Chapter XIII: Act III: ISABELLA, HARLEQUIN, and then ORAZIO (3)

“Whilst he was speaking thus it seemed to me that I heard
music. Not that of songs and instruments, but a something more
harmonious, like a concert. It seemed to me that all this
made up so beautiful a thing that it would be impossible to
relate it in a thousand years, even with a thousand tongues. I
wanted to look attentively so as to miss nothing, such was the
pleasure I gathered from this spectacle. But my eyes seemed
hindered I know not by what heaviness. Making yet another
effort to open them the dream took flight, and I found myself
restored to reality.

“At the same moment I beheld my dogs returning, driving the
hare before them. They were so tired that one of them came to
lie down before me and to let me take the palpitating hare from
his jaws.

“I remembered my dream, and I bethought me that the music which
I had heard greatly resembled the voices of my dogs. It seemed
to me also that the cause of all those lovely things which I
had seen coming and going in my dream were my dogs pursuing the
hare, which, by passing again and again before me, caused me in
the end to open my eyes.

“There you have my _divertissement_; laugh over it with some
good companion. I kiss your hands and commend myself to you and
to our friends, to whom I augur happiness and an existence as
eternal as that which I was seeking.

“RUZZANTE.

“_From Padua, on the feast of the Epiphany, 1535._”

It would be wrong for the _commedia sostenuta_ to claim Ruzzante; he belongs to our subject every whit as much as Gozzi and Goldoni, those ungrateful successors of his who never mention his name, and who very possibly never read his works. In accordance with the ancient Italian custom, Beolco wrote his comedies after he had played them with his gay and clever comrades; he performed them at least partly in impromptu. Moreover in some of his pieces many scenes are no more than indicated in a few words, to be played and improvised by the actors; for instance:

“The Bravo enters and falls upon Ruzzante, etc.

“They now sing, and when they have done, Nale enters, and
drawing his sword, advances upon Menego saying: ‘Draw,
traitor!’ Menego, frightened does not draw but runs hither and
thither receiving many blows.”

Elsewhere: “Hereupon the priest makes a few signs and noises
are heard which terrify Menego and Duozzo, whom the priest
reassures, etc.”

Some of the works of Ruzzante were preserved in the family of his protector Cornelio; others were published, some in their original text, some translated into Italian. Five of his comedies printed severally for the first time in 1551, and some of them reprinted more than once, were, in 1563, collected into an octavo volume in Venice by Giovanni Bonadio. These were _La Piovana_, _L’Anconitana_, _La Moschetta_, _La Vaccaria_ and _La Fiorina_.

An edition of the complete works of Ruzzante was issued in 1584 in duodecimo by Giorgio Greco at Vicenza. It bore the title:

_Tutte l’opere del famosissimo Ruzzante di nuovo e con somma
diligenza rivedute et corrette, et aggiuntovi un sonetto et
una canzone dello stesso autore. Al molto magnifico signor
Vespasiano Zopiano gentil’huomo Vicentino. Ristampate l’anno
del Signore 1584._

Another edition appeared in Vicenza in 1598, and a third and last edition, which is the best known, was published in 1617 in Venice by Domenico Amadio:

“The works of the celebrated Signor Angelo Beolco, a nobleman
of Padua, surnamed Ruzzante, are,” says the publisher in a
preface to the readers, “so beloved and appreciated by all
the world for their sentiment, wit, delicacy and erudition,
that they are sought after by everyone as a most learned and
interesting collection. Having regard, then, to this general
desire, I have reprinted them with care, and I deliver them to
the public revised, corrected, and conforming entirely with
the originals on the score of purity of style and primitive
simplicity. In delighting you with this book, I trust that the
nobility of your soul will take into consideration my labour
and my good intention, which are always at the services of the
pleasure and the well-being of all.”

This last edition includes the following works of the _very celebrated_ Ruzzante: with the apologetic titles of the editor:

_La Piovana_, “or the history of the purse.”

_L’Anconitana_, “a comedy which treats of love and which cannot fail to give pleasure.”

_La Rhodiana_, “a surprising and very laughable comedy, full of very piquant sayings in various languages, by the very celebrated Ruzzante.”

This last comedy is attributed to Andrea Calmo, a Venetian actor and author, a contemporary of Ruzzante’s. There is reason to believe that it was written by Ruzzante after having been played from a scenario supplied by Calmo. That at least is what appears to be proven by the following fragment of the prologue:

“... It is the custom in Carnival time to amuse you with divertissements and performances of this style, but we should have been unable to have done it this year without the assistance of one of our companions, who, although unable to leave his own troupe, suggested to us and brought us the work which you are going to see performed this evening. We have been compelled, then, to have recourse to his good memory which has given us this work, a work which will undoubtedly please you if you will not make too much noise.”

_La Vaccaria_, “a comedy no less witty than amusing.”

_La Fiorina_, “a comedy no less piquant than delectable.”

_La Moschetta_, “a comedy no less amusing than agreeable.”

Three discourses by Ruzzante, “written and recited in rustic language. Works full of wit and sallies, and marvellously amusing.”

Two dialogues “in rustic language, moral, witty and agreeable.”

A dialogue “very facetious and very droll, played at the hunt in 1528.”

The characters in the plays of Ruzzante are: In the rôles of fathers and of ridiculous and battered husbands, Messer Andronico, Messer Cornelio (old men of Venice), Demetrio Placido, Diomