intriguing. Serafini dated his epic on 24 March 1549 (1548 s.f), more than two years after its first appearance. 119 Apparently, at that date he wrote down a version of his Nanea on Stradino’s request, who had asked for a copy for his armadiaccio. Serafini describes how For biographical information on Serafini, see: Nanerie 2006: 141‐143; Pignatti 2005: 173n; Plaisance 2004b: 181n. 118 Pignatti 2005: 173n. 119 After all, if we uphold the dating determined above, we find that between La Gigantea and La Guerra de’ Mostri only one month had passed, whereas La Nanea is anomalously dated almost two years later. 117
148 he had hurried to meet the request because he thought his poem worthy of being included in Stradino’s library: 120
Poi che io hebbi data la Nanea a chi io la detti (Stradino Honorando) voi ritrovandomi, mene chiedesti una copia; io havendovela promessa, mi disposi a ricopiarla più tosto che possibile mi fussi, per uscire più tosto che io potessi di quel’obligo, che io mi procacciai promettendovela. E così hora vel’ho mandata. Nongià per ch’io pensassi che la fussi degna di annoverarsi fra gl’altri vostri scritti, ché essendo non parto di convenevol tempo, ma sconciatura di quattro giorni el più, (come voi ben sapete) v’haresti a immaginare che cosaccia ella può essere. He also confesses that he had had every intention of providing Stradino with a copy earlier, if it had not been for someone who irritated him: ‘E alla fe’, P. S. [Padre Stradino], che io l’harei aprima giunta indirizzatalavi, se un certo che non mi havessi dato noia’. 121 Who this ‘certo’ is, we cannot be sure of. But in this dedication Serafini picks a little tenzone with Lasca. He copies Lasca’s imagery and words in order to mock his veneration of Stradino’s armadiaccio. For instance, like Lasca, he uses Berni to phrase the inevitability that all literary works find their way to Stradino’s collection: 122 Pure ‘Come van tutte l’acque all’Oceano’ secondo che il nostro Berni sollazevolmente disse. Così questa Naneria parea si struggessi, e si morissi, se al fine non veniva nelle vostre mani, dove alla fine ogn’altra poesia si riduce. In the opening sentence of his dedication, Lasca had described the same phenomenon as follows: ‘Come nè più nè meno interviene a i fiumi, i quali avvolgendosi e aggirandosi in qua e in là, in giù ed in su, si ritrovano alla fine tutti quanti in corpo all’Oceano’. 123 Could it be that Lasca had harassed Serafini, urging him to provide a copy for Stradino? And another argument seems to be fought out in Serafini’s dedication. Like Lasca, he Nanerie 2006: 180. Ibidem. 122 Ibidem. 123 Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 346. Crimi and Spila (in: Nanerie 2006: 180n) claim that Lasca in fact recaptures Serafini’s words, but the dating of both dedications shows that is impossible. 120
121
149 modestly downplays the value of his dedication to Stradino: ‘Imperò che da che io entrai in questi Nani, io ho ancora dato nel Nano, ed ho fatto un animuccio tanto piccino, et gretto, ch’ei non s’arrischiava non altro che presentarla a …. non che a voi […]’. 124 He then wonders if Stradino by any chance believes him to be brave (and stupid) enough to lay his epic at the feet of Cosimo? This question is phrased by means of a Petrarchan verse: ‘che son più salvatico che i cervi?’ 125 In doing so, Serafini seems to recall Lasca’s monster Guastatorte, whose features are defined by a similar echo of Petrarch: ‘Di cerbia ha il collo, la gola e la testa, / l’avanzo poi è tutto d’uom salvatico’. 126 If indeed Lasca had disguised Serafini in Guastatorte, it is only natural that Serafini would take up the gauntlet when he had the chance. Although these polemic references between Serafini and Lasca are somewhat indistinct, there is surely something going on. Serafini seems to have been a clever strategist. Whereas Lasca and Amelonghi were excluded from the Academy, Serafini became a member on 6 September 1548. Six months later he had the courage to provide his epic with a dedication, and to sign it ‘M.S.A.F.’, short for Michelangelo Serafini Accademico Fiorentino. Claiming an anonymous epic when you are in safe waters, would be a cowardly act that Lasca would surely scorn. Lasca must have reasoned: if you want to participate in our game, you should put your money where your mouth is, and provide Stradino with a signed copy. The polemics among them, in which Lasca picks on Serafini’s participation in the epic sequel, is a sign that Serafini, in Lasca’s view, had entered the discourse on monstrosity. As the epics were a continuation of a poetic game that started in the previous carnival seasons and as Serafini, as a co‐author of the sequel, now was a participant, to disguise him as a monster (like Amelonghi) would be a logical thing to do. The other participants are all staged as well. As the epics had been part of the provocations and colloborations between the former participants of Stradino’s tornatella, Lasca’s must have hoped that his plea to revive the Umidi would be Nanerie 2006: 180. Ibidem: 181. The quote is taken from Petrarca’s ‘Trionfo d’amore’ IV, v. 4. 126 Ottava V, vv. 249‐250, in: Grazzini 1882: 354. 124
125
150 received favourably by them as the subject matter of the battle of monsters. To the precise phrasing of his appeal I will come now. Reviving the Umidi In the canzone on the occasion of Stradino’s death (June 1549), Lasca recalls his importance to the Umidi. Stradino’s death had caused their poetical inspiration to run dry: ‘La poesia in scoglio / ha dato al fine, e gli Umidi miei tutti / per sempre rimarranno secchi e asciutti’. Lasca also fears for the fate of the ‘vezzosa tornatella’, and most of all for that of Stradino’s remarkable collections: ‘ma quel che più mi preme, / e che mi face, ardendo, esser di ghiaccio, / è il venerando mio sacro armadiaccio’. 127 Lasca’s dedication of La Guerra de’ Mostri centres on the same three aspects of Stradino’s magnetic personality: his armadiaccio, his authoritative position as a mentor and his capacity to bind and inspire the poets surrounding him (see chapter 1). These elements are the issues at stake in a literary game on the principles of an epic eulogy presented in the dedication to La Guerra de’ Mostri. As said above, Stradino is presented as a mock epic hero whose praise is sung in mock epic similes. In the case of Fra Santi Marmocchini, we have seen how the extravagant amount of these comparisons turned out to be a mocking reference to a style of reasoning current in the Fiorentina. Below we will see how the dedication, both in form and content, sets out to parody the poetic preferences of Stradino and his tornatella. With this parodic game, Lasca evokes the poetic spirit of the Umidi and makes a strong appeal to his former friends to remember what they once stood for. Lasca’s eulogy starts out with comparison between Stradino and the sun: 128 come egli è solo in cielo, voi sete solo in terra: ed è la verità; perciocchè come fra le stelle non è la maggiore nè la migliore, nè la più bella cosa di lui; così tra gli Canzone IV, vv. 59‐61, 68, 72‐74, in: Grazzini 1882: 151. Ottava V, in: Ibidem: 346. In the Libro we find the series of sonnets composed ‘per impetrar favore’ of Cosimo I, in which the duke is compared to the sun as well (by Goro della Pieve, Filippo Salvetti, Paolo Geri). See: Plaisance 2004a: 71‐73. The comparison is reiterated by Amelonghi in the letter that presents his Gigantea to Cosimo I. For a transcription, see: Plaisance 2004b: 224‐225. 127
128
151 uomini non è di voi cosa nè maggiore, nè migliore, nè più bella. Egli risplende per tutto; voi sete conosciuto in ogni parte: […]. Above, in my discussion of monster Pappalefave, I considered Stradino’s striking physical appearance and his charismatic personality. Still, in contrasting Stradino to the sun, Lasca does not only underline Stradino’s social dominancy, he also sets out to compare him to Apollo, deity of the sun, ánd god of poetry. 129
egli ha nome sole principalmente; e voi principalmente avete nome Giovanni: e se a lui vien detto Febo, Apollo e Cintio; voi sete chiamato Stradino, Crocchia e Consagrata. Lui è nominato molte volte lucerna del mondo ed occhio del cielo; voi sete chiamato spesso Pandragone e Cronaca scorretta: e se egli ha molti altri nomi, che io non vo’ dire; voi ne avete molti altri, che io mi taccio: […]. Lasca brings out the contrast between the classical designations of the sun god and Giovanni Mazzuoli’s nicknames, which are numerous and exemplified in several burlesque poems. 130 Thus Lasca equals Apollo, the ultimate personification of classical poetry, with Stradino, whose reputation as a poet should be considered along the lines of the convivial, the burlesque and the performative as I have shown in chapter 1. Therefore, as the festive and the burlesque are Stradino’s style, Lasca implicates that this type of poetry can measure up to classical poetry. After breaking a lance for the poetic reputation of Stradino, Lasca finally positions him within the Umidi culture of the early days. He depicts Stradino as the pivot of the circle of ambitious young poets: ‘e come egli è signore di Delfi e di Delo; voi sete signore di Strata e della Tornatella’. 131 Stradino’s commitment to the Umidi and his attachment to young men, were well‐known (see chapter 1). That this love was not just Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 346‐347. Lasca lists some of them in his dialogue ‘Stradino e cavalier Nano’, where Stradino introduces himself as follows: ‘Sono, al vostro piacere, / Giovan Mazzuoli, o lo Stradin da Strata, / il Crocchia, Balestraccio, o ’l Consagrata. / Così dalla brigata / con questi nomi sono, e più, chiamato’ (Ottava XI, vv. 48‐52, in: Ibidem: 13‐
14). Another recurring nickname of Stradino’s was ‘Pagamorta’. 131 Ottava V, in: Ibidem: 347. Stradino originated from Strada, a village nearby Florence. 129
130
152 platonic, is suggested by Lasca when he compares Stradino’s infatuations to Apollo’s pederastic affairs: 132 se egli fu innamorato più di quattro volte; voi sete stato innamorato più di quattordici: egli ebbe tra gli altri Ghiacinto bellissimo a meraviglia: voi aveste fra molti Gismondo bellissimo fuor di mondo: e così seguita di mano in mano e vattene là. Gismondo, presented as Stradino’s Hyacinth, was among the youngest in the circle of Umidi, and esteemed for his literary talents. 133 But most of all, he was appreciated for his beauty, as Lasca recalls. I assume he can be recognized in Monster Salvalaglio, who is young, soft and gorgeous: 134
Salvalaglio vien dopo giovinetto, un mostro veramente bello e vago, A’ di donzella i fianchi, il corpo e ’l petto, Il resto è tutto di poi di verde drago, Eccetto il volto, ch’ è d’ un Satiretto Biondo e ricciuto, ha propriamente imago di liocorno, un corno ha per ispada, E l’armadura fatta di rugiada. Gismondo was Stradino’s favourite, his ‘cucco’, as can be concluded from this dedication as well as from Lasca’s poem on the occasion of Stradino’s death, mentioned above. 135 The affection was mutual, for in an octave Lasca makes Gismondo, who was Ottava V, in: Grazzini 1882: 347. Niccolò Martelli (1546: 21) speaks of Gismondo’s talent in a letter of 1 November 1542: ‘voi ne porgete del bello ingegno vostro si nobil frutti’. And encourages him to continue ‘i studi di lettere’. 134 Ottava V, vv. 217‐224, in: Grazzini 1882: 353. 135 Canzone IV, in: Ibidem: 149. This tribute to the deceased, full of ambiguous allusions, was not very much appreciated. In a second poem on Stradino’s death (16 June 1549), Lasca relates how he has been accused of being malicious and distasteful. He opposes that his song was meant as a suitable tribute to the kind of man Stradino was: ‘bonario e stravagante’. He subsequently makes Stradino come to his defence in a dream. 132
133
153 murdered in March 1547 (s.f.), complain that, in death, he would no longer be able to see Stradino. 136 These fragments colour Stradino’s mentorship; the allusion to the Greek style pederastry suggests that his academic rapports – at least the one with Gismondo – had a erotic content. ‘Cucco’, for instance, is not just a pet name, it is a metaphor for the penis or anus as well. 137 A similar association is provided in Pappalefave, the monster I have identified as Stradino. Like every other monster, Pappalefave has his own individual way of murdering his victims. His special skill is castration. Pappalefave uses a spit to skewer fat eunuchs upon: 138 Di spada ha in vece, o di baston ferrato uno stidion, non già da beccafichi, ma da infilzare ogni grosso castrato: con questo facea gli uomini mendichi; […]. The fact that he makes his victims ‘beggars’ should be regarded in light of castration, as is playfully alluded to in the rest of the imagery. The skewer rhymes with Pappalefave’s armoury that consists of the roasted skin of a caponized cockerel: ‘ed è armato dal capo al tallone / di pelle rosolata di cappone’. 139 The ‘fave’ from ‘Pappalefave’ can also be regarded an alternative meaning for testicles. The contrast drawn between the monster’s victims (the fat eunuchs) and the small ‘beccafichi’, he chooses to ignore, seems to allude to Stradino’s pederastic preferences. Did Lasca give Pappalefave the opportunity to put his competitors out of action? Though this interpretation is not entirely unambiguous (one could also argue that in that case, Pappalefave would want to impale the young and fresh beccafichi to his skewer), the humor and ambiguity employed strongly Ottava VI, in: Grazzini 1882: 357: ‘Non già della nemica, empia e spietata, / perversa, dura e maligna mia sorte, / non già dell’Accademia iniqua e ingrata, / che a me suo fondator chiuse le porte, / ma sol mi duol ch’il mio buon Consagrata / veder non posso innanzi alla mia morte: / così disse, e serrò gli occhi Gismondo, / e di poi se n’andò nell’altro mondo’. 137 Boggione/Casalengo (1996: 266‐267) read all birds as metaphors for the penis. Toscan (1981: 1541; 1578) discusses various categories of birds and shows that they can be interpreted as penis, anus, or female genitals. 138 Ottava V, vv. 113‐116, in: Grazzini 1882: 350. 139 Ottava V, vv. 111‐112, in: Ibidem. 136
154 reminds of the imagery with which Lasca positions Stradino as a mentor among the younger poets. These capricious references to Stradino’s sexual preferences or to the common allusions to these preferences, probably used to be quite entertaining for those involved. Whether or not these allusions should be taken literally is besides the point: it merely explains the capricious and ambiguous taste of the Umidi or at least the way Lasca values their taste. He provides Stradino’s pivotal position within the tornatella with a male erotic perspective, one that can also be tasted in the polizza he once composed for Stradino: ‘Non manchi in voi quel vivo acceso amore, / ch’all’Accademia e gli Umidi portate; / ma l’alta impresa con lor seguitate, / che degno vi farà d’eterno onore’. 140 Both ‘acceso’ and ‘vivo’ have sexual connotations, implying an erection and lust for sex respectively. 141 In the dedication, Lasca depicts Stradino as the autonomous mentor and poetic inspirer of the tornatella and the Umidi, as opposed to the power‐mad academician portrayed in Pappalefave, who within the Fiorentina turns ‘dov’ è il favore’. Both in the dedication and in Pappalefave, he wittingly makes an appeal to male erotic practice within Stradino’s circle. Thus, he reminds Stradino and others involved of times that have bygone. He appeals to old bonds of friendship by recalling the nature of their past intimacy: a community that was private and secluded, and that comunicated through humour and a literary language of male erotic codes. The Sting in the Tail So far, we have established that the social function of La Guerra de’ Mostri is double: on the one hand Lasca mocks the Accademia Fiorentina; he makes fun of academic debate by referring to Marmocchini’s treatise and ridicules academicians by dressing them as grotesque, ambiguous monsters. On the other hand, as such, La Guerra de’ Mostri can be interpreted as an attempt to revive the academic culture that is at the verge of disappearing. Particularly in his dedication ‘Allo Stradino Fondatore e Padre Ottava VIII, in: Grazzini 1882: 338. On the guoco delle polizze, see chapter 1. Toscan (1981: 1658, 1768) found several examples in which ‘acceso’ refers to an erection, ‘vivo’ subsequently, often characterizes the active role in a sodomitic relationship. 140
141
155 dell’Accademia degli Umidi’, 142 at a time Stradino was actually at the verge of becoming an official ‘Padre’ of the Accademia Fiorentina, Lasca unequivocally recalls the poetic spirit of the original Accademia degli Umidi and Stradino’s tornatella. His plea was made by ambiguous references to its social customs, and by the choice of genre and subject matter held in high esteem by the tornatella and their mentor. In a way, La Guerra de’ Mostri can be regarded as the swan song of the tornatella, as it ultimately represents the poetic taste and humour of a circle that could no longer be but that remained a blueprint of Lasca’s ideal form of literary life. Up until this point humour is used effectively as a means to mask bitterness. In the tail of the epic, this changes radically. The final octaves expose Lasca’s deepest frustration about the academic change in orientation, in an unusually blunt and direct manner. Lasca leaves the safety of humour to turn to utterly grim comment. The tail of the epic represents the here and now. After the presentation of the twelve monsters, Lasca describes how they mount Heaven and take control. Once they are in heaven, they party all day, abuse their power and leave earth in scarsity and chaos.143 At this point Lasca ends his narrative of the epic battle and puts into words how much he feels threatened by his fellow academicians: 144 Or qui si potrian dir sei belle cose; ma forza m’è tener la bocca chiusa; per che certe maligne e cancherose persone poi mi fanno cornamusa: e travolgono i versi e le mie prose più stranamente, che Circe, o Medusa non fer le genti già nel tempo antico; ond’io mi taccio, e null’altro ne dico. Ottava V, vv. 257‐328, in: Grazzini 1882: 354‐356. Ottava V, vv. 321‐328, in: Ibidem. 144 Ottava V, vv. 329‐336, in: Ibidem. 142
143
156 Without humour or erotic ambiguity, Lasca bluntly formulates two charges towards the rulers of the academy. He argues his writings will be twisted in the worst way and points to the effects of censorship and standardisation. From August 1547 onwards, the censors did not only have the duty to act as the conscience for the academic community, ‘insegnando, mostrando, e aiutando in tutto quel, che per loro si può, a camminar per la buona via’. They were also allowed to burn or rip apart ‘composizioni dishoneste e malediche’ without having to tell anyone (‘senza farne parte a persona’). 145 Accordingly, Lasca condemns the loss of freedom of speech, as he is silenced both orally (‘la bocca chiusa’) and in writing (‘i versi e le mie prose’). As said, the necessity of freedom of speech was urged by the Umidi founders in their mission statement recorded in the Libro (discussed in chapter 1). 146 The reforms of 1546 and 1547, subsequently, show how this aspect of Umidian organization in particular was ruled out of the Accademia Fiorentina (see for the course of events chapter 2). As such, Lasca presents the new Fiorentina as an ultimate threat to the very being of the Accademia degli Umidi. Tellingly, these charges against the Academy are phrased without any mocking images. The only exception, the phallic ‘cornamusa’, in this fragment is used in a common idiomatic expression. 147 In the final octave of La Guerra de’ Mostri Lasca offers his epic to Stradino: 148 Ma per non far più lunga intemerata, a voi mi rivolgo or, padre Stradino, e prego voi pel vostro Consagrata, per Namo di Baviera e per Mambrino, Bareggi 1973: 559‐562, Capitolo ‘Dell’Uficio de’ Censori’. ‘E perche questa nostra accademia degli humidi e creata per passatempo vogliamo e intendiamo che la sia del tutto liBera e non uogliamo Le incomodita e inpossibilita di Persone che con questa conditione S e fondata afinche La Possa durare e che La Noia Non sia Cagione di desuiare si honesto Passatempo’ (Bartoli 1883: 204). Emphasis added. 147 ‘Diciamo in proverbio. E’ mi vuol far cornamusa, cioè: E’ mi vuol dare ad intendere cosa non credibile, o stravagante, detto da quel gonfiare, che si fa il sacchetto delle cornamuse, perciocchè GONFIARE diciamo metaforicamente, per dare ad intendere, e simile, INZAMPOGNARE, tolto dalla zampogna. Morg. Rinaldo il volea pur far cornamusa, D’ un certo sogno trovava sua scusa’. See: Il primo vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (1612) See: http://vocabolario.signum.sns.it/_s_index2.html [last accessed: 3 February 2009]. 148 Ottava V, vv. 345‐352, in: Grazzini 1882: 356. 145
146
157 per l’ Accademia, che vi fu rubata, per l’anima di Buovo paladino, che voi abbiate cura a questo, intanto ch’io compongo e riscrivo l’altro canto. The key verse in this octave is the fifth line, in which Lasca makes his plea to Stradino ‘in name of the Academy that was stolen from him’. Though a bit hidden among the evocations of epic heroes, the accusation is put quite uncompromisingly. In the Guerra’s stinging tail, there is no sign of prudence in Lasca’s direct and serious address of the critical changes made in the Academy. After the Expulsion After his banishment from the ranks of the Fiorentina on 11 August, Lasca does not seem to have felt at ease in Florence. He expresses his feelings of isolation in several poems written from the countryside. It is unknown if Lasca attended the reading of the new capitoli to hear with his own ears that his name did not appear on the list of members of the newly founded Fiorentina, but when the Arno flooded on 13 August, he was certainly in the campagna. 149 In October he was again (or: still) in exile when he stayed at Gli Osoli, Lionardo della Fonte’s villa. Four poems testify to this sojourn. In a capitolo to Lionardo degli Organi, Lasca tells how he entertains himself with hunting 149 This can be concluded from a letter to Bartolomeo Bettini dated the 20th, in which Lasca says that at the time of the inundation he was at Lorenzo degli Organi’s villa in the presence of Lorenzo Scala and Andrea Lori, see: Grazzini 1911: 161‐167. 158 birds and other games until ‘l’Accademia si sveleni’. 150 A second capitolo to Degli Organi shows his desperation more pressingly: 151 L’Animuccia e Lionardo, borbottando, se n’andorno a Firenze, ed io restai solo e pensoso e d’uccellare in bando. […] Or d’un sogno, ch’io feci, indiavolato, vi volea dar avviso, ma non posso, tanto sono interrotto e molestato. A sonnet to Luca Martini makes clear that Lasca did not choose to live in isolation. In Lionardo della Fonte’s villa, he particularly misses the friendships of those who used to gather in the Della Fonte family house in the city (see the Interlude): 152 Così ’n un punto ho persi quanti piacer potessi aver nel mondo: e son giù rovinato nel profondo. Lo Stradino e Gismondo, lo Scala, il Varchi, voi e ’l vostro Antonio mi fuggirete a guisa di demonio. And in a sonnet to Simone della Volta he reproaches him for not sending news from Florence to Gli Osoli, nor paying him a visit: 153
150 Plaisance 2004b: 199; Capitolo XLI, vv. 82‐84, in: Grazzini 1882: 592: ‘Così mi sto, menando i dì sereni / col mio Lionardo, a Ghiosoli, dabbene / tanto che l’Accademia si sveleni.’ Several texts Lasca wrote from the countryside show that the Florentine affairs of that Summer haunted him. The fact that the Turk appears twice in different contexts is illustrative in this respect, both in the capitolo to Lorenzo degli Organi as in the letter to Bettini Lasca speaks of him. The poem reads: ‘E per ch’io so come voi state a punto, / sete in un certo mo’ da più di loro, / gustando il vino e saporando l’unto. / Ma per ch’io non paressi Turko, o Moro, / quest’è un verbigrazia, un vie di dire, / che nella poesia vale un tesoro’ (Capitolo XLI, vv. 19‐24, in: Ibidem: 591). The letter to Bettini speaks of the flooded Arno that dragged so much litter ‘che io credo che più di un anno basterebbe a dar mangiare a tutta la cavalleria del Turko’ (Grazzini 1911: 161‐167). 151 Capitolo XLII, vv. 49‐51, 55‐57, in: Grazzini 1882: 594. 152 Sonetto LXXI, vv. 15‐21, in: Ibidem: 58. 153 Sonetto LXX, in: Ibidem: ‘Io voleva da voi cento ragguagli’ (v. 13). He reproaches Della Volta for not visiting him: ‘Credete voi, che agli Osoli sia il morbo, / o di qualche malaccio l’aria infetta?’ (vv. 5‐6), and to 159 Ma che forse in oblio m’avete posto e lasciatomi in asso da poi ch’io son dell’Accademia casso? It would seem that Lasca’s opposition to the reforms, epitomized by the appearance of La Guerra de’ Mostri, had caused him serious trouble. But whether or not his visits to the campagna had the character of a flight, the fragments above show that after his expulsion from the ranks of the Accademia Fiorentina, Lasca felt he had to make up the account of his friendships. Burlesque poets walked a thin line between tightening and breaking social bonds, and in the case of La Guerra de’ Mostri, Lasca stepped on the wrong side of it. His aim was to appeal to the tornatella’s common spirit, the result was that he lost the friendship of several of its members. Such was the case, it seems, with Stradino and Gismondo. Varchi on the other hand, who in a letter to Aretino (1548) complained to have been left in the Academy in the company of Martelli and Pazzi, and without those he actually liked, may not have been lost for Lasca. 154 Nonetheless, he seems to have felt like an outcast. But Lasca lost something else in August 1547 ‐ and this may have isolated him even more than the loss of friendships. The most painful sacrifice of his adherence to the spirit of the Umidi was the loss of a regular platform for academic debate and poetic performances. From this moment on, Lasca worked hard to find himself a new literary circle, a process that did not gain speed until the early 1560s when the Aramei were long gone and his own standing had changed considerably. But is was not until he founded the Accademia della Crusca that he truly saw the opportunity to
revive the Umidi.
put him off with thin excuses: ‘E se voi non avete de’ cavagli, / che voi non ne vogliate è manifesto, / avendo voi denar a comperargli’ (vv. 9‐11). 154 Pirotti 1971: 29; Plaisance 2004b: 197‐198. 160 Chapter 4 Towards Academic Reintegration. Pastoral Friendships in the Villa Poems (1560s)∗
On 5 May 1566, at the age of 61, Lasca was formally elected a member of the Accademia Fiorentina. 1 He thus re‐entered the Academy from which he had been banned for almost twenty years. After his exclusion in 1547 he had worked hard to find his way back in, but only in the 1560s did he manage to enter a social circuit that would secure his cultural reintegration. The isolation he had sensed in the fall of 1547 by then no longer existed. To further his newfound social and cultural rehabilitation, in the early 1560s, Lasca developed a poetic strategy that turned out to be quite effective. Through burlesque humour and entertainment not only did he create cohesion in a group of young men that gathered in the Florentine campagna, but also stabilized his own position as a poet of senior reputation. This poetic support of his renewed cultural position turned out to be so fruitful that this entire ‘villa circle’ could enter the Accademia Fiorentina as a whole. ∗
This chapter presents a reworked and extended version of Werner 2007a. Annali, III, c. 19. 1
161 Readmission to the Fiorentina (1566) Lasca was re‐admitted to the Accademia Fiorentina by appealing to regulations laid down in 1549, which stated that anyone excluded in 1547 should be allowed to re‐enter on censorial approval of a literary work. To this purpose, Lasca submitted La prima parte delle opere pastorali, a collection of ten ecloghe, to which censor Giovanni Battista Adriani and consul Lionardo Salviati added their consent on the first of May 1566. 2 Four days later, Salviati affirmed the decision in the Annali: ‘E cosi venne rimesso nel Accademia il Lasca inviato alla Riforma de’ 6 di Giugno 1549 […] Lionardo Salviati consolo’. 3 Various scholars have considered Lasca’s friendship with Salviati, consul of the Academy in 1566, to be the main cause for his academic reintegration. Pignatti shows that Salviati and Lasca were acquainted from at least as early as 1562, when Lasca was one of the authors in a series of satirical sonnets against Jacopo Corbinelli, Salviati’s arch‐enemy. 4 Peter Brown, Salviati’s biographer, has described Lasca’s influence on the younger Salviati’s playwriting, demonstrating their shared interest in comic theory. 5 In Brown’s opinion, reinstating Lasca was the first significant deed of Salviati’s term as a consul, a deed that bore testimony to a determined as well as courageous character. To underscore the consul’s courage, Brown stresses how Lasca had found himself in an isolated position ever since his expulsion in the 1540s. 6 Other scholars have played down Brown’s view by suggesting that Lasca’s reinstatement was not merely caused by the personal favouritism of a consul, but was rather the formal confirmation of a process of social and cultural reintegration that had set in during the preceding years. Michel Plaisance has shown that from 1559 onwards Lasca established relations with various branches of the Medici family, in particular with For the autograph of the eclogues and the included approval and signatures of Adriani and Salviati, see: BNCF, Magl. VII, 1240; for a description of this manuscript, see: Grazzini 1882: LVII‐LVIII; For a study of Lasca’s pastoral poetry, including the ecloghe, see: Pignatti 2009 (forthcoming). 3 Annali, III, c. 19. 4 Pignatti 2002: 38. For Lasca’s poems, see: Un coro di male lingue 1905: 15‐17. For a description of Salviati’s quarrel with Corbinelli, see: Brown 1974: 29‐39. 5 Ibidem: 106‐125. 6 Ibidem: 106‐108. 2
162 Francesco I, to whom Lasca dedicated his Tutti i trionfi. 7 Furthermore, both Plaisance and Franco Pignatti have suggested that Lasca’s alliance with Raffaello de’ Medici during the early 1560s was instrumental in this process as well. 8 Domenico Zanrè, too, has argued that through his love poems to Raffaello, Lasca sought to forge an alliance with a new generation of prominent Florentines, thus securing his cultural rehabilitation. 9 Indeed my own findings confirm that Raffaello occupied a central position as the patron of a relatively cohesive circle of literary men in the 1560s, in which Lasca was the senior poet with the status of a mentor. In the course of the 1560s, this literary circle became of increasing interest to the members of the Accademia Fiorentina and played a vital part in the process of Lasca’s social and cultural reintegration. To establish and maintain the bonds within this group, Lasca composed many poems that show strong thematic similarities. These poems are under discussion in this chapter. I propose to call them Lasca’s ‘villa poems’. The Villa Poems In Lasca’s villa poems, we can both trace the outlines of the circle around Raffaello de’ Medici in the early 1560s and the poetic strategies Lasca adopted to strengthen the ties within the group. 10 Several villas figure repeatedly as the sites where the poems were written and where the group met and amused themselves. The central position of the Medici villa Ligliano is striking in the poems featuring Raffaello. The poems dedicated to (or featuring) the hitherto unknown Giovanni Bini, give prominence to Le Rose, the villa of Giovanbattista Cini. Other villas that may have been a meeting place but are less Plaisance 2005b: 145. Ibidem; Pignatti 2002: 37‐38. 9 Zanrè 2004: 70‐78. 10 The poems I consider to be part of the group of villa poems are the following (the addressees and subjects are between brackets): Sonetti XIX (Benedetto Varchi), LXXXVII‐XCII (Lorenzo de’ Medici, Lutozzo Nasi, Ridolfo), CXXVIII‐CXXXI (Giovanni Bini); Madrigali XXIV‐XXV, XXIX (Tobia); Madrigalesse XII‐XIII (Bastiano Antinori, Giovanni Bini, Ulivo), XIV (Piero Bini), XLII (Piero Fagiuoli, Bini, Cini); Ottave XI (Lutozzo Nasi), XVII (Bastiano [Antinori], Salviati); Capitoli XII (Giovanni Bini, Cini). All numbers are based on: Grazzini 1882. Furthermore there is a group of poems I have not studied closely, that may also be counted among the villa poems: Sonetti XCIII‐XCVI (Bernardo Ulivi, Ridolfo, Tobia); Madrigalesse IX (Vincenzo Buonanni?); Ottave X (Lutozzo Nasi), XXVII (Odoardo Belfratelli, Ridolfo, Lutozzo Nasi, Eufrosino Lapini); Capitoli XI, XIII (Salviati?, Lutozzo Nasi), LII (Piero Fagiuoli). 7
8
163 prominent in the poetry were I Tattoli, villa of the Bini family, 11 Benedetto Varchi’s La Topaia, and a villa owned by the obscure Lutozzo Nasi. 12 Zanrè dates Lasca’s poems to Raffaello between 1560 and 1565/1566. Since Raffaello got married and obtained a public function in 1565 or 1566, as of these years he became less available to Lasca and the villa guests. 13 Plaisance furthermore dates the poems on Ligliano addressed to Lorenzo de’ Medici and Bastiano Antinori in the early 1560s. 14 Considering the thematic coherence within the cluster, I assume that the other poems on Raffaello and Ligliano should be dated in the same period, as do the poems on Cini’s Le Rose. This dating evidently links the cluster to the years preceding Lasca’s readmission to the Academy. A sonnet written by Lasca when he was visiting Cini’s villa Le Rose, in San Lorenzo alle Rose, a small hamlet in the hills near Impruneta, is a typical example of a villa poem. 15 Addressed to Giovanni Bini, this sonnet not only provides us with one of Lasca’s rather obscure contacts within the group centered around Raffaello de’ Medici, it also yields information about the various factors that shaped the group’s identity. In the poem, Lasca urges Bini to join him at Cini’s villa at once: 16
Noi vi aspettiam, messer Giovanni mio, come sapete, in luogo ampio ed adorno e ricco e lieto fuor, dentro e d’intorno, Giovanbatista vostro, Cini ed io. Venite a contentar nostro disio, senza far dove sete più soggiorno, chè mille volte vi chiamiamo il giorno: This fifteenth‐century villa is situated in the hills of San Casciano, and has remained in possession of the Binis until this very day, see: http://www.itattoli.it [last accessed: 3 February 2009]. 12 Lasca wrote an octave ‘Su la porta della villa di M. Lutozzo Nasi’, see: Ottava XI, in: Grazzini 1882: 359. I have not been able to locate this villa. 13 Zanrè 2004: 73. 14 Plaisance 2005: 21n. 15 On Villa le Rose (also called Torre alle rose), see: Carocci 1907: vol. 2, 309‐310; Lensi Orlandi Cardini 1954: 115. 16 Sonetto CXXX, in: Grazzini 1882: 105. 11
164 venite tosto per l’amor di Dio. Venite via, chè mille e mille onori, or ch’è l’aer benigno e temperato, qua vi faran le ninfe ed i pastori. Venite via, chè voi sete aspettato e dalle piante e dall’erbe e da i fiori, quasi che ognun di voi sia innamorato. Or se cortese e grato ascolti il ciel nostre preci amorose, venite tosto a vederci alle Rose. The prominent role of the campagna is, of course, an important aspect of these villa poems. As we shall see, the prominence of villeggiatura in the group’s gatherings invited the adoption of pastoral elements in the poems. The sonnet to Bini, however, also shows a playful use of the conventions of courtly love poetry. Both literary models are at some points subverted, and undermined with an erotic double meaning. In order to analyse the role of the villa poems in the process of Lasca’s reintegration in the Florentine academic circuit up to 1566, I will first draw the outlines of his villa circle based on both the poems and archival sources. Secondly, I will analyse the poems’ contents, which, I will argue, show how Lasca created intimate and humorous entertainment for the villa guests. The Villa Circle Apart from the Medici scion Raffaello, Giovanbattista Cini, and Giovanni Bini, several other men of greater and lesser consequence appear to have gathered in the countryside on a regular basis. While the poems referring to Le Rose focus exclusively on Bini or Cini, as if they were the only ones present, at Ligliano a larger crowd appears to have attended. In the villa poems, a number of obscure and unidentifiable figures make their appearance: we get to meet a certain Tobia, Zebe, Maso, Lutozzo Nasi and Piero 165 Fagiuoli. But we also encounter Cini and Giovanni Bini in Raffaello’s presence. Furthermore some well‐known academicians and public figures as Lorenzo de’ Medici, Eufrosino Lapini, Bastiano Antinori and Lionardo Salviati stayed at the Medici villa. 17 Giovanni’s brother Piero Bini is the addressee of a madrigal on the Bini villa, I Tattoli. 18 The son of Francesco di Raffaello di Giuliano de’ Medici, Raffaello de’ Medici (1543‐1629) was a descendant of a powerful Medici line. He studied at the university of Pisa and was married to Costanza di Piero di Ludovico Alamanni in 1565 or 1566. In 1565 he was elected a member of the Balìa of the Military Order of the Knights of Saint Stephan, and in 1572 he made it to the rank of admiral. 19 Villa Ligliano came into Raffaello’s possession on 27 April 1549, when he was only five or six years old, and he remained the owner until his death. The villa, which may have been built as early as the thirteenth century, is situated near the Valle d’Ema, in Antella. 20
Lasca’s acquaintance with Raffaello probably dates from as early as 1561, when Raffaello was only eighteen years old. In this year Lasca’s comedy La Spiritata was performed in the house of Bernadetto de’ Medici during the carnival festivities, and when the play was published, Lasca dedicated it to Raffaello. 21 Besides this comedy, Lasca dedicated many poems to Raffaello, among which the well‐known capitolo ‘In lode del bagnarsi in Arno’. 22 Furthermore, he sang the praise of Raffaello in a series of poems in the name of Narcissus and composed an unfinished (and lost) chivalric epic on knight 17 On Lorenzo di Galeotto di Lorenzo de’ Medici, cavaliere and canonico del Duomo, see: Plaisance 2005: 20. Plaisance describes how Lasca, on 15 October 1562, wrote a letter to Benedetto Varchi telling that Lorenzo de’ Medici invited him to Pieve de San Pancrazio. He stressed the cavaliere’s affection for literary men, and for poets in particular. On Eufrosino Lapini, see: Plaisance 2005e: 310‐311. Lapini, a Florentine priest, was a member of the Fiorentina from 1560 onwards. Plaisance associates Lapini with a circle of intellectuals that also included Cini and that was frequented by Lasca after 1566. Lapini’s appearance at Ligliano, however, seems to indicate that their acquaintance was from a prior date. Lapini’s alleged alliance with Raffaello de’ Medici can also be supported by the fact that Lapini dedicated Stanze sopra la dignità dell’uomo to him in 1566. As Plaisance has pointed out, Lasca mocks Lapini in a series of sonnets. In one of them, he refers to the discussion on comedy. On Bastiano Antinori, see: Salvini 1717: 250. Antinori was consul of the Fiorentina in 1565, with Benedetto Varchi and Lionardo Salviati as his counselors. 18 Madrigalessa XIV, in: Grazzini 1882: 269. 19 Zanrè 2004: 72‐73; Plaisance 2005e: 309n. 20 On Ligliano, see: Carocci 1907: vol. 2, 153‐154; Lensi Orlandi Cardini 1954: 46. 21 Pignatti 2002: 37‐38; Plaisance 2005d: 306. 22 Capitolo X, in: Grazzini 1882: 491‐495. 166 Ruggier da Risa, which he intended to dedicate to Raffaello. 23 On top of this, Lasca wrote the villa poems that eulogize Raffaello’s villa Ligliano. Lasca treasured his acquaintance with the young Raffaello. Though Zanrè stresses the fact that Lasca ‘seems to have been particularly captivated by his charms and good looks’, 24 the most obvious reasons for his devotion were his desire to raise his social standing on the one hand, and the conditions Raffaello provided, as a patron, to the functioning of the villa circle on the other. Raffaello, of course, benefited in a rather different way from the relationship with a eulogizing poet who was forty years his senior. Pignatti’s suggestion that Lasca, Stradino‐like, may have taken on the role of a mentor is probably close to the truth. 25 In contrast with Raffaello, Giovanni Bini and his brother Piero have been virtually unheard of so far. 26 Their father Piero, who was born in Florence in 1486 as the son of Giovanni Bini, lived several years in France for reasons of business, but returned to Florence, where he married in 1533. After his wife had died that same year, he soon re‐married the widow of his cousin Giovanni di Bernardo: Ginevra di Luca Ubertini. She was the mother of Giovanni and Piero. After the death of Piero the elder in 1551, his children were left under the guardianship of their mother Ginevra, her brother Lorenzo and Giuliano di Piero Capponi. 27
The Bini family was a Florentine family of considerable esteem and with some powerful alliances. Through their uncle Bernardo Bini and his sons in particular, the Bini brothers were allied to the Medici family. 28 23 The Narcissus poems were published in 1860 and 1877 as I Narcisi. Madrigali sopra un giovane inteso per Narciso, see: Plaisance 2005e: 309; On the epic Ruggier da Risa, see: Plaisance 2005d: 305‐307. 24 Zanrè 2004: 73. 25 Pignatti 2002: 38. 26 The biographies of their father Piero and uncle Bernardo contain only limited biographical information on Giovanni and Piero. Thorough research in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze might yield more specifics. The two brothers were not the only Binis among Lasca’s acquaintances. In his Primo libro delle opere burlesche, some capitoli are included of a certain ‘messer Bino’. In all probability, this Bino is Giovan Francesco Bini. Born in Florence, Giovan Francesco lived in Rome, in close acquaintance with Francesco Berni. Furthermore, Lasca wrote several poems to a certain Antonio Bini, among which the two well‐known poems ‘contro le sberrettate’, see: Madrigalessa XLVI, in: Grazzini 1882: 319‐321; Ottava CVIII, in: Ibidem: 436‐440. A third poem to Antonio Bini is: Ottava XLVII, in: Ibidem: 392‐393. I have not been able to trace biographical information on Antonio Bini. 27 Luzzati 1968b: 518. 28 Luzzati 1968a: 503‐506; for the genealogical tree of this branch of the Bini family, see: BNCF, Poligrafo Gargani 312, c. 128: ‘Bini Quartiere di S. Spirito’. 167 Like Lasca and his brothers, and most probably the Cinis also, the Bini family lived in the Florentine Quartiere di Santo Spirito. All three families are registered as residents of the same popolo, that of the San Felice in Piazza, a small church in the Via Romana. 29 Significantly, the unknown Lutozzi Nasi also lived there. 30 The Bini family was quite prominent in this quartiere, to such an extent that in the sixteenth century the entire zone was called ‘i Bini’. 31 Even today, the San Felice in Piazza houses a family altar, which includes an early fifteenth‐century altarpiece and the family arms of the Bini family dating back to the same period. 32 In the sixteenth‐century, the family owned several houses in the Via Romana, as well as the Oratorio di San Sebastiano also known as Oratorio dei Bini, near the San Felice in Piazza. 33 The acquaintances in Lasca’s villa poems are probably rooted in chats in the tiny Piazza San Felice after church‐attendance or in a short walk to the larger Piazza Santo Spirito. However that may be, charting the community in the Quartiere di Santo Spirito suggests that the villa gatherings were to a considerable extent a neighbourly affair. Piero and Giovanni were born in the second half of the 1530s. 34 So when they gathered in the villas, the elder Bini brother was in his early twenties. In the years up to 1566, Giovanni and Piero probably started to mingle in the Florentine cultural scene. See: Meloni Trkulja 1991. In this facsimile edition of the register of the Florentine census of 1562 we find the rede di Piero di Giovanni Bini (9v), father of Giovanni and Piero, and the offspring of ‘Grazino d’ Anto Grazinj’ (16) registered as parts of the popolo di S. Felice in piazza. The rede di Francesco Cini is also registered in this popolo (17v). Though Cini’s father was named Francesco as well, it is by no means certain that Cini’s household would be referred to in this manner, since he died before Cini came to Florence in 1548. According to Rodini (1970: 3), Lasca was born on the Via delle caldaie in the Santo Spirito quarter as the firstborn of Grazzino d’Antonio Grazzini. Plaisance (2005: 14) has recently shown that Lasca and his brothers probably lived in the Via delle Caldaie only from 1532 onwards. The house still exists today and can be recognised by a small commemoration plaque referring to its most famous inhabitant. It is now in possession of the parish of the San Felice in Piazza, the church that is only a few footsteps away taking the Via de’ Preti, opposite the Grazzini mansion. 30 For a reference to Nasi, see: Meloni Trkulja 1991: c. 5: ‘Rede di Lutozzo Nasi’. 31 Pedone 2002: 23. 32 For the stemma, see: Meoni 1993: 132, 141. On the altarpiece, see: Ibidem: 56‐57 and Tavola X. 33 Uncle Bernardo in particular was an influential man. On his importance to the Oratorio, see: Ibidem: 178, 195n; and Pedone 2002: 22‐23. 34 Luzzati 1968b: 518. We cannot be sure about the brothers’ dates of birth, but considering the marriages and death of father Piero, estimations can be done. Piero’s first wive died within a year of their marriage in 1533. If we assume that he married their mother Ginevra in 1534, the earliest possible year of birth for Giovanni or Piero could have been 1535. We should also bear in mind that the children were left in the tutelage of their mother and other relatives in 1551, which suggests their minority at that time. 29
168 Apparently, during this period their contacts with the poet Lasca ‐ their neighbour ‐ intensified. As in the case of Raffaello, Lasca might have taken up the role of mentor, introducing the brothers to his friends and familiarizing them with the poetic genres and discourses in contemporary cultural Florence. The participation of Giovanni and Piero in cultural and literary life, however, is scarcely documented. What we do know belongs to the debate on comedy. The above‐ mentioned madrigal to Piero Bini on I Tattoli, the Bini family villa, suggests that Piero had an interest in the theoretical discussion on comedy. In the madrigal, Lasca mocks the name of the villa: ‘Tattoli ricordare, o forte o piano, / nome gli par di un paesaccio strano’. 35 Lasca refers to Ligliano and Le Rose to indicate what name he himself would choose for a villa (‘Il contrario è Ligliano, / le Rose, o Calenzano’) and subsequently explains his objections to the word ‘Tattoli’: it cannot be easily used in literature: ‘per che Tattoli poi, se ben si stima, / mal si può dire in prosa, e peggio in rima’. 36 The question whether comedy should be written in prose or verse was a hot topic among Florentine playwrights. Lasca preferred prose, which, he argued, best approached the Florentine spoken in the streets, but others stuck to verse, according to the classical tradition. 37 The first indication of Piero’s interest in this debate can be found in this criticism of the pronunciation of the Bini villa’s name. Though subtle, this hint was likely to be picked up, especially in combination with the end of the madrigal. As Lasca urges Piero to decide on a new name for the family mansion, he suggests: 38
mettete tutti i mezzi, per che ’l Buonanni Greco la sbattezzi, ed un nome gli trovi per avante bello, chiaro, gentile, alto e sonante, […] e che stia bene in prosa e meglio in versi. Madrigalessa XIV, vv. 9‐10, in: Grazzini 1882: 269. Madrigalessa XIV, vv. 11‐12, 13‐14, in: Ibidem. 37 For Lasca’s ideas on playwriting, see: Brown 1974: 106‐125. 38 Madrigalessa XIV, vv. 18‐21, 26, in: Grazzini 1882: 269. 35
36
169 Here, the issue is raised whether a modern, national comic form should either replace the classical tradition or depend on it. Vincenzo Buonanni (‘Buonanni Greco’) is best known for his comment of Dante’s Inferno in the 1570s and his involvement in reforming the Florentine language in the late 1550s. 39 Obviously, Buonanni’s reputation as a language reformer inspired Lasca’s suggestion that Buonanni should rename the villa (‘sbattezzi’). Still, for Lasca, the questione della lingua apparently was not an isolated debate, as he links Buonanni’s preoccupation with language reforms to comedy writing in several poems. 40 The same pattern underlies this madrigal. Since Lasca addressed Piero on this matter, we can assume that he took an interest in the discussions on comedy. Lasca’s suggestion that Piero should pick a name that could compete with those of villas held in such high esteem by ‘gli amici’ 41 indicates that the villa circle as a whole was interested in the theatrical debate. Giovanni’s involvement in this debate is suggested by Girolamo Razzi’s comedy La Balia (reprinted in 1564). Razzi’s printer Filippo Giunti added a prefatory letter to this play (dated 15 March 1560), addressed ‘Al molto Magn. M. Giovanni di Piero Bini suo osservandissimo’. 42 Giunti asks Giovanni to be the guardian of the comedy, not only because he regards Giovanni as ‘cortese e gentile’, but in particular because he expects the play will appeal to him: ‘E avverrà forse ancora, se io non sono ingannato, che non vi farà discaro, che la sia conosciuta per cosa vostra’. When in his introduction Razzi subsequently discusses the purpose of La Balia and the nature of comedy in general, he takes an active stance in the debate by stressing the pedagogic value attributed to comedy in the classical tradition. The fact that Giunti dedicated the play with its theoretically biased introduction to Giovanni Bini seems an indication of the latter’s involvement in the debate on comedy. Ballistreri 1972: 144‐145. See for instance: Ottava XCII, in: Grazzini 1882: 422. In this poem Buonanni is equated with Florentine comedy writers such as Salviati, Cini, Cecchi, Lotto and Lasca himself. A collection of Lasca’s burlesque poetry on comedy is to be found as an appendix to Commedie del Cinquecento (1959: vol. I, 1056‐1070). 41 Madrigalessa XIV, v. 17, in: Grazzini 1882: 269. 42 Razzi 1564: I‐II. 39
40
170 Though the Binis’ actual participation in the Florentine literary circuit is merely hinted at in Lasca’s madrigal and Razzi’s La Balia, the literary merits of the Bini brothers ‐ whether in actual literary production or through their connections within the literary circuit ‐ must have been substantial, for according to the Annali of the Fiorentina, both Piero and Giovanni were elected members in 1566. The date of their admission is remarkable: both men were nominated on 22 April, and their election was approved on 5 May, during the same meeting at which Lasca was reinstated. 43 This fact may be indicative of the tight connection between Lasca and the Bini brothers. As for Raffaello de’ Medici: his election to the Fiorentina came through in this very same period. He was nominated on 20 April and elected to be a member the day after. 44 Thus, Piero, Giovanni, Raffaello and Lasca entered the Accademia Fiorentina within two weeks’ time, a fact that is suggestive of the cohesion of their circle. It also illustrates the interest the Academy took in them as a group. They profiled themselves as a circle of significance, and as such were they admitted. The joint entrance in the Academy of Lasca, Piero and Giovanni, was not entirely consul Salviati’s doing. Raffaello, once he became a member, was an important ally as well. But we should not forget that Lasca’s connection with Cini (1528 [1529 stile pisano] – 1586) would also have favoured it. The Bini bothers, as special friends of both Cini and Lasca, may have profited from this particular alliance as well. Cini had been an active member of the Fiorentina from at least as early as August 1547, when his name was recorded in the membership roll. 45 Cini was not yet twenty years old then, but his youthful age did not prevent his active participation. He owed his considerable social standing partly to the protection of the duke. Since Cini was orphaned from his Pisan parents at a young age, Cosimo I had him brought to Florence in 1540 to be raised and educated there. 46 Most of Cini’s literary work was the result of his alliance with the Annali, III, c. 19. Ibidem, c. 18v. 45 Bareggi 1973: 551. 46 Franceschini 1981: 608. 43
44
171 Medici, and composed in honour of the family. 47 His first comedy, La Vedova (1569), for instance, was written on the occasion of the entrance of Archduke Charles of Austria to Florence. His second, Il Baratto (1577), was occasioned by the birth of Francesco de’ Medici’s son. 48 Besides these theatrical works Cini worked on Cosimo’s biography, Vita del serenissimo signor Cosimo de’ Medici Primo Gran Duca di Toscana, which was published only after Cini’s death, in 1611. 49 Though Cini never reached the higher positions of the academic magistrature, his powerful acquaintances made him an influential player within the Academy. In 1566, the year of Lasca’s return, he was even nominated consul, but Salviati defeated him. 50
The connection between Cini and Lasca can be traced back to 1559, when Lasca included Cini’s ‘Canto de’ venti’ in Tutti i trionfi, carri, mascheaate [sic] o canti carnascialeschi. 51 Their contact seems to have been enduring, with various moments of cooperation and expressions of mutual respect. 52 Relevant to my argument and significant with respect to Lasca’s readmission to the Fiorentina, is the co‐operation between Lasca and Cini during the festivities of Francesco I de’ Medici’s wedding in 1565. Cini was responsible for the composition of the six intermezzi in La Cofanaria, the comedy by Francesco d’Ambra that was performed during the nozze on 26 December 1565 in the Sala Grande in the Palazzo Vecchio. It was a huge success. 53 An anonymous writer, probably Domenico Mellini, instantly published a description of the event at Giunti’s: Descrizione dell’apparato della comedia et intermedii d’essa, thus cutting the ground Cini 1953: 11. La Vedova was published at Giunti’s in 1569. See for a modern edition of the comedy: Cini 1953. Il Baratto remained unpublished in its own time; for a modern edition see: Cini 1972. 49 Franceschini 1981: 611. 50 Annali, III, c. 15v. 51 Cini 1559: 229‐230. 52 An example of their continued alliance is their shared interest in the matter of the censorship and the rewriting of Boccaccio’s Decamerone in the 1570s. In a letter to Vincenzo Borghini Cini says he forwarded the former’s ‘notizie del povero Boccaccio’ to ‘Grazino a Staggia’, demonstrating how he valued Lasca’s opinion. See: ‘Var. lettere scritte a Monsig.n Borghini dal Maestro del Sacro Palazza sopra la correzione delle Novelle del Boccaccio, e di altri sopra altre materie’, in: BNCF, Magl. VIII, 1393, c. 71. Lasca’s involvement in Cini’s projects, on the other hand, is evident in several poems. See: Ottave LXXVIII‐LXXIX, in: Grazzini 1882: 415 and Ottava XXX, in: Ibidem: 378. 53 Franceschini 1981: 609. 47
48
172 from under Cini’s feet. 54 The latter immediately reacted. He had his own text printed and asked Lasca to edit it. This edition of D’Ambra’s Cofanaria was published by Torrentino and Pettinari. It contained a foreword by a certain Alessandro Ceccherelli, dated 15 January 1566 (1565 s.f.), and a dedication to Francesco de’ Medici by Antonfrancesco Grazzini. It also contains a fascicoletto of Cini’s intermezzi by Lasca and a dedication in his name to Francesco de’ Medici. 55 Since this edition was delivered in mid‐January, only a few months prior to Lasca’s readmission to the Fiorentina, the close collaboration with Cini in the preceding months most likely was of influence on his return. The Fiorentina Annali offer some support for this hypothesis, as they record how Lasca, in the three years following his reinstatement, as an elezionario nominated Cini for key positions during academic elections. In January 1567 (1566 s.f.) he proposed Cini as a candidate for the consulate, the following year for a censorship, and in 1569 (1568 s.f.) he once again put him forward to be consul. 56 None of these nominations proved to be successful, but they do suggest that Lasca wanted to repay Cini for his services. Lasca’s villa poems featuring Raffaello and Giovanni Bini provide the outlines of a small community. Combined with evidence from the Academy’s Annali, they draw a picture of a cohesive circle of Florentine letterati that became of interest to the Fiorentina. The successive admission to the Academy of Lasca and his young friends from well‐established families, all in one way or another related to the Medici, can hardly be a coincidence. Furthermore, they seem to have shared an interest in the debate on comedy. This is at least safe to say for Lasca and Cini, but the Bini brothers were probably involved as well. Since this debate on comedy was of special interest to consul Salviati, and had also been a recurrent issue in the Fiorentina during the 1560s, we may conclude that the academicians expected Lasca’s villa circle to contribute specifically to this academic discourse. Lasca wrote three octaves mocking Mellini, see: Ottave LXXV‐LXXVII, in: Grazzini 1882: 414. Franceschini 1981: 609. Lasca’s rendering of the intermezzi can be found in any edition of La Cofanaria, see for instance: BNCF, Palat. 12.5.3.5 (1750) or Palat. 2.9.2.33 (1593). 56 Annali, III, cc. 22v, 26, 27v. 54
55
173 Pastoral Perfection In the 1560s, Lasca established an alliance with a new generation that was unbiased by his controversial reputation in the past. He used his poetry to further these connections. Zanrè points out how Lasca, in his love poetry to Raffaello, adopted the conventions of courtly love for the gentildonna and Petrarchan lyric poetry to ‘the deliberate deployment of a homoerotic canvas’. Furthermore, he stresses the importance of literature for the consolidation or creation of male bonds in the early modern period. ‘[T]he language of male friendship’, he asserts, employed a passionate and intimate rhetoric. These expressions of male friendship were exchanged in letters and in poetry, as various scholars have pointed out. Opinions differ however on the extent to which this homoerotic language was a sign of actual sodomitic relationships, but it is clear that love poetry was an important means to strengthen male bonds and to shape a group identity. 57 In Lasca’s villa poems Petrarchan elements function in a similar way; Lasca appropriated the conventions of love poetry to strengthen the cohesion of the villa circle. In a poem to Giovanni Bini, for instance, the addressee, like Raffaello, is presented as the speaker’s object of desire. Despite Lasca’s repeated requests, Giovanni had not yet arrived in Cini’s villa, and Lasca begs him to come soon, clearly exploiting the conventions of courtly love in his plea: ‘Ma io vi scuso; che sete lontano, / e forse ancor che non son capitate / le lettere e i sonetti in vostra mano’. 58 An even more evident model for the villa poems, however, was the pastoral genre. Lasca appropriated the literary conventions of the pastoral world to amuse the villa guests. Male bonding in these poems consisted not only of the register of courtly love, but also of a humorous, subversive use of the pastoral principles. Lasca depicts life in the villas as his own ideal pastoral world, a locus amoenus in which specific conditions determine the state of perfection that can be achieved in male relationships. 59 See: Zanrè 2004: 73‐77, with a discussion of previous literature. Capitolo XII, vv. 55‐57, in: Grazzini 1882: 499. 59 For a recent social and architectural study on early modern villeggiatura, see: Lillie 2005. 57
58
174 In La letteratura di villa e villeggiatura (2004), Rinaldo Rinaldi recalls that the villa and its garden are often depicted as a paradisiacal refuge. In the Italian tradition it was probably Alberti who initiated this topos, as he referred to the villa as ‘un proprio paradiso’ in his I libri della famiglia. Rinaldi furthermore stresses the artificiality of this paradise. 60 This concept of perfection of nature, cultivated by human hands, had been a convention of the pastoral ever since Virgil’s Bucolics. Lasca readily conformed to this convention when he praises the gardens of Ligliano in his octave ‘Sopra la villa del Sig. Cav. De’ Medici Balì di Firenze’: 61 Ha dietro un orto volto a mezzo giorno, che tiene un quadro di palazzo appunto, cinto di mura tutto intorno intorno, molto ben compartito e bene in punto, d’erbe e di piante e di buon frutti adorno, come se gli conviene appunto appunto, ed or ci sono e vesciole e piselli e carciofi e scalogni freschi e belli. Nel domestico i campi lavorati con ordine son tutti, e con misura; […]. Stressing the enclosed intimacy of the gardens, cultivated and made flourishing by human hands, Lasca uses imagery that can also be found in works such as Antonfrancesco Doni’s Le ville 62 and Gaspara Stampa’s ‘In lode di Fiumane, luogo dell’illustrissimo signor Conte della torre preposto di Verona’. It is uncertain whether Lasca knew Doni’s work, but Stampa’s poem may well have been a model. Not only does it share Lasca’s pastoral emphasis on artificiality, the first three verses of Stampa’s poem are also significant in another respect. Stampa uses Rinaldi 2004: 355‐357. Ottava XVII, vv. 17‐26, in: Grazzini 1882: 368. 62 See in particular the following fragment by Doni (1969: 74): ‘Il Signor Bartolomeo Zanne ha una Villa lontana tre miglia da Bologna, sopra una bellissima collina, dalla sua diligenza, industria et ingegno fatta miracolosa, perché per forza di picconi, di scarpegli, et con grossi muri, spesse siepi, posticci monticegli artifitiati, et con grossi muri attorno attorno, ha fatto un paradiso terrestre’, cited in: Rinaldi 2004: 358. 60
61
175 the Petrarchan antithesis of terra‐cielo (v. 2) to allude to the beauty of the land (v. 1) and its paradisiacal atmosphere (v. 3): 63
in questo avventuroso almo paese l’ornamento del ciel si mostra in terra, ch’a farlo un paradiso in lui discese. [...] Non cede l’arte a la natura il vanto Ne l’artificio del giardin, ornato d’alberi colti e sempre verde manto; sovra ’l qual porge, alquanto rilevato, d’architettura un bel palagio tale, qual fu di quel del Sol già poetato; […]. This is exactly what Lasca does in many of the villa poems. In madrigalessa XII to Bastiano Antinori, for example, he writes: 64
e se l’aria è serena e ’l ciel cortese, voi sapete, il paese come sia largo e grasso, boscato e cultivato, e quanto sia dotato d’ogni piacer villesco, e d’ogni spasso. Though Lasca never actually mentions paradise, the antithesis cielo‐terra is so pointedly present in his villa poetry that we can easily accept that he, too, means to depict villa and countryside as an earthly paradise, formed by human hands. Lasca’s pet name for Raffaello de’ Medici, his beloved ‘angel terreno’, perfectly fits the image. 65
Stampa 1953: 338, 340, quoted in: Rinaldi 2004: 358. Madrigalessa XII, vv. 12‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 266. 65 This pet name (or variations to it) recurs in several poems, see for example: ‘’l terreno angel mio’ (Madrigale XXIX, v. 5, in: Ibidem: 233); ‘l’angelo mio terreno’ (Madrigale XXV, v. 2, in: Ibidem: 231); ‘terreno angiolo mio’ (Capitolo XI, v. 95, in: Ibidem: 497). 63
64
176 However abundant and lyrical, Lasca’s praise of villa life is somewhat misleading. As it happens, he is enthusiastic about villa life only on specific terms; the theme of villeggiatura serves as a frame within which he projects his very personal reading of a pastoral ideal world. According to the villa poems, Lasca regarded the villa as highly suitable accommodation for literary production; the peace and splendour surrounding him were features stimulating his writing. In order to achieve an actual satisfactory level of inspiration and performance, however, one condition had to be fulfilled: only in the presence of a beloved young friend could he truly shine. In Lasca’s villa poems, natural beauty, poetry and male friendships are inseparable. In several villa poems Lasca suggests that his main pastime at Le Rose and Ligliano consisted of intellectual amusement such as reading, discussing and writing. He presents himself as the ‘residential poet’, who is appreciated by the villa guests in particular for his poetic contributions. In the madrigalessa to Bastiano Antinori, mentioned above, Lasca reveals how the other villa guests expect him to write. When circumstances do not allow him to stay at Ligliano (‘Poi che all’Antella star con Raffaello / non posso a villeggiare’), he longs for these feelings of heightened expectation: 66 Non ho sempre vicino chi mi tormenti, e dica e voglia ch’io faccia a dispetto mio capitoli o sonetti, stanze e madrigaletti, o commedie o novelle, come le stampe avessi, o le pretelle; […]. Though the tone of this passage admittedly is somewhat ironic, Lasca’s wish to write seems to be sincere. In an octave (probably addressed to Antinori as well), he again voices the link between villa life and writing: 67
Madrigalessa XII, vv. 1‐2, 44‐50, in: Grazzini 1882: 265‐267. Ottava XVII, vv. 97‐100, in: Ibidem: 370. 66
67
177 Or dov’io son, largamente v’ho detto, e più che mai felice e lieto vivo, Bastian mio caro, e con gioia e diletto prose e versi all’usanza canto e scrivo. And in a poem to Lutozzo Nasi, Lasca writes about his villeggiatura in the same vain: 68 Lutozzo, io vo’ che sappi […] come quassù vivo: io mangio e beo e dormo e leggo e scrivo gli antichi fatti di Ruggier da Risa; 69 [...]. When Lasca, in a second sonnet to Lutozzo, calls upon the Gods to help him compose his verses, it turns out that he does so hoping he can meet Nasi’s wishes: ‘così forse potrò, come bramate, / messer Lutozzo, contentarvi in parte’. 70
The verses to Antinori and Nasi demonstrate how Lasca regarded his position at the villas. He presented himself as an entertainer, a poet who wrote for the company gathered in the campagna. This task he undertook with such seriousness, that it determined whether his stay was legitimized or not: 71
Se voi volete prosa, o versi sciolti, sarebbe un piacere, ch’io vi farei sguazzar, non che godere. Qui venne per avere con voi spasso maggior d’oggi in domane, e non per lavorare a settimane. Oh speranze mie vane! Sonetto XC, vv. 1‐4, in: Grazzini 1882: 74. On the epic Ruggier da Risa, see: Plaisance 2005d: 305‐307. 70 Sonetto XCI, vv. 7‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 75. 71 Sonetto XCI, vv. 18‐26, in: Ibidem: 75. 68
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178 da poi ch’io non vi posso contentare, io mi poteva in Firenze restare; [...]. If he did not perform well, Lasca considered himself unworthy to villa life. But the countryside did not always favour poetic inspiration. In a sonnet to Benedetto Varchi it appears that despite its favourable position, Le Rose could not protect its inhabitants from the cold winds that run through the hills in December and January. 72 Since he is ‘quasi agghiadato’ (v. 14), Lasca informs Varchi of his plans to join him at La Topaia the next day. In this sonnet Lasca complains that he has difficulties keeping warm. He suffers an even greater inconvenience however: the season at Le Rose has made him lose his ability to write ‐ in both a practical and inspirational sense: ‘I fogli e ’l calamaio / e le penne e le Muse in un momento / m’ha mille miglia via portato il vento’. 73 In this sonnet, the topos of the campagna as an ideal world of inspiration is reversed. Obviously, in Lasca’s view, villeggiatura and writing poetry were intertwined activities; life in the countryside had a major impact on Lasca’s inspiration. Even more influential, however, was the presence of his two young friends: Raffaello and Giovanni. In the sonnet to Giovanni Bini cited above, Lasca invites Giovanni to join him and Cini at Le Rose. He describes how eagerly they are both waiting for him, and how they are captivated by him all day long (‘mille volte vi chiamiamo il giorno’). 74 Another sonnet urging Giovanni to visit Le Rose shows Lasca explicitly linking his own well‐being to the presence of Giovanni: 75
Noi siam, messer Giovanni, senza voi, come dir, proprio pesci fuor dell’acque, or per quella bella che in voi rinacque, vi preghiam che vegnate a veder noi. Leggere e ragionare e scriver poi, Sonetto XIX, in: Grazzini 1882: 20. Sonetto XIX, vv. 18‐20, in: Ibidem. 74 Sonetto CXXX, v. 7, in: Ibidem: 105. 75 Sonetto CXXXI, vv. 1‐8, in Ibidem: 105‐106. 72
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179 ire a spasso e veder montagne ed acque, ed ogni cosa che prima ci piacque, per lo vostro tardar, par che ci annoi: […]. That the lethargy Lasca experiences during Giovanni’s absence stems from lovesickness, is suggested in both sonnets to Bini. When speaking of his and Cini’s eagerness to see Giovanni, Lasca claims that nature is equally desperate, specifying its feelings as amorous: ‘Venite via, chè voi sete aspettato / e dalle piante e dall’erbe e da i fiori, / quasi che ognun di voi sia innamorato’. 76 In the second poem he refers to Petrarch and applies a typical Petrarchan declaration of love to illustrate the nature of his feelings for Giovanni: ‘anzi senza la dolce, amica vista / de’ bei vostri occhi, a non dir or bugia, / come al Petrarca, ogni loco ci attrista’. 77 The fair face and beautiful eyes Lasca claims to miss in this sonnet are the objects of an amorous passion, an infatuation so serious that it effects not only his mental state and the amount of pleasure he takes in villeggiatura, but also his perception of the rural surroundings: 78 Dunque venite omai, venite via a dileguar da noi la ingrata e trista, che n’affligge ad ogn’or, maninconia. La vostra compagnia, ove ogni dolce ben par che si pose, farà rallegrar noi, fiorir le Rose. This last terzina can be regarded representative of all Lasca’s villa poems: centred around a beloved young friend whose presence or absence is responsible for Lasca’s functioning as a person and a poet. The object of his love even affects the poet’s perception of the natural attractions that surround him, as the return of his beloved Giovanni would ‘make the roses bloom’. A second aspect of these roses that is characteristic of the cluster is the double meaning of the image. Below I will detail how the pastoral elements in Sonetto CXXX, vv. 12‐14, in: Grazzini 1882: 105. Sonetto CXXXI, vv. 9‐11, in: Ibidem: 106. 78 Sonetto CXXXI, vv. 12‐17, in: Ibidem. 76
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180 Lasca’s poems conceal erotic allusions to the nature of his villa relationships. These insinuations are part of a poetic strategy to create a private and intimate atmosphere within the villa circle. Lasca applies recurring pastoral images to either hint at or ridicule the erotic whereabouts of the guests or to be suggestive of his own Petrarchan adoration of young Bini or Raffaello. I will now explore two of these images, the rose and the wind, and their function in this game. Pastoral Ambiguity The image of the blossoming roses occurs in different variants in the Bini poems. A similar use of the rose, for instance, to the one cited above would be: ‘ma fra le cose più maravigliose / Giovambatista e me restar contenti, / ed al vostro apparir fiorir le rose’. 79 Here, too, Lasca and Cini’s well‐being depends on Giovanni’s arrival. Obviously, the rose refers to the name of Cini’s villa Le Rose, where the Bini poems are located, and its immediate surroundings. Indeed even today the Via di San Lorenzo alle Rose is flanked with hedgerows of soft pink roses. At the same time, however, Lasca employs the ambiguity of the rose image. According to Jean Toscan, various early modern poets used the rose for its sexual connotations. It could be a metaphor for both the female genitals and the anus. 80 A madrigal to Piero Fagiuoli shows that we should interpret Lasca’s use of the metaphor in an erotically ambiguous way as well. In this poem Lasca counters Fagiuoli’s complaint that he has taken his friends, ‘mio amico il Bino’ and ‘il Cino’, away from him. 81 Lasca claims to have done nothing of the kind, and stipulates that their defection is due to the courtesy of the friends themselves. 82 The poem rapidly degenerates into a brawl, in which Lasca turns the tables on his competitor, claiming that it is in fact Fagiuoli who is a mean thief, since he stole Raffaello from Lasca (‘anzi passaste il cor con Capitolo XII, vv. 71‐73, in: Grazzini 1882: 499. Toscan 1981: 1742. Boggione/Casalegno (1981: 187, 461) sustain that the rose is often a metaphor for virgin female genitals. In combination with ‘cogliere’ it means ‘to deprive of one’s virginity’. 81 Madrigalessa XLII, v. 1‐9, in: Grazzini 1882: 311. 82 Madrigalessa XLII, vv. 10‐15, in: Ibidem: 311‐312. 79
80
181 un coltello, / […] / quando voi mi rubaste Raffaello’). 83 Lasca’s wrath continues over more than fifty lines, but the most interesting part of this poem for our purposes is the end: 84 ognun vi chiede e brama e ognun v’aspetta e chiama come suo favorito, anzi suo cucco; ed io son presso a voi un uom di stucco; sì poca cura il cielo in farmi pose, da far seccar i fior, non che le rose. Though everybody, including Cini (‘Giovanbatista v’ha per uom divino’, v. 74), seems to adore Fagiuoli, Lasca declares to remain untouched, (‘di stucco’) by Fagiuoli’s charms; worse still, in his presence he even dries up (‘seccar’) like all flowers and roses. The word ‘seccar’, of course, suggests sexual impotence. This is underlined by a similar use in the middle part of the madrigal, where Lasca describes his feelings now that Fagiuoli stole Raffaello from him: 85 [...] ond’io rimasi, come direste, quasi morello senza lecco, o capra senza becco, od una lasca in secco: Obviously, as the fish is a phallic symbol, ‘secco’ denotes Lasca’s lack of sexual appetite in the absence of Raffaello. It is worth noting that Lasca applied the exact same metaphor when he wrote about the absence of Giovanni: ‘noi siam senza voi proprio pesci fuor dell’acque’ (see above). 86 In Fagiuoli’s case, it is in fact his presence that makes Lasca lose his sexual excitement, symbolized in the drying of flowers and roses. Thus, as Madrigalessa XLII, vv. 21; 23, in: Ibidem: 312. Madrigalessa XLII, vv. 78‐83, in: Grazzini 1882: 313. 85 Madrigalessa XLII, vv. 26‐30, in: Ibidem: 312. 86 Sonetto CXXXI, v. 2, in: Ibidem: 105. 83
84
182 this madrigal depends heavily on burlesque imagery such as ambiguous birds (see for instance ‘cucco’, v. 80) 87 and phallic fish, its erotic undertone can hardly be missed. Whereas the image of the rose renders the poems on Cini’s villa ambiguous, Lasca’s use of the image of the ‘wind’ provides a similar pointer for understanding the Ligliano poems. On the one hand, the wind was an appropriate image in the pastoral context of the villa poems. When Lasca presents the wind as a discomfort in the countryside, he follows Virgil’s Bucolics, in which Boreas, the Northern wind, is the only threat to the ideal pastoral world. In the above‐mentioned sonnet to Varchi the Virgilian influence is obvious. Lasca states he is almost frozen (‘quasi agghiadato’), and in the coda of the sonnet the wind turns out to be the offender: ‘e come disperato / resto, temendo alfin, che qua rovaio / abbia condotto dicembre e gennaio’. 88 The word ‘rovaio’, one of many synonyms Lasca uses to refer to wind, is a direct reminder of the Virgilian wind since its etymology leads to Boreas. Whereas Boreas kept Virgil’s shepherds from their work in the fields, ‘rovaio’ keeps Lasca from his poetic labor. In this sonnet to Varchi, the pastoral wind is also a vehicle that blows away Lasca’s paper and his pen. In a metaphorical sense, therefore, the wind is the vehicle for lack of inspiration. A comparable metaphoric appropriation of the pastoral wind can be distinguished in some of the Raffaello poems. In a madrigal that is part of a sequence about Raffaello’s affair with the prostitute Silea, Lasca suffers from the thought of his ‘angel terreno’ in the arms of a woman. He clearly envies Silea, and maliciously accuses her of spreading venereal diseases. 89 In the end, however, Lasca observes that his laments are in vain; his words are blown away by the wind, never to reach his beloved Raffaello: 90
On the meaning of ‘cucco’, see also chapter 3, in which Gismondo Martelli is staged as Stradino’s ‘cucco’. Sonetto XIX, vv, 14; 15‐17, in: Grazzini 1882: 20. 89 This group of madrigals can be found in: Ibidem: 231‐236. The following madrigal speaks of prostitutes with malfrancese: ‘Se l’angel mio terreno / è il medico celeste / se gli varrà; perchè fia tosto pieno / non vo’ già dir di canchero, o di peste / ma ben d’aspre e moleste bolle e doglie; / per che prima senz’erbe e senza foglie / la terra e gl’arbor fieno in ciascun mese, / che mai puttana senza malfrancese’ (Madrigale XXXI, in: Ibidem: 233‐234). See also: Plaisance 2005e: 324n. 90 Madrigale XXXV, in: Grazzini 1882: 235. 87
88
183 S’io mi dolgo e lamento con accenti diversi, s’io canto, o piango in versi, tutti i sospiri miei ne porta il vento; e come fanno i matti io fo parole, e la Silea fa fatti. The same effect is depicted in a madrigal to Bastiano Antinori. Here, too, Lasca regrets that he is not able to go to Ligliano. Though the company of Giovanni Bini offers some consolation, Lasca would have instantly exchanged him for Raffaello. But, again, the wind spoils it all: 91
Ma se l’empio fatale non fusse destin mio crudele e fello, messer Giovanni or saria Raffaello. ma di monte Morello io mi do nel bellico, mentre che questo a voi, scrivendo, dico; e se ben m’affatico, tutte l’imprese mie ne porta il vento. In this case the wind serves not so much as a metaphor of lost inspiration but rather of vain love, another threat to the poet’s ideal villa world. But like the rose, the wind is not confined to one set of conventions. Besides being a threat to an ideal, pastoral situation, the wind has a variety of ambiguous meanings. Madrigalessa VI, for instance, which refers to ‘l’angel mio terreno’ and Ligliano, brings to light quite a wide range of amorous and erotic layers in the image of the wind. In this madrigal, Lasca urges Aeolus, the mythical storm god, to curb Auster, Favonius, Corus and Notus, minor wind‐deities that inflicted severe damage both at sea and in the mountains. He thoroughly wishes for calm weather to return. This wish, as it turns out Madrigalessa XII, vv. 57‐64, in: Grazzini 1882: 267. 91
184 in the last verses of the poem, has everything to do with his longing for Raffaello: ‘acciò che possa l’angel mio terreno, / tornato il tempo bello a mano a mano, / venirsi a star queste feste a Ligliano’. 92 The storms caused by the four wind‐gods, appear to be the cause of Raffaello’s absence. Only Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, has the power to turn matters around. Within this mythological frame of reference, however, Lasca plays a burlesque game, fraught with sexual ambiguities. When he asks Aeolus to temper the other winds, he uses a particular phrase: ‘non lasciar più la briglia o ’l freno in mano / all’Austro, a Favonio, a Coro, a Noto’. 93 This equine imagery is not only borrowed from classical iconography, in which the minor winds are frequently portrayed as horses in Aeolus’s stable, it also belongs to Lasca’s burlesque lexicon. 94 The poet calls on Aeolus to stir up his own rage (‘furia’) and use his whip (‘sferza’) and spurs (‘sproni’) in order to restore his reputation as the supreme wind. 95 Both the ‘rage’ and the equine terminology have a strong sexual connotation. 96 The sexual overtones are amplified in the following passage: ‘che coll’usata sua stupenda forza / stingue intrafattafin, non pure ammorza, / degli altri venti la rabbia e ‘l furore’. 97 Again, Lasca states that Aeolus should exert his power to overrule the other winds, but ‘forza’, ‘rabbia’ and ‘furore’ are all words related to sexual excitement. ‘Forza’ moreover is a quality inherent in the active role in a sodomitic relationship, as Toscan points out. 98 In this madrigal, the winds are not only associated with sexual heat, but, more specifically, with heat in a sodomitic rapport. Lasca’s assertion that the commitment of the powerful Aeolus will bring back Raffaello Madrigalessa VI, vv. 69‐71, in: Grazzini 1882: 258. Madrigalessa VI, vv. 18‐19, in: Ibidem: 256‐257. 94 See for instance: Sonetto LIV, v. 11, in: Ibidem: 46. 95 Madrigalessa VI, vv. 29‐38, in: Ibidem: 257. The passage I refer to reads as follows: ‘Mettiti, mangiafango, omai gli sproni / e ripiglia la sferza; / acciò che con maggiore e più gran furia, / soffiando alteramente, / vendicar possa, colla nostra ingiuria, / il tuo sì fatto scorno / contro a quei di ponente / e que’ venti plebei di mezzogiorno, / ch’al tuo primo apparir volgon la faccia’. 96 Toscan (1981: 1167) interprets ‘furia’ as ‘erection’. On horses and cavalry, see: Boggione/Casalegno 1996: 176‐182. 97 Madrigalessa VI, vv. 23‐25, in: Grazzini 1882: 257. 98 Toscan 1981: 1181. 92
93
185 to Ligliano, thus carries the implicit assumption that sodomitic excitement will win him Raffaello’s heart. Significantly, the obstacles to Raffaello’s desired return are female in character. To clear the skies, for example, Aeolus has to hunt down clouds and mist: ‘All’apparir tuo muore, / o ventavol gentile, / tutto il valor de’ nugoli e nebbioni’. 99 ‘Nugoli’ and ‘nebbioni’ are frequently used as metaphors for menstruation, as Toscan observes. 100 The four minor winds are connected to ‘female’ imagery as well: ‘c’hanno quasi il mar vôto’. 101 In burlesque poetry, ‘mare’ frequently refers to the female sexual organs. 102 Thus, read in a burlesque way, the battle of the winds becomes a battle between male, sodomitic sexual relations and female sexuality. In Lasca’s earthly paradise female sexuality, whether represented by a real woman such as Silea, or by female attributes, is presented as a threat to his well‐being, while the presence or absence of ‘male’ passion determines the success or failure of his love for Raffaello and of his poetic vigour. A similar prevalence of male over female imagery may be detected in the following sonnet on Lutozzo Nasi: 103
S’io potessi nascondermi, o fuggire in qualche mondo nuovo e sconosciuto, io non vorrei più in questo esser veduto, dove i nugoli e i venti han tanto ardire. Nè compor com’io voglio, nè dormire, o stanotte, o stamani ho mai potuto; chè questo vento arrabbiato e cornuto vi so dir io che s’è fatto sentire. Madrigalessa VI, vv. 26‐28, in: Grazzini 1882: 257. Toscan 1981: 263, 623. 101 Madrigalessa VI, v. 20, in: Grazzini 1882: 257. 102 Toscan 1981: 574. 103 Sonetto XCII, vv. 1‐8, in: Grazzini 1882: 75‐76. Verzone records this sonnet immediately after the two sonnets addressed explicitly to Nasi, of which the first refers to Raffaello. The second sonnet, like the one quoted, does not mention the villa where it is staged; similarity in subject matter with the poem ‘Su la porta della villa di M. Lutozzo Nasi’ however suggests that it was Lutozzo’s own villa. 99
100
186 Once more, the wind has a negative effect on Lasca’s writing. Significantly, this effect is phrased in words with apparent sexual connotations: ‘ardire’, ‘arrabbiato’ and ‘cornuto’. Here, too, Lasca claims he wants to escape a place where ‘clouds’ (‘nugoli’) are present. The doppio gioco in this sonnet is most evident, however, in Lasca’s playing with the various possible meanings of wind. When, in the two terzine, the poet elaborates on the cause of his inability to write or sleep, he describes the terrible noise of the wind in the middle of the night (‘o tramontano, o rovaio, o ventavolo, / chiaminlo come voglion le persone’), causing a ‘fracasso’ even the devil could not produce. 104 The implicit reason for this ‘loud wind’, subsequently, is explained in the tail of the sonnet: 105
Ma Rodolfo è cagione d’ogni mio mal, che quel buon camerino mi fè lasciare a Lutozzo vicino. E com’io m’indovino per suo mi fece, e non per mio contento, n’una badia tornare a spazzavento; acciocchè colà drento rinchiuso stessi e lontan dal suo amore, ch’ancor la gelosia gli rode il cuore. The svolta reveals that Lutozzo causes the wind that keeps Lasca awake; he happens to spend the nights next door to our poet. Possibly, Lasca plays on the scatological connotation of wind in the sense of Lutozzo loudly passing gas, but the ultimate terzina shows that the wind can also be understood as an amourous rage: Lutozzo is tormented by jealousy. In the octave ‘Su la porta della villa di M. Lutozzo Nasi’, Lasca again hints at nightly turmoil in a villa. He describes all the pleasant things a guest of the villa might experience, but warns that for sleep he should turn elsewhere: 106 Sonetto XCII, vv. 13‐14, 9, in: Grazzini 1882: 76. Sonetto XCII, vv. 15‐23, in: Ibidem. 106 Ottava XI, in: Ibidem: 359. 104
105
187 Ognun sarà ben visto e carezzato, e potrà qui per suo spasso e piacere venire a riposarsi e stare agiato, ragionar, disputar, mangiare e bere; ancor fia trattenuto ed onorato, se gli parrà, con leggere e vedere quante vuol rime e prose antiche e nuove, ma pensi di dormir la notte altrove. The nature of this commotion at night is further characterized by Lasca’s use of the word ‘tempone’ (‘heavy storm’), suggesting that the villa guests participated in orgy‐like indulgences. This becomes particularly clear from a sonnet to Lorenzo de’ Medici, in which Lasca invites Lorenzo to join him in Ligliano in the company of Tobia, Maso or Zebe. Lasca offers the prospect of ‘fare tempone’ (v. 14), obviously alluding to sexual amusement. 107
E se non vuol venir con voi Tobia, voi intendete ben per discrezione, l’Arcangel ci sarà, venite via. Pur se volete qualche compagnia, menate Maso o ’l Zebe in compagnia, ch’io vi so dir che noi farem tempone. Obviously, there is nothing exclusive in Lorenzo’s relationship with either of these boys, as they seem perfectly exchangeable. A similar impersonal love interest is reflected in Lasca’s presentation of his pederastic affection for Giovanni Bini; he is continuously courting the youngster together with Cini, who is also much older than Bini. The world of villa love that Lasca presents, is inhabited by a variety of men ‐ the more the merrier, Sonetto LXXXVIII, vv. 9‐14, in: Grazzini 1882: 73. Madrigalessa XIII (vv. 41‐43, in: Ibidem: 268‐269) shows a similar mention of a feast with sexual overtones: ‘con appetito poi mangiare e bere, / attendendo a godere e far tempone, / fin che ’l Ridolfi torni alla magione’. 107
188 we could say – and is a world of jealousy and competition, but above all of sexual license. Pastoral Entertainment In his essays on pastoral poetry and the pastoral ideal, Renato Poggioli explains that the pastoral is a preferred vehicule for protests against the public morality that ‘enslaves love’ and is responsible for the ‘impossibility of realising an absolute erotic anarchism’. 108 In the villa poems, Lasca, too, widens the gap between city and campagna in more than the geographical sense. The villa guests enter a domain that is set apart from the city of Florence in various ways. He does so in the first place by presenting the campagna as a male world, which is inhabited by poets and patrons, and explicitly (the blunt rejection of Silea) as well as implicitly (the subordination of female attributes in the poems) rejects female participation. Secondly, the villas were depicted as places of sexual licence, pastoral sanctuaries where men of disparate ages gathered in an impassioned ‘tempone’. Whereas in pastoral literature love is primarily a matter of the young and the beautiful, ‘unequal’ affairs are also allowed, such as the liasion between the older man and young maiden. 109 Lasca creates an even greater pastoral licence by allowing not only sexual relationships between lovers of diverging ages, but between those of the same sex. Both the pederastic and homoerotic character of the villa affairs adds up to the idea of a hidden sanctuary. Whether these erotic relationships that the poems seem to advocate were actually consummated or not, is besides the question. Either way, the pastoral and burlesque language Lasca employs functions as an intimate language, which created a sheltered world and which was undoubtedly understood and appreciated by those involved. Through the image of the wind in particular, a most lively picture emerges of how Lasca employs the ‘language of male friendships’ in these villa poems. It not only explicitly fits in with the ‘homoerotic canvas’ that Zanrè has pointed out, but also shows Poggioli 1975: 43. Ibidem: 48. 108
109
189 how strongly this register is indebted to burlesque imagery and humour. Lasca’s literary courtship of the younger generation of Florentines to a certain extent draws from Petrarchan love lyric, but relies even stronger on pastoral conventions. And as this pastoral register in particular is subjected to burlesque machinations, Lasca both exploits and purposely subverts it. It should be clear, however, that Raffaello is never subjected to Lasca’s burlesque intrigues. Nowhere is Raffaello ridiculed nor was he actively involved in the amorous schemes – as are Lasca’s other villa loves and his competitors. Raffaello remains at a distance, as a courtly object of love that is utterly admired but that always remains out of reach. Against the background of the villa poems, however, Lasca’s devotion to Raffaello should be understood as a literary affection, which was experienced and explored in poetry only. In a game with literary conventions, his poetic love for Raffaello functioned as counterpoint for the burlesque mockery of the other guests. This contrast fits the entertaining function these poems obviously had. We can easily picture the success Lasca must have had as a poetic performer ‘courting’ his angelic host Raffaello while sneering at his fellow guests during banquets at Ligliano. Apart from the villa adventures, other groups of poems for Raffaello, such as the Narcissus madrigals, the chivalric adventures of Ruggier da Risa, and the envious satire of cortigiana Silea, may well have been part of similar ways of amusement. The villa poems, which were sent between villas or between villa and city to seduce friends to come over, or to keep them involved when they were not around, were for the most part very suitable for oral performance. As Lasca himself phrases in his octave on the gate of Lutozzo Nasi’s villa, villeggiatura is particularly suited for reading and ‘watching’ poetry: ‘Ognun […] per suo spasso e piacere […] fia trattenuto ed onorato, se gli parrà, con leggere e vedere quante vuol rime e prose antiche e nuove’. 110 Ottava XI, in: Grazzini 1882: 359. Emphasis added. 110
190 The Burlesque ‘poeta di casa’ By manipulating genre conventions, Lasca supplied the pastoral world of his villa poems with an erotic and humorous subtext. In a burlesque way, he parodied a genre that was particularly suitable to the social circumstances he lived in. In La Guerra de’ Mostri of 1547 the parodied genre had been the epic, a poetic form particularly appropriate to address Stradino’s ‘epic‐minded’ tornatella. But while his use of the burlesque had contributed to his falling out of grace in the 1540s, in the 1560s the outcome of his literary subversion was not that he put others at a distance, but rather that he strengthened the bonds within the circle of male villa guests. Lasca achieved this by creating a private world for the members of Raffaello’s circle. Lasca’s being a poet determined his position in the world of villeggiatura. He repeatedly characterizes himself as the one responsible for entertaining the villa guests, as the ‘poeta di casa’ who is constantly asked to provide new material. And considering the wide‐ranging poetic series in which he courts Raffaello at Ligliano, it is obvious that this was not an attempt to create an image, but shows that he had gained a personal status within the villa circle. The attachment to youngsters from respectable and powerful families he displays in his poems strongly reminds of Padre Stradino, who played the senior role of mentor and entertainer among the Umidi in the 1540s. At this point in his career, Lasca too, appears to have become an authoritative figure that entertained and educated a younger generation of literary men. Plaisance has suggested in passing that Lasca, in the 1560s, tried to escape the burlesque by exploring new genres. As an example of such an attempt to become more conventional, he names the pastoral Egloghe the poet submitted to achieve his official return to the Accademia Fiorentina. 111 In this chapter I have argued, conversely, that Lasca never left the burlesque. Though he owed his formal readmittance to the Academy in 1566 to ‘regular’ pastoral poems, in the process preceding his reinstatement Lasca had been able to parody the same pastoral genre to great effect. Comparing Lasca’s use of Plaisance 2005d: 306. 111
191 burlesque mechanisms and vocabulary in the villa poems to his burlesque strategies at other stages of his career, however, it is striking that the biting satire we have come to look upon as characteristic of his burlesque style is entirely absent at this later phase of his career. While the affairs and members of the Fiorentina and the Florentine cultural scene were the main topic in most burlesque poems of the 1540s, in the villa poems Lasca abstains from biting references to topical questions. Except in the madrigal to Piero Bini, he even managed to evade the academic debate on comedy, in which many of the addressees of the villa poems seem to have had an interest. Rather than abandoning his favourite style, Lasca had learned to adapt it to the social circumstances in which it had to function. The villa poems show how burlesque humour without satire can be effectively brought into play to effect bonds. And in the end, it also brought Lasca the desired formal affirmation of his cultural rehabilitation. 192 Epilogue and Conclusions In 1583, more than 40 years after the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi and within a year of his death, Lasca, at the age of 77, founded his second Academy: the Accademia della Crusca. That he was able to do so, he owed not only to his sound constitution, but also to the fact that in the last two decades of his life his literary reputation had become firmly established. In chapter 4 of this study, I have shown how Lasca found his way back into the official cultural circuits of Florence from the moment he started working with Giovanbattista Cini and Lionardo Salviati in the late 1550s. His villa friendships with a new generation of influential youngsters furthered his position up to the point where he got readmitted into the Accademia Fiorentina in May 1566. In the late 1560s and the 1570s, Lasca even acquired a position of eminence. The fact that his writer’s name, ‘Il Lasca’, was consistently used in the Annali after his readmission is an illustration of his standing. 1 In contrast to the Umidi – as well as the Crusconi – the academicians of the Fiorentina did not use academic pseudonyms. 2 In this period (1566‐1583) the cancellieri refer to him as: ‘Il Lasca de Grazini’, or just ‘Il Lascha’. I found no reference to his first name, Antonfrancesco. There are however some cases in which a Giovan Francesco or a Francesco appears. Plaisance claims that these are misquotes even Stradino made when he was the cancelliere in the inititial years of the Academy. A second possibility is that the Giovanfrancesco mentioned here, was Lasca’s relative, namely his nephew. 2 Of the academicians of the Crusca we know that they consequently addressed each other with their academic names, and these names are also used in the documents. In the Diario of Piero de’ Bardi the dealings with academic pseudonymes are detailed as follows: ‘E noi per lo soprannome gli chiameremo, 1
193 Lasca’s writer’s name, however, had grown on him; it became such an indispensable part of his identity as a writer and academician that he was allowed to keep it. When the members of the new Accademia della Crusca had to pick names, Lasca again chose ‘Il Lasca’, even though its relation to the ‘crusca’ theme is disputable. Lasca solved this minor problem by arguing that in Tuscany it was customary to serve ‘roaches’ with a flour crust. 3 Another indication of Lasca’s altered standing in later life is the fact that he became very active within the Accademia Fiorentina. Between 1566, the year of his re‐
election, and 1581, he took part in every single annual election round, either as elezionario or elezionato. 4 These were honourable positions, which could not be attained without the siccome ancora gli altri, i quali ci farà di mestiere mentovare, giammai si nomineranno per lo proprio nome, perché, scrivendo storie dell’Accademia della Crusca, come accademici gli dobbiamo considerare e chiamare’. Cited in: Parodi 1983a: 12. 3 Diario IV, cc. 218r‐218v: ‘il giorno dello Stravizzo […] ognuno s’avesse imposto un nome di materia di Crusca, o di cosa a lei appartenente, come farina, mulini, forni, biade, grano e somigliante cosa […] Grazzini [si chiamò] il Lasca già acquistato dall’universale per soprannome anticamente e parendogli a proposito ancora nell’Accademia, considerando che le lasche s’infarinavano’. Also cited in: Parodi 1983a: 12. 4 An overview of Lasca’s presence in the Annali (between 1566 and his death): in January 1566 Lasca nominates Cini for consul (Annali, III, c. 22v). In January 1567 he nominates Cini for censor, and becomes nominated for proveditore by Baccio Comi (ibidem, c. 26). On 20 January 1568, Lasca again nominates Cini for consul (ibidem, c. 27v). In January 1569 Lasca is nominated for censor, but ends last but one. Subsequently, he is running for the office of proveditore (nominated by Baccio Comi), but this mission also fails (ibidem, c. 29v). On 2 February 1570 Monsignore Giovanni Nicholini nominates Lasca for censor; he ends third out of six. In the same election round Baccio Comi nominates him for proveditore, and he becomes fourth out of six (ibidem, c. 30v). Lasca himself nominates Baccio Comi to be consul, but he ends last (ibidem, c. 30). On 2 February 1571 Lasca is elected to be proveditore, after a nomination by M. Matteo Saminiati (ibidem, c. 31v). In February 1572 Lasca is again nominated for proveditore, but unlike the preceding year he is not elected to the board (ibidem, c. 33). In the same round Lasca nominates M. Zanobi Guarini to be censor and appoints a candidate to succeed him as proveditore (ibidem, c. 33). In January 1573 Lasca nominates Lionardo del Nobili for the consulate (ibidem, c. 33v). In 1574 he nominates Guglielmo degli [A…] for proveditore (ibidem, c. 36). Of Lasca’s participation in the election round of 1575 we cannot be sure: here we find three references to Giovanfrancesco Grazzini, nominating candidates for consul, censor and for the new cancelliere. This could be either a mistaken reference to Lasca or a reference to his nephew (see above). On 17 January 1576, Cini nominates Lasca for consul. He has to compete Cini himself (nominated by Federigo Strozzi) and Giovanni Bini (nominated by Lasca), but only Lasca makes it to the second round. Then he comes out last of four candidates (Annali, II, cc. 2‐2v). In the same round Lasca nominates Cini for censor (ibidem, c. 3v). On 17 January 1577 Lasca again nominates Cini, this time for consul. Cini does move on to the second round, but then comes out last (ibidem, cc. 6v‐7). In January 1578 Lasca nominates Piero del Nero for proveditore (ibidem, c. 10). On 18 March 1579 a list is provided of ‘Nomi dei congregati della eletione’, members who can act as ‘elezionario’ for the upcoming election of a new cancelliere (which is not an annually changing magistrate), Lasca is amongst the congregati with several others of whom I list: Piero del Nero, Piero Vettori, Baccio Valori, Bernardo de’ Medici, Guglielmo Martelli, Giovanbattista Strozzi, Palle Rucellai, Francesco Minerbetti. In the subsequent election of a new cancelliere, Giovanbattista Strozzi nominates ‘Francesco 194 support of the Fiorentina’s elite. The fact that Lasca was able to fulfil such positions over a period of fifteen years is equalled only by his friend Cini, and is a clear indication of his status in the Academy. Yet despite the honorary tasks Lasca was invested with in these years, he does not seem to have been fully satisfied with the way the Academy acknowledged his value. His nominations were never successful, and being nominated worked out in his favour only once, when M. Matteo Saminiati appointed him for the position of proveditore in 1572 (1571 s.f.). 5 To Lasca this election was clearly not enough. 6 He felt that the office of censor had suited him better, a sentiment he chose not to hide from the academicians: 7 Se volevate pure alcun favore farmi in questa Accademia, o benefizio, per esser stato prima fondatore, e mostrar voi di aver qualche giudizio, perchè non farmi più tosto censore, ch’era proprio da me cotale ufficio? sendo in quest’arte assai pratico e scaltro. poi l’arei fatto al paragon d’ogn’altro. Indeed, having been the editor of three major editions, Lasca’s claim to the office of censor was not unfounded. The fact that Il primo libro (1548), I sonetti del Burchiello (1552) and Tutti i trionfi (1559) had not been undisputed, however, may have caused the academicians to be cautious. 8 Lasca scorns the fact that a man of his age should act as a Grazini’, which probably refers to our poet (Annali, II, cc. 13v‐14). Finally, in 1580, Lasca nominates Cini for censor (ibidem, c. 16v). All years recorded here are in stile fiorentino. This means that the results of the elections were effectuated in the subsequent year as the ceremony that initiated the new consulate was usually held at the end of March, so that every new year began with a new board. 5 Annali, III, c. 31v. 6 Plaisance 2005e: 310. 7 Ottava CXVI, vv. 33‐40, in: Grazzini 1882: 448. For this reading of the poem, see also: Pignatti 2002: 38; Plaisance 2005e: 310. 8 On the publishing of Il primo libro, see: Berni 1934: 379‐384; and Virgili 1881: 517‐523. On Lasca’s own intentions with the edition, see the prefatory letter to Lorenzo Scala, in: Opere burlesche 1823: 5‐10; on the 195 ‘fanciullesco magistrato’ and fulfil the office of proveditore, which included the presentation of the cup and ring to the new consul during the change over ceremony: ‘Non ben si conveniva all’età mia / la tazza presentar, manco l’anello’. 9 The main reason for his lack of enthusiasm seems to have been the feeling that the office did not suit the reputation he had meanwhile earned as a writer: 10
Se già per tanto tempo tanti ho fatti componimenti, e pur di qualche stima, ed ho tenuto allegri i savi e i matti, scrivendo spesso in prosa, in versi e in rima, correrò rischio, ch’in parole o in fatti, in un sol giorno s’oscuri e s’opprima quel poco, anzi per sempre macchiato, nome, che per tant’anni m’ho acquistato? Lasca’s feeling of being underprivileged may well have led to a new initiative he took somewhere in between 1572 and 1582, when he started organizing informal literary gatherings. 11 The meetings of this ‘brigata dei Crusconi’ eventually led to the founding of the Accademia della Crusca in 1583. Within this Academy, Lasca’s reputation was never at issue, not during his lifetime, nor during the first years of the Academy’s existence. On the contrary, in the founding phase his literary reputation gained a symbolic value that centred especially upon his mastery of the burlesque. In Piero de’ Bardi’s necrology, discussed in the Introduction, Lasca’s versatility in the other genres is played down when he is unambiguously presented as ‘gran padre della burlesca Poesia’. 12
criticism of contemporaries on Lasca’s editorial principles: Solerti 1904: 22; On Lasca’s intentions with Tutti i trionfi, see the prefatory letter to Francesco de’ Medici, in: Guggiola 1946: 11‐16. On the problems with this edition, see, amongst others: Grazzini 1974b: 38‐40; Rodini 1970: 19‐25; Grazzini 1882: XVII‐XXII; and several records in the Annali (vol. III, between c. 74 and c. 81v). 9 Ottava CXVI, vv. 59, 1‐2, in: Grazzini 1882: 447‐448. 10 Ottava CXVI, vv. 25‐32, in: Ibidem. 11 Marconcini 1910: 55‐56; Parodi 1983: 12; Woodhouse 1996: 167. Pignatti (2002: 38) posits the gatherings in the libreria of the Giunti publishers. 12 Diario IV, cc. 220r‐220v. 196 Lasca’s reputation was of great importance to the Crusca’s mission in the 1580s. In the Diario, ‐ written in 1586 at the earliest ‐ he became the champion of authentic Florentine literary culture, in which his burlesque works played an important role. Upholding his burlesque reputation posthumously had a symbolic function that was political in two respects. The indexes of Paul IV (1559) and Pius IV (1564) caused problems in Florence, as the Medici regimes, in particular that of Francesco I, opposed to the censorship and tried to protect the city’s book trade, the activities of the university and the Florentine cultural politics. 13 Plaisance has detailed the problems Lasca experienced when he tried to get the comedy La Strega and his Ecloghe published. 14 He also regards the subsequent Cruscan attempts to publish Lasca’s works as a sign of the clash between the refined and manieristic taste of Francesco I and the spirit of the Counter‐Reformation. 15 Furthermore, within the Crusca, the qualities of Lasca’s ‘natural’ style were presented as an example of the pure and original Florentine language, as Piero de’ Bardi phrases in the Diario: ‘la principal sua lode veniva dalla dolcezza, purità, e piacevolezza dello stile […] si naturale, e si puro […]’. 16 Defending the Florentine literary heritage and language was the academic mission of the Crusca. In the early 1580s, some of Lasca’s burlesque texts were printed within this context. The first, already announced in the Cruscan publication Lezione o vero Cicalamento di M. Bartolino dal Canto de’ Bischeri sopra il sonetto Passere e beccafichi magri arrosti (on 10 March 1583), was the publication of Lasca’s Lezione sul Capitolo della Salsiccia which appeared in 1589. 17 This project was much hindered by papal censorship, as was the publication of Lasca’s capitolo ‘in lode della corna’, which never appeared at all. 18 In the year of Lasca’s death, two (very similar) editions of La Guerra de’ Mostri came to light, probably also under the auspices of (one of) the Crusca’s academicians (1584). 19 Plaisance 2004g: 339‐340. Plaisance 1976: 15‐18; Plaisance 2004g: 349‐352. 15 Ibidem: 352. 16 Diario IV, c. 220r. 17 Grazzini 1882: XXX‐XXXI ; Romei 1998: 9‐10. For the publication itself, see: Lezione sopra il Capitolo della Salsiccia 1589. 18 Plaisance 2004g: 353. 19 Grazzini 1882: XXXI. 13
14
197 Furthermore, at the request of Francesco I and encouraged by the success of the Lezione sul Capitolo della Salsiccia, the academicians, worked on an edition of Lasca’s opere in burla. 20 Between 21 December 1589 and 14 June 1591 the Cruscans prepared a version for printing, but for reasons unknown the actual publication did not happen. Carlo Verzone, Lasca’s editor, suggests that the academicians met with the refusal of the papal censor located in Florence. 21 Plaisance adds substance to this hypothesis by quoting Girolamo da Sommaia, who, in his Ricordi, reflects on Lasca’s poetry as follows: ‘dopo la sua morte volendo stampare le sue opere un inquisitore l’abbrucciò, perché ve ne trovò alcune lascive e disoneste’. 22 Thus, Lasca’s burlesque heritage shaped his afterlife and became a tool of cultural politics. The posthumous use of his person and work to serve the Academy’s political mission would probably have met with his approval. This time his poetics of fiorentinità were in line with Florentine cultural politics. Lasca’s role in the founding of the Accademia della Crusca foregrounds the three major themes of this study. As in the 1540s and early 1660s, the interplay between Lasca’s poetics and his position in Florentine literary circles was dominated by his preferences for performative poetry, burlesque satire and the passing on of Florentine tradition through entertainment and education. To conclude my argument, I now want to outline the parallels between the Crusca period and Lasca’s earlier career, so that we may come to a better understanding of this interplay. Many scholars have assumed that the gatherings of the ‘piacevol brigata’ that developed into the Accademia della Crusca must have resembled the gatherings of the Umidi, held at Stradino’s. 23 This comparison is based on Salviati’s characterization of the Crusconi. When the Crusconi invited him to join them, Salviati claimed that he entered ‘a joyous circle’ which was composed of ‘tanti […] amici’ who were used to ‘festivolmente […] trapassar l’ore’. According to De’ Bardi, this somewhat Plaisance 2004g: 353. Verzone (in: Grazzini 1882: XXXIV‐XXXV) provides an overview of the poems that were singled out for the edition. 21 Ibidem: XXXII‐XXXV. 22 Plaisance 2004g: 354. 23 Marconcini 1910: 48; Romei 1998: 10; Pignatti 2002: 38. 20
198 condescending characterization was part of a strategy of Salviati, who wanted to warn the Crusconi that he was not inclined to commit himself to a group of disengaged dilettanti; he wanted to appeal to their ambition and pride. 24 Be that as it may, there seems to be a certain amount of mockery or disdain in Salviati’s phrasing, and the characterization should not be taken at face value. The comparison between the Crusconi and the Umidi, however, is still fully justified. It applied not only to the taste for the joyous, the festive and satire that was shared by both circles, but also to their social hierarchies and aspirations. As I have shown in chapter 1, the early gatherings of the Umidi evolved around the figure of Stradino, who owned a large library from which the poets could draw for study. He fulfilled the position of mentor, teacher and entertainer alike; he was an inspired pacemaker and an excellent storyteller, and through his stories he taught historical facts and passed on a taste for epic narrative. Amongst his pupils were young talents such as Gismondo Martelli and somewhat more experienced poets, such as Lasca and Niccolò Martelli. The hierarchy of the group was important since, apart from the insistence on having a good time (‘passatempo’), the Umidi also provided a poetic education. In the poetic contests organized by the Umidi, poetic and performative skills were practised as well as the ability to comment, discuss and evaluate. Gismondo Martelli, for instance, practised his skill and knowledge of literature through poetic games provided by the senior poets. The Crusconi presumably had similar purposes. The social composition of their group is remarkably similar to the Umidi’s. As the eldest of the group, 25 Lasca appears to have been the Stradino‐like authoritative figure amongst them. His literary achievements were of much greater consequence than those of the others. Lasca’s prominent position amongst the Crusconi is also suggested in the Diario where he is Diario IV, c. 214r. Giovan Batista Deti (1539‐1607) and Bernardo Canigiani (1524‐1604) were respectively 34 and 19 years Lasca’s juniors. Bastiano de’ Rossi (1556‐after 1626) was even more than 50 years younger. As Bernardo Zanchini’s date of birth is unknown (d. 1585), he is the only one that may have been of Lasca’s age. This is not unlikely, since it was Zanchini who opposed Salviati’s proposal to found an Academy on the ground that he was too old. 24
25
199 praised for his role as ‘principale fondatore’. 26 Although the Crusconi were all ‘dotto’, as Piero de’ Bardi points out, 27 and all seem to have enjoyed considerable reputations in the literary field, their literary works mostly date from after the founding of the Accademia della Crusca. 28 At the time of the Crusconi meetings, they were either young, such as Bastiano de’ Rossi and the unknown ‘Tovaglia’, ‘Tizio’ and ‘Mannuccio’, 29 or inexperienced in poetry, such as Deti, Zanchini and Canigiani. 30 So when Lasca started gathering the Crusconi, he created a circle that had a social structure similar to the tornatella’s in the 1540s; this time, however, he himself was the mentor. 31 Presumably, this new group also had similar purposes. Although there are very few sources regarding the Crusconi’s meetings, we are not completely in the dark about their activities. Marconcini assumes that, as the gatherings of the Crusconi were motivated by dissatisfaction with the practice of the Fiorentina, they held ‘cruscate’, ‘cicalamenti’ or ‘commenti in burla’, all satirical comments, lectures and discourses that parodied the lectures of the Fiorentina. 32 This assumption seems reasonable since these activities remained in practice at a later stage, when they were officially recorded in the new Academy. 33 Besides that, Lasca’s sense of being underappreciated in the Fiorentina seems to have centred particularly on the fact that satirical poetry was not approved of Diario IV, c. 220v. Ibidem, c. 214v. 28 De’ Rossi’s career took a flight only after the Crusca had been established. He became particularly renowned for his ‘cicalate’ and for his work on the first Crusca Vocabolario. See: Parodi 1983b: 9‐10. 29 The unidentified ‘Tovaglia’, ‘Tizio’ and ‘Mannuccio’ appear in the documents as participants in the Crusconi gatherings but were not listed as original founders. See: Marconcini 1910: 50‐51. Most likely, they were the inexperienced youngsters in the ‘brigata dei Crusconi’ who did not have enough standing to be mentioned in the official founding history. 30 Bernardo Canigiani distinguished himself with his letters (that in Marconcini’s view were ‘motteggevole’, ‘jesting’) and published a ‘canzone a ballo’ in 1599. He was consul of the Fiorentina in 1551. Bernardo Zanchini had a ‘certain reputation’ as a literary man, but was primarily ‘dottor di legge’. Giovan Battista Deti was acquainted with Varchi and Salviati and consul of the Fiorentina in 1585. Within the Crusca, he had an advisory function for the Vocabolario. There are no records of any literary production. See: Marconcini 1910: 54‐55; Parodi 1983b: 9‐10. 31 Lasca may have experienced that he could do well as a mentor and inspirer during his stays in villa Ligliano and villa Le Rose, in the 1560s, when he had been the poeta di casa for young friends such as Giovanni and Piero Bini (see chapter 4). 32 Marconcini 1910: 47, 49. 33 Ibidem: 51, 80‐87; Parodi 1983a: passim. 26
27
200 well enough within the Academy. After all, in his complaint about his election as proveditore, in 1572, he emphatically sings the praise of ‘dir mal sempre’: 34
Chi brama esser tenuto dalla gente in concetto d’intendere e sapere, biasmi ogni cosa e non faccia nïente, con dir mal sempre, standosi a sedere; chè quando il volgo gli altrui biasmi sente, con maraviglia ascolta e con piacere, e non guardando più crudo che cotto, dice fra sè: costui è un gran dotto. Within the Fiorentina, Lasca suggests, ‘biasimare’, which in his case could only be a reference to his own satirizing verse, was still regarded as inferior, popular entertainment. It therefore seems all too likely that he tried to satisfy his poetic needs in informal circuits, such as that of the Crusconi. Poetic entertainment as well as commenting and discussing seem to have been as central to the Crusconi gatherings as they had been to the Umidi. The importance of both these elements to the Crusconi, or at least to the early Accademia della Crusca, may also be inferred from a dialogue by Lionardo Salviati. With Il Lasca. Dialogo Cruscata, ovver Paradosso D’Ormannozzo Rigogoli: rivisto e ampliato da Panico Granacci, Cittadini di Firenze, e Accademici della Crusca: Nel quale si mostra, che non importa, che la storia sia vera, e quistionasi per incidenza alcuna cosa contra la Poesia (1584 [1583 s.f.]), Salviati intended to provide the Academy with ‘gagliardi fondamenti’. 35 The dialogue should reflect the Academy’s double nature: ‘acciochè la doppio natura dell’Accademia, cioè la dottrina, e della [sic] piacevolezza apparisce manifesta’. 36 The fact that Lasca was the protagonist of a work that was of such strategic importance to the Academy, underlines the fundamental role of his ideas within the Crusca. Obviously, Ottava CXVI, vv. 49‐56, in: Grazzini 1882: 448. Diario IV, c. 218v. 36 Ibidem. 34
35
201 this dialogue contains only Salviati’s literary representation of Lasca. Yet the fact that Il Lasca. Dialogo was published shortly before or after Lasca’s death, suggests that it became, in Plaisance’s words, Salviati’s ‘ultime hommage’ to his old friend. At the very least, the dialogue represents Salviati’s understanding of his highly esteemed colleague. 37 Probably, however, Salviati tried hard to produce a faithful rendering of Lasca’s views on poetry, maybe even with the latter’s help. Even more than a final tribute paid to the poet by Salviati, I hold this dialogue for Lasca’s testament. Il Lasca. Dialogo shows that Lasca’s poetic viewpoints have not changed since the Accademia degli Umidi; they still pivot around the merits of performative poetry, that is: the combination of pleasure and education. In the dialogue, Giovan Batista Deti, consul of the Crusca and ‘espositore del paradosso’ defends historiography and attacks poetry, whereas Lasca comes to poetry’s defence. 38 Though the text is paradoxical, absurd and even contradictory at times, 39 the two underlying polemic positions are nonetheless made very clear. Deti depicts poetry as social entertainment without the elevated aim of historiography: ‘che il piacere, che si cava dal leggere, ò dall’ascoltare, ò dal veder rappresentar poesie, oltre all’esser brevissimo […] è sequito da tanto danno, che è sollia il pigliarlo’. 40 The features of poetry are despicable in Deti’s view for being nothing but decoration: ‘la vaghezza del verso, la dolcezza del canto, il sollevamento del ballo, son tutti zolfo e pece’. 41 Even ‘Il piacere della imitazione’ is part of these decorative traits of poetry. 42 The shallowness of poetry thus leads to moral corruption 37 Plaisance 2005: 26. For the date, see: Salviati 1584: 5 (‘Data di Firenze il di di Carnouale dell’anno 1583’); in 1584 carnival fell on 12, 13, 14 February (Cappelli 1983: 56), Lasca died on Saturday 18 February. 38 For an overview of Deti’s entire argument, see: Marconcini 1910: 131. Plaisance (2004h: 383), Marconcini (1910: 12, 132‐133) and Brown (1974: 185). Weinberg (1960: 312‐314) discusses the Platonic argument Salviati phrases in the figure of Deti. 39 For an eloquent definition of its nature, see Romei 1998: 10: ‘un libriccino di 50 pagine, che svolge appunto tesi stupefacenti e paradossali, il cui significato non risiede nella loro logica correttezza e inoppugnabilità […], bensì nella loro capacità provocatoria di revocare in dubbio i postulati del perbenismo culturale’. 40 Salviati 1584: 35‐36. 41 Ibidem: 33, 40. 42 Ibidem. See also: ‘E del verso, del canto, e del ballo, e di ciascuna cosa, che la poetica imitazione accompagni’ (36). 202 (‘corrompimento di costumi’) 43 and spoils precious time. 44 As such, according to Deti, poetry is ‘una pessima arte’. 45 Initially, Lasca’s contribution to the dialogue is confined to sceptical echoes of Deti’s monologues on the benefits of historiography. Gradually, however, Lasca claims autonomy, and when he comes to poetry’s defence, he has taken full initiative: ‘ma credo tutto il contrario: cioè, che la Poesia sia la piu nobil cosa, e la piu utile, e la piu dilettevole che si faccia dall’arte’. 46 To the ‘diletto’ of poetry Deti is willing to admit: ‘Io vi voglio dar vinta questa parte del diletto’. 47 He acknowledges that the pleasure of imitation consists of ‘riconcoscerla, per lo piacere dell’apprendere’. 48 Lasca underscores that imitation can bring pleasure; better still, he claims that this is precisely the greatest merit of poetry and a gift of nature: ‘è grandissimo questo diletto, e posto in noi da natura’. 49 He also states that apart from giving joy, imitation has moral benefits. The aim of poetry is after all ‘il profitto dell’anima’, he argues in a reference to Aristotle’s catharsis. 50 Furthermore, poetry ‘educates’: ‘Primieramente la Poesia ci mette innanzi agli occhi la bellezza della virtù, e faccene innamorare, e anche con l’assegnarle i suoi premi c’invita a seguitarla’. 51 It not only shows people ‘virtù’ but also teaches about ‘vizio’. The ideas Salviati expresses through Lasca clearly echo Aristotle’s Poetics. This Aristotelianism was not exceptional in Salviati’s work. Florence had a long tradition of debate over the authority of Aristotle and the Poetics, 52 and Salviati had played an Salviati 1584: 36. Ibidem: 33. 45 Ibidem: 32. 46 Ibidem. 47 Ibidem: 34. 48 Ibidem: 35. 49 Ibidem: 33. 50 Ibidem: 36‐37. 51 Ibidem: 38. 52 Varchi, Piero Vettori and Salviati, for instance, were well‐known Florentine champions of the Aristotelian cause. The first event in the history of the Poetics in the Cinquecento after the publication of Alessandro de’ Pazzi’s Latin translation in 1536, was Bartolomeo Lombardi’s public exposition of the Poetics in Padua in December 1541. We know for a fact that Varchi was amongst the audience and that he followed the discourse with great interest (Weinberg 1960: vol. 1, 373). Varchi incorporated the knowledge acquired in Padua in his lectures for the Florentine Academy, most noticeably in the Lezzioni della poetica (1553 and 1554) 43
44
203 important role in this discourse. Ever since 1564, when he started delivering his groundbreaking lectures before the Accademia Fiorentina, Salviati had embraced Aristotle. In the lecture Trattato della poetica, Lezzion prima (1564), he had unambiguously preferred Aristotle’s theory to Plato’s. 53 He also wrote a commentary on the Poetics, the first four parts of which were finished shortly after Il Lasca. Dialogo, in 1586. 54 The renewed interest in the Poetics in the 1580s was probably provoked by the debate on the primacy of Ariosto over Tasso that held the Florentine Academies (the Accademia della Crusca and the Accademia degli Alterati in particular) in its grip between 1582 and 1586. 55 When Salviati published the Difesa dell’Orlando furioso contra’l dialogo dell’epica di Cammillo Pellegrino under the auspiecs of the Accademia della Crusca in the early months of 1585, he argued for the supremacy of Ariosto on the authority of the Poetics. 56 The fact that the character Lasca is the mouthpiece for Salviati’s own, long‐
standing Aristotelian views in the Dialogo, does not mean that we should see him merely as a puppet in Salviati’s hands. The dominance of Aristotle in the Florentine discourse on imitation, may well explain why Lasca, in this period, rather unexpectedly received such a prominent status. Salviati’s cause, although fought on a far more theoretical level than Lasca ever fought, was not dissimilar to Lasca’s own. Indeed, Lasca’s own poetic views may well have been shaped by Aristotle’s Poetics. Through Varchi, who was an important influence on Lasca’s poetics in the 1540, he would definitely have come into touch with Aristotelianism early in his career. 57
The proximity of Salviati’s Aristotelianism to Lasca’s own poetics is best illustrated by the passage in the dialogue that discusses performative aspects of poetry. (Weinberg 1960: vol. 1, 6‐9, 135‐136, 431). In his Ercolano (written around 1560), Aristotle’s Poetics appear again (ibidem: vol. 1, 149). On Varchi’s Aristotelianism, see also: Pirotti 1970: passim; on his Aristotelianism and visual theory, see: Frangenberg: 1991: 138‐145. Piero Vettori, lecturer of the Accademia Fiorentina since 1538, was another advocate of Aristotle in Florence. His edition of the Poetics appeared in 1560 with extensive notes. Weinberg considers it the first ‘great commentary’ of the Poetics (Weinberg 1960: vol. 1, 46, 242, 461‐466. Lionardo Salviati was one of Vettori’s pupils. 53 Ibidem: vol. 1, 34, 285‐286, 494‐497. 54 Ibidem: 22‐23, 609‐620. 55 See, for instance: Plaisance 2004h: passim. 56 Weinberg 1960: vol. 2, 1004‐1010; Brown 1974: 214‐227. 57 Lasca’s Aristotelianism is as yet an unstudied subject, which fully deserves further research. 204 Strikingly, as part of the Aristotelian argument in the Dialogo, Lasca defends performative poetry. When Deti dismisses poetry precisely for its performative features, stating that rhyme, melody and dance tend to distract the audience from the content (‘col verso, accompagnato non poche volte da melodìa, e da ballo il suo soggetto ne suol manifestare’), 58 Lasca argues that exactly these aspects contribute to poetry’s attraction and its educational benefits. Poetry and poetic performances are presented as a pleasant (‘dilettevole’) way to pass on poetic skills and tradition and to morally instruct the audience. The views presented by Salviati’s character Lasca are thus remarkably similar to the views the real Lasca cherished in his earlier career. The roots of this preference lay in his participation in the Compagnia di Santa Cicilia, to the gatherings of which he contributed songs and an oration (see chapter 1). Within the Accademia degli Umidi his guoco delle polizze, that seems to have been an improvisatory game, is an outstanding example, and his tenzone with Alfonzo de’ Pazzi which I described in chapter 2, bears the stamp of oral literary culture. In the villa poems discussed in chapter 4, Lasca himself stated that villeggiatura was beneficial because it enabled the guests to enjoy poetry ‘con leggere e vedere’. In all likelihood, then, Lasca maintained the ideal of poetry as a social, performative experience throughout his life, and revived it in the Crusca. Lasca’s argument in the Dialogo, therefore, is the Umidi’s poetic spirit revisited. This time, however, the cultural‐political tide was on his side, and he found the powerful allies he had lacked earlier. Many puzzling, obscure or difficult aspects in Lasca’s poetry fall into place when we study it as part of oral culture. My analysis of Lasca’s burlesque abuse of Alfonso de’ Pazzi, in chapter 2, shows that once his poems are regarded as reflections of literary performances, the content as well as the function are clarified. In line with this, we may even consider the thought that Lasca’s epics, the comic‐heroic Guerra de’ Mostri and the unfinished and lost epic Ruggier da Risa, were performative poems. After all, epic narrative was the genre par excellence for the canterini who improvised their song and Salviati 1584: 12‐13. 58
205 stories, and its popularity in Florence as well as within Stradino’s tornatella could indicate that this oral tradition or forms derived from it were even more widespread than we might think. It would require more research, however, to establish whether La Guerra de’ Mostri and the other two epics are to be associated with this practice. Salviati’s dialogue suggests that the practice of performance, and its educational and joyous benefits, just as in the Umidian culture, were still on Lasca’s mind when he gathered the Crusconi, so it is likely that he still fostered the same ideas on poetry’s social and institutional purpose as he had done in the 1540s. This is confirmed by his role in the course of events around the institutionalization of the ‘brigata dei Crusconi’. Lasca’s motive to found a new Academy may again have been related to a wish to consolidate the practice of performative poetry within an institutionalized structure. Therefore, I argue that Lasca did whole‐heartedly support the proposed founding, and may even have planned it together with Salviati, rather than being disappointed in the face of yet another ‘take‐over’ of his private, informal circle, or supporting Salviati’s proposal to found an Academy out of sheer friendship and loyalty, as has been suggested so far. 59 When the occasion presented itself, Lasca grasped it. That one of the discussed reasons to formalize the informal circle was the wish to ensure its continued existence is suggested by the fact that Zanchini, in his opposition to Salviati’s proposal, states that the advanced age of the academicians is problematic: ‘Perciochè come possono uomini di tempo, come noi siamo, […] formare un’Accademia, che duri tempo alcuno?’ 60
The association between Lasca and the burlesque genre has produced the image of Lasca as a non‐conformist, politically as well as culturally. Study of Lasca’s use of the burlesque genre has shown that this image needs revision. I have argued that Lasca’s view on poetry and his ideas on the organization of academic life were closely intertwined. His poetics were shaped by the social and institutional context in which Brown 1974: 166‐167. Diario IV, c. 216. 59
60
206 they functioned and vice versa: Lasca deployed his burlesque poetry as a means to influence the organization of academic life by appealing to his social network. The burlesque was a mode Lasca cherished not so much because it enabled him to voice his opposition, but because it was, in many ways, a social genre. When studied against this background, Lasca’s burlesque poems appear as means to establish or maintain social bonds. The joyous poetic practice in which the genre functioned, and its inherent fiorentinità enhanced the sense of community that could be achieved through burlesque poetry. Lasca’s attempts to create and secure social cohesion through his poetry have been a recurring theme in this study. In chapter 4, we have seen how Lasca parodied a genre that held a special appeal to the group he addressed. Lasca blossomed with the villa poems. He developed a burlesque‐pastoral language, which was appropriate to the rural surroundings that were décor of the gatherings of his addressees. This coded language of humour and male erotics created an intimate and private world and gave its inhabitants a well‐defined identity. Eventually, this group identity facilitated the admission of some of them to the Fiorentina and advanced his own official rehabilitation. In La Guerra de’ Mostri, the subject of chapter 3, Lasca worked with epic, the genre that was part and parcel of the literary heritage of Stradino and his tornatella. This poem, one of Lasca’s most famous and enigmatic works, functioned as a plea to former friends. In the dedication in particular, he recalled the poetic culture of the Umidi and the good times the tornatella used to have under the wings of Stradino. With the burlesque humour that suited this circle, he depicted those members of the former tornatella that in the meantime had found their place in the ranks of the Fiorentina, whom he hoped would hear his plea. The way in which Lasca deployed the burlesque in his poems to Alfonzo de’ Pazzi, discussed in chapter 2, is not unlike the appeal to the tornatella. Like the villa poems, these sonnets formed a consistent generic and thematic cluster. In this case, the burlesque sonnets took on the features of an oral tenzone. Again, this form was quite convenient for its social aim, as it probably functioned within the 207 private gatherings of the Fiorentina and staged a continuous poetic battle that offered a performative alternative to more serious academic debate. Whereas Lasca in the 1560s was able to employ his burlesque poetry to great effect, its effects in the 1540s were less favourable. Lasca’s burlesque incitements‐
dressed‐up‐as‐provocations did not have the desired effect on Alfonso de’ Pazzi. The consequences of La Guerra de’ Mostri may even be called disastrous; the comic‐heroic epic had the opposite effect that the villa cluster had. Rather than reviving old alliances, he seems to have forfeited the friendship of the former companions he appealed to. Lasca was expelled from the Fiorentina, along with many others who were of little use to the ‘new’ Academy. The motivation behind Lasca’s expulsion, we may conclude, was his lack of conformity to the new orientation and the corresponding academic forms. Indeed, in the years preceding 1547 Lasca the academician may be regarded as rebellious and subversive, but undeniably his use of the burlesque had a social function that was intrinsically directed towards cohesion instead of subversion per se. Whether he was able to use it to effect depended on the cultural and political circumstances and his own reputation. The comparison between Lasca’s early academic life at the Accademia degli Umidi and the young Accademia Fiorentina, and his late academic life at the Accademia della Crusca, has shown that Lasca himself changed but little. Indeed, in terms of cultural development he proved to be rigidly conservative, seeing that his views on the organization of literary life and poetry remained remarkably consistent between the 1540s and 1580s. His success within the official academic circuit depended on external factors, which changed considerably in the course of the sixteenth century. In the 1540s, in the new Academy, performative literary culture – which included improvisation, competition and discussion – collided with the policy of order and obedience and the wish to control and censor academic practice. Lasca’s idea of fiorentinità, which was shaped by the city’s festive and poetic heritage, had to make way for a more scholarly approach that was politically expedient. During the transition period of the Academy, between 1541 and 1547, Lasca held on to his beliefs, which 208 eventually made him unacceptable to the Aramei, the new rulers of the Academy. This study has made it abundantly clear that Lasca’s opposition was never political, nor did he reject learning and knowledge; the battle he fought was about the formal organization of academic practice. This was at stake in his tenzone with opinion maker Alfonso de’ Pazzi, as well as in La Guerra de’ Mostri. In these cases, Lasca did not focus on the contents of discussions; above all he opposed its detrimental effects on his ideal form of literary life. By the 1580s times had again changed. Both from a cultural and political viewpoint, a wider support had emerged for the culture he advocated. As a consequence, his literary reputation soared, first within the villa circle of Raffaello, later in the Crusconi circle and the Accademia della Crusca. The conclusion that Lasca was not politically subversive has consequences for our conception of the Accademia Fiorentina in the 1540s. Firstly because it shows that other interests were at stake than the Academy’s political mission. The exclusion of members in 1547, as I have shown in chapter 3, was not just a means to get rid of political dissidents or lower class members. Reality was more complex than that: each member should be assessed individually, with an eye for alternative motives. Lasca’s case makes clear that struggle within the Academy was as much about form and culture as it was about politics and class. Lasca’s attachment to the burlesque was unrelated to both: it was neither a motion of non‐confidence in the cultural politics of Cosimo nor a sign of his alleged preference for popular culture. Indeed in this period, performative poetry and the burlesque were part and parcel of Florence’s elite culture as much as its popular culture – if such a distinction could even be made. The fact that Lasca wanted to institutionalize this tradition with his elite friends, the Umidi and the Crusconi, shows that he cherished this poetic tradition as part of the Florentine cultural heritage. Lasca’s relationship with his Academies was always difficult, and often frustrating. He never reached the goal he pursued, neither within the Fiorentina nor properly within the Crusca. Nevertheless, he did succeed in bringing the poetic culture of which he had so long been the main proponent into the next century. Due to his long career and his 209 tenacity to the burlesque genre and performative poetry, he both facilitated and represented the renewed interest in both cultural exponents in the last quarter of the century. Already with the founding of the Accademia degli Alterati (1569), as Henk van Veen has argued, the festive literary culture of the Umidi was revisited. 61 This restoration seems to have been part of a broader tendency to return to old forms and traditions, in particular in patrician circles. 62 The musical Camerata de’ Bardi, for instance, fell back on monodic forms that strongly resemble the musical habits of the poet‐singers of the early sixteenth century. 63
In his very conservatism, Lasca nevertheless seems to have set a trend. In the late Cinquecento, the course of patricians to the campagna increased. For the case of the Alterati, Van Veen argues that, rather than deserting the city and the responsibilities of the patriciate, as many historians have claimed, the academicians organized their Academy and its practice to promote vivere civile. 64 Romei sustains that in literary circles two separate cultures developed: the official culture in the city and an alternative culture in the countryside. 65 In his view, city and campagna became detached worlds where the same groups of people would do different things. An example of this may be the circle of patricians who formed the Accademia dei Pastori Antellesi at the turn of the century, in which prominent men of letters such as Michelangelo Buonarroti il Giovane and Iacopo Soldani participated. 66 The ‘pastors of Antella’ used the villas around Ligliano as their base, 67 strolled the fields around Antella and endulged in pastimes that recall the joyous and performative culture of the early circles of sixteenth‐century Florence. The villa circles such as the one around Michelangelo il Giovane, seem to have cherished a Van Veen 2008: 305‐306. On the musical aspirations of the Alterati, see also: Palisca 1968: passim. Van Veen 2008: 294‐295. 63 On the Camerata de’ Bardi, see: Kirkendale 2003: passim; Ruth 1984: passim; Russano Hanning 1984: passim; Pirotta 1984: passim; and above all: Palisca 1954: passim, Palisca 1979: passim; Palisca 1989: passim. 64 Van Veen 2008: 290‐308. 65 Romei 2001: 7. 66 For the most recent study on Michelangelo Buonarroti il Giovane and his poetic and musical production, see: Cole 2008: passim. 67 Casprini 1994: 78. See also: Idem 2000: passim. 61
62
210 similar taste for erotic and mocking poetry. 68 Thus, the isolated and private atmosphere of hidden games and loves in the countryside that Lasca represents in the villa poems, prefigure a tradition that started flourishing in the late sixteenth‐century Florentine campagna. This study has shown that Lasca can be regarded as an important mediator, who carried the poetic spirit of the Umidi to a new age. Owing to his unchanging, almost stubborn views on the social functions of poetry, traditional forms of burlesque and performative poetry survived. When Cosimo de’ Medici took the inititative of creating the state‐controlled Accademia Fiorentina in the 1540s, Lasca – much to his detriment – was practically alone in his adherence to the cultural forms the new Academy sought to eradicate because they were considered to be uncontrollable. Throughout the 1540s and 1550s, he remained the most important representative of an oppressed culture. Once Cosimo’s regime was firmly established, and his cultural politics became less stringent, Lasca worked hard to re‐establish this tradition. One of his main achievements was that he managed to bolster the performative burlesque by supplying it with a printed life as well. His editions of opere burlesche of Berni, Burchiello and others were part of his effort as much as his own poetic activities. The success of his work depended to a large extent on the cultural‐political tide, yet without Lasca’s perseverance, his understanding of fiorentinità would never have been available when it was needed. The developments in Lasca’s career therefore do not only reflect cultural and political fluctuations in Cinquecento Florence, they also contributed to the survival and grounding of one of the city’s great cultural traditions: burlesque performative poetry. I thank Danilo Romei for bringing the villa gatherings of Michelangelo Buonarroti il Giovane to my attention. Elisa Goudriaan directed me towards the activities of the pastori antellesi. 68
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Op basis van de satirische gedichten waarin hij de spot drijft met de politiek gemotiveerde ontwikkelingen in de Accademia fiorentina, die na de oprichting in 1541 in toenemende mate een staatsorgaan van Cosimo I de’ Medici werd, is Lasca’s gebruik van het burleske genre politiek en zelfs anti‐Medici gezind uitgelegd, met name door Lasca‐
specialist Michel Plaisance. Deze dissertatie stelt dat de politieke lezing van Lasca’s poëzie herzien moet worden. Lasca’s persoon en gedichten worden in hun sociale en institutionele context geplaatst op vijf beslissende momenten in zijn levenslange en altijd gecompliceerde relatie met de Accademia fiorentina. Op die manier wordt aangetoond dat Lasca’s insteek niet zozeer politiek gemotiveerd was maar veeleer te maken had met een specifieke poëtica en met zijn kijk op de organisatie van literair leven. Lasca was betrokkken bij de totstandkoming van twee grote Florentijnse academies. Het begin van zijn carrière stond in het teken van de oprichting van de Accademia degli Umidi (1540), een academie die drie maanden later herdoopt werd tot Accademia fiorentina. Meer dan veertig jaar later, een jaar voor zijn dood, was Lasca een van de oprichters van de Accademia della Crusca (1583), die als taalinstituut nog steeds 229
bestaat. Veel van Lasca’s poëzie ontstond in de context van deze drie academies, om gebruikt te worden tijdens de bijeenkomsten. Om te begrijpen hoe zijn poëzie functioneerde moet de institutionele organisatie van deze academies in ogenschouw worden genomen. In deze dissertatie wordt poëzie‐analyse daarom gecombineerd met institutioneel onderzoek. In twee delen wordt in deze studie de samenhang tussen Lasca’s poëtische carrière en zijn academische positie onderzocht. Het eerste deel gaat in op de formele en informele literaire circuits waarin hij zich begaf en laat zien hoe deze zijn poëtica beïnvloedden. In het tweede deel worden Lasca’s gedichten geanalyseerd om de poëtische strategieën te achterhalen waarmee Lasca zichzelf positioneerde in het academische circuit. De oorsprong van Lasca’s academische en poëtische voorkeuren ligt in het functioneren van informele culturele circuits zoals het lekenboederschap Compagnia di Santa Cicilia en de tornatella, een groep jonge dichters die bijeenkwam in het huis van Giovanni Mazzuoli, alias ‘lo Stradino’. In hoofdstuk 1 worden deze vroege jaren ‘40 bestudeerd. De invloed van Stradino op de tornatella was groot. Hij trad op als mentor die zijn pupillen onderhield met verhalen, al dan niet historisch, en poëtisch vermaak naar gebruik van de cantarini, improviserende zanger‐dichters die in Florence altijd heel populair waren geweest. Een ander belangrijk aspect van de invloed van Stradino was zijn enorme collectie manuscripten en boeken, met name bestaande uit werken in de volkstaal. De oprichters van de Accademia degli Umidi waren afkomstig uit de tornatella, en de oprichting van de academie markeert het moment waarop de poëtische cultuur zoals gepraktiseerd bij Stradino, een cultuur die nauw verbonden was met Florentijns cultureel erfgoed, wordt geïnstitutionaliseerd. Bestudering van de statuten van de academie, het Libro, Capitoli Compositioni et Leggi, della Accademia degli Humydi di Firenze (hierna Libro) laat zien dat de poëtische activiteiten van de Umidi, en in het bijzonder van Lasca, meestal een performatief karakter hadden. De gedichten die de Umidi in het Libro optekenden waren onderdeel van (poëzie‐)opvoeringen, wedstrijden en educatieve of improviserende spelletjes. Lasca’s guoco [sic] delle polizze, bijvoorbeeld, een poëtisch spel dat traditioneel gespeeld 230
werd op de avond van Driekoningen en de poeziewedstrijden van de Umidi waaraan Lasca ook deelnam, laten zien dat activiteiten gericht waren op het doorgeven van poëtische waarden door discussie en door het oefenen en beoordelen van vaardigheden. De nadruk die in de missieverklaring van de academie gelegd wordt op vermaak (‘passatempo’) en vrijheid heeft er vooralsnog steeds toe geleid dat onderzoekers de Accademia degli Umidi kwalificeerden als een vluchtig en informeel gezelschap dat geen serieuze ambities koesterde. De statuten van de academie laten echter zien dat de Umidi juist een zeer sterk geïnstitutionaliseerd fundament legden. Vanuit die basis wilden zij een cultureel erfgoed waarborgen dat verbonden was met de literaire en feestcultuur van de stad. De institutionele grondvesten van de Accademia degli Umidi dienen als uitgangspunt voor het tweede hoofdstuk, waarin de periode 1541‐1547, een duidelijke overgangsperiode voor de Accademia fiorentina, onderzocht wordt. In dit hoofdstuk wordt aangetoond dat de voortzetting van de performatieve gewoontes van de Umidi binnen de Fiorentina in toenemende mate botste met de politieke missie die de academie kreeg toebedeeld. De eerste jaren werden daardoor getekend door interne onrust en polemiek. Niet alleen kwamen hier twee academische culturen met elkaar in aanvaring, de zoektocht naar nieuwe vormen die de academici bezig hield, was eveneens een botsing tussen oraal cultuurgoed en verschriftelijking en academisering in de moderne zin van het woord. De gedichten die Lasca voor collega‐academicus en zanger‐dichter Alfonso de’ Pazzi componeerde, bieden een verhelderend inzicht in deze interactie tussen oraliteit en verschriftelijking. Hoewel de Annali dell’Accademia Fiorentina (Annali) en de Capitoli della nuova riforma (Capitoli) laten zien dat de poëtische performatieve cultuur steeds meer onder druk kwam te staan, toont het corpus aan Pazzi aan dat debat, muziek, improvisatie en poëzie‐opvoeringen slechts heel geleidelijk werden gewist uit de academische organisatie. Bestudeerd vanuit een sociologisch perspectief, blijken Lasca’s burleske gedichten aan Pazzi sterk verankerd te zijn in de orale cultuur die in de academie werd bevochten. In Lasca’s optiek waren debat en het vrije woord essentieel 231
voor het functioneren van een academie. Hij probeerde daarom juist de oncontro‐
leerbare poëtische activiteiten als improvisatie en orale dichtstrijd – hoe gevoelig ook voor satire en relletjes – gaande te houden. Zijn polemiek met Alfonso de’ Pazzi is daarvan een illustratie. Deze koppige trouw aan de praktijken van de Umidi, ook tegen de stroom in, zorgde voor zijn instabiele positie in de gelederen van de Fiorentina. In het tweede deel van de studie komen de mechanismen van het burleske genre nadrukkelijker in beeld. Hoofdstuk drie contextualiseert Lasca’s ondoorgrondelijke komisch‐heroïsche epos La Guerra deʹ Mostri (1547) en zijn opdracht aan Stradino. Het epos is een allegorie op de explosieve situatie in de Accademia fiorentina. De Annali laten zien dat de ‘Aramei’, de groep academici die aan het hof van Cosimo gelieerd waren en die verantwoordelijk waren geweest voor de overname van de Accademia degli Umidi, in het voorjaar van 1547, een laatste, zeer rigoreuze ronde van hervormingen planden. Lasca’s epos is een pleidooi aan de voormalige Umidi om toch vooral vast te houden aan hun eigen poëtische cultuur. Door verschillende academici als ‘mostro’ te laten strijden en hun op burleske wijze belachelijk te maken, klaagt het epos daarnaast degenen aan die Umidi cultuur dwarszitten of verloochenen – Aramei maar ook Umidi. Vele voormalige Umidi blijken een ambivalente positie te bekleden in de Fiorentina. Lasca neemt hen hun afvalligheid kwalijk, maar heeft toch ook hoop de poëtische cultuur van de Umidi te kunnen laten herleven in deze tijden van onderdrukking. Zowel in de opdracht aan Stradino als in de beschrijving van de monsters maakt hij gebruik van homo‐erotische beeldspraak, op de persoon gerichte spot en literaire parodie. Op die manier creëert hij een literaire sfeer die nauw aansloot bij de humor en het functioneren van de voormalige tornatella van Stradino en van de oorspronkelijke academie. Lasca’s pleidooi in La Guerra deʹ Mostri bleef onbeantwoord. Hij bevond zich onder de leden die in augustus 1547 uit de academie werden gezet als gevolg van de hervormingen. Vervolgens zou hij zich twintig jaar in de marges van het officiële academische circuit bevinden. Pas in 1566 zag hij kans weer terug te keren in de gelederen van de Accademia fiorentina. In hoofdstuk vier wordt bestudeerd hoe Lasca 232
zijn poëzie opnieuw strategisch inzette om zijn sociale positie te bevorderen in de jaren ‘60. In een groep pastorale gedichten, die de campagna van Florence als toneel hebben, gebruikt hij humor en homo‐erotische beeldspraak om de cohesie te bevorderen binnen een groep van geletterde mannen die allen regelmatig te gast waren in verschillende villa’s. Lasca creëerde een poëtische codetaal die nauwkeurig aansloot bij de pastorale thematiek van villeggiatura om banden binnen deze groep te onderhouden en te versterken. De villa’s in deze gedichten zijn onder andere Ligliano van Raffaello de’ Medici, en Le Rose van Giovanbatista Cini. Met Cini, die een prominente positie had in de Medici‐entourage en de Accademia fiorentina, werkte Lasca vanaf 1559 regelmatig samen. Lasca versterkte zijn positie ook door zijn literaire hofmakerij van Raffaello, een jonge telg uit het Medici‐geslacht. Deze hofmakerij bevorderde zijn reintegratie in het officiële academische milieu. Dit hoofdstuk toont aan dat Raffaello niet de enige was die door Lasca het hof gemaakt werd in zijn poëzie; hun band was onderdeel van een coherente kring jonge mannen. Lasca’s rol in deze kring was die van huisdichter en mentor; hij leverde poëtisch vermaak tijdens de ontmoetigen in de villa’s. Hij positioneerde zich zorgvuldig in deze groep die, blijkens uit de Annali, in 1566 als geheel werd toegelaten tot de Fiorentina. Lasca’s terugkeer in de academie was daarom geen kwestie van een gedurfde keuze van consul Lionardo Salviati, zoals diens biograaf Peter Brown beweert, maar het logische gevolg van een reïntegratieproces waarin de dichter zelf een sturende hand had gehad. In de epiloog wordt de oprichting van de Accademia della Crusca bestudeerd (1583). Sinds de jaren ‘60 had Lasca succesvol gewerkt om de voorwaarden te scheppen die hem uiteindelijk een dichter van grote reputatie maakten, een dichter bovendien die exemplarisch was voor een oudere, zeer Florentijnse poëtische traditie. Deze culturele rehabilitatie bereikte een hoogtepunt na Lasca’s dood, toen zijn status in de Accademia della Crusca tot grote hoogte werd opgestuwd. Niet alleen werd er binnen de Crusca gewerkt aan een editieproject van Lasca’s burleske poëzie, ook speelde Lasca de hoofdrol in een dialoog van Lionardo Salviati. Deze dialoog werd geschreven om de 233
Crusca van een eerste publicatie te voorzien en moest de toon zetten voor het imago van de academie. De poëticale uitgangspunten die Lasca’s alter ego in deze samenspraak verwoordt, suggereren dat Lasca’s poëzie‐opvatting aan het eind van zijn leven niet fundamenteel verschilde met die van de jaren ‘40. In navolging van Aristoteles’ Poëtica onderstreept het personage Lasca het belang van performativiteit in poëzie als middel om te onderwijzen en bepaalde waarden over te brengen. Deze ideeën doen sterk denken aan de poëtische uitgangspunten van de Umidi. Deze studie concludeert dan ook dat Lasca gedurende zijn lange carrière een poëtische cultuur in leven probeerde te houden die gekenmerkt werd door performatieve aspecten en burleske humor. Zijn succes was steeds afhankelijk van het cultureel‐politieke tij. Immers, toen op last van Cosimo het staatsorgaan Accademia fiorentina werd gecreëerd, stond Lasca vrijwel alleen in zijn pogingen aan oude gewoontes vast te houden. Gedurende de jaren ’40 en ’50 bleef hij de belangrijkste vertegenwoordiger van de onderdrukte academische cultuur. Toen Cosimo’s heerschappij geconsolideerd was en zijn cultuurpolitiek minder dwingend werd, zag Lasca kansen om de poëtische cultuur van de Umidi te herstellen. Een gunstige omstandigheid was daarbij dat er meer in het algemeen een trend gaande was richting traditionele Florentijnse cultuur. Lasca kan worden beschouwd als een belangrijke bemiddelaar: dankzij zijn onveranderlijke, zelfs koppige kijk op de sociale functies van poëzie, konden traditionele vormen van het burleske en het performatieve overleven. Een belangrijke verdienste van Lasca was bijvoorbeeld dat hij de van nature vluchtige performatieve poëzie en het burleske genre van een eeuwig leven voorzag door edities te verzorgen van Florentijnse carnavalsliederen en opere burlesche van Burchiello, Berni en anderen. Zonder Lasca’s volhardendheid zou zijn hele specifieke kijk op fiorentinità niet beschikbaar zijn geweest voor latere generaties. De ontwikkelingen in Lasca’s carrière illustreren daarom niet alleen de culturele en politieke schommelingen van het zestiende‐eeuwse Florence, maar hebben vooral bijgedragen tot de overlevering en verankering van een van de grote culturele tradities van de stad: die van de performatieve en burleske poëzie. 234
Dankwoord (Ringraziamento) De mooiste bijkomstigheid van onderzoek doen naar een zestiende‐eeuwse Florentijnse dichter, is dat het noodzakelijk is ook in Florence te werken. Ik heb intens genoten van mijn verblijven daar, op het Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut (NIKI), in de Via de’ Maci en in de campagna van Pontassieve. Niets zo stimulerend voor historisch onderzoek als lange dagen in de manuscriptenzalen van de Florentijnse bibliotheken, omzwervingen door het oude centrum, lunch op de trappen van Santa Croce onder toeziend oog van Dante en afdalen naar de stad over de oude Via San Leonardo. Ik hield op slag van Florence toen ik op mijn elfde de hand van Michelangelo’s David voor het eerst zag op een ansichtkaart, en ben Lasca zeer dankbaar dat hij mij zijn stad later ook van binnenuit heeft leren kennen. Mijn promotor Harald Hendrix kan ik daarom niet genoeg bedanken voor het feit dat hij Lasca in 1998 aan mij voorstelde in het kader van de cursus ‘De grenzen van het lichaam’. Ook heb ik veel geprofiteerd van Haralds betrokken begeleiding, waarin hij steeds de juiste balans wist te houden tussen loslaten en ingrijpen. Maar meer nog dan voor de suggestie van Lasca als onderzoeksobject, sta ik bij hem in het krijt vanwege die andere man die hij op mijn pad bracht. Harald, grote dank voor het feit dat jij Helmer naar het NIKI hebt gestuurd voor de stage bij Gert‐Jan, juist toen ik er ook was. Van mijn Groningse promotor Henk van Veen leerde ik dat intuïtie een waardevol onderzoeksinstrument kan zijn. Het was altijd heel plezierig om Henk ideeën en vragen voor te leggen; weinig mensen zijn zo thuis in de verschillende aspecten van het culturele leven van Florence als hij. Zo was hij vaak een toetssteen voor mijn eigen intuïties. Mijn dank gaat ook uit naar het Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Cultuur van de Universiteit Utrecht. Zonder de financiële ondersteuning en de stimulerende werkomgeving van het OGC was dit onderzoek niet mogelijk geweest. Van de vaste staf wil ik in het bijzonder aio‐coördinator Simone Veld bedanken die mij van vele nuttige adviezen heeft voorzien en bovendien fijn gezelschap is. Ook heb ik 235
baat gehad bij het cursusaanbod van het Huizinga Instituut, onderzoekschool voor cultuurgeschiedenis en bij de contacten die ik daar op deed. Een derde instituut dat belangrijk is geweest in het faciliteren van mijn onderzoek, is het NIKI. Meermaals heb ik gebruik mogen maken van beurzen en onderdak op het istituto, en mijn verblijven daar vormen het hart van dit boek. Van de vele bijzondere mensen die ik op het NIKI heb ontmoet, dank ik met name Tjarda Vermeijden, Gert‐Jan van der Sman en Bert Meijer voor hun belangstelling in mij en mijn toch niet al te kunsthistorische onderzoek. Ook de vriendschap van Arvi Wattel dank ik aan het instituut. Arvi, het zijn altijd goede tijden met jou, of we nu in Florence of in België zijn. Vele collega’s en vrienden hebben invloed gehad op mijn gedachtenvorming over Lasca of op andere wijze bijgedragen aan de totstandkoming van dit proefschrift. In gezelschap van mijn Utrechtse collega’s van Muntstraat 4, Muntstraat 2a en Trans 10 zijn veel gezellige momenten en inhoudelijke discussies gepasseerd. Dank daarvoor aan Kristine Steenbergh, Clazina Dingemanse, Joost Vrieler en aan vele anderen die zich hierbij hopelijk ook gememoreerd weten. Veel heb ik opgestoken van de bijeenkomsten van het Seminar Italiaanse Renaissance in Utrecht of Groningen. Ook dank ik de redactie van Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani voor vele jaren fijne samenwerking. Menig ‘invalletje’ heb ik mogen uitwerken met onze onvolprezen hoofdredacteur Monica Jansen. Mo, je creatieve geest is een ware goudmijn, ik hoop dat we nog lang zullen samenwerken. En ‘last’ maar allerminst ‘least’ prijs ik mij gelukkig dat ik Suzan Rüsseler, Irene van Renswoude en Babette Hellemans in het Utrechtse heb ontmoet; op één avond met deze drie gratieën kan ik maanden teren. Verder bedank ik mijn eigen tornatella – Carolien Steenbergen, Gandolfo Cascio, Davy van Oers en Claudia Clemente – voor het geduldige meelezen en becommen‐
tariëren door de jaren heen. Ringrazio di cuore i colleghi del gruppo di ricerca inter‐
nazionale ‘Cinquecento plurale’ per la generosità con cui mi hanno fatto participare nella loro erudizione e con cui mi hanno fornito informazioni su poeti burleschi cinquecenteschi come il Doni, il Berni, il Lasca e l’incomparabile Alfonso de’ Pazzi. Nomino in particolare Franco Pignatti, Giorgio Masi, Danilo Romei, Paolo Proccacioli e Christopher Cairns; è stato per me un grande onore aver fatto la loro conoscenza. Van het gezelschap van Philiep Bossier en Rolien Scheffer heb ik mogen genieten tijdens verschillende Italiaanse congressen. Philiep was bovendien steeds een kritische en leerzame stem op de achtergrond. Zonder Arjan van Dixhoorn had dit boek er anders uitgezien. Stomverbaasd was ik toen hij mij bij onze kennismaking begon uit te vragen over de Fiorentina. Zijn unieke kijk op het functioneren van geletterde genootschappen en de samenwerking met ‘zijn’ internationale werkgroep ‘Literary societies’ hebben mijn denkproces sterk beïnvloed. Helmer Helmers was mijn meest kritische redacteur en sparring‐partner. Helm, nu jouw boek! Mijn zwager Rutger Helmers en onnavolgbare schoonmoeder Manja Helmers waren onmisbaar in de allerlaatste fase met hun scherpe oog voor Engelse teksten. Rutger hielp mij bovendien met musicologische kwesties. 236
Uiteraard had dit boek had niet geschreven kunnen worden zonder de steun en praktische hulp van vrienden en familie. Jaro, P. en Nienke, fijn dat jullie er al zo lang voor me zijn. Met de geboorte van Geerten en Liselot werd de uitvoering van dit onderzoek ook een beetje het project van mijn familie. Een absoluut hoogtepunt daarin was het collectieve uitje naar Cerreto Libri, ons palazzo in de Florentijnse heuvels – vier weken lang kon ik iedere morgen naar de bibliotheek afreizen zonder me om luiers te hoeven bekommeren. Roel, Hanneke, Harm, Harry, Marjo, Roel en Manja, dank jullie wel. Els, jij bent onze goede fee. Helmer, Geerten en Lotje, fijn dat het af is, hè? Tot slot denk ik aan Gropa en Oma Antoinette, die dit boek ongetwijfeld op hun koffietafel te pronken zouden hebben gelegd. Ik had het jullie graag gegeven. En Mam, die ansichtkaart was een goede zet van jou! 237
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Curriculum Vitae INGE WERNER werd op 24 oktober 1973 geboren te Utrecht. Zij studeerde Italiaanse taal‐ en letterkunde en Kunstgeschiedenis aan de Universiteit Utrecht en studeerde in 2000 in beide studies af met de specialisatie Renaissance en Barok. Vanaf 2001 was zij als promovendus verbonden aan het Onderzoeksinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Cultuur aldaar. Op dit moment is zij werkzaam als redactiecoördinator bij Igitur, Utrecht publishing & archiving services. In 2009‐2010 zal zij bovendien als docent Renaissance werken bij de opleiding Algemene Literatuurwetenschap van de Universiteit Utrecht. Verder is zij redacteur van Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani. Inge Werner is getrouwd met Helmer Helmers en heeft twee kinderen: Geerten (2004) en Liselot (2007). 239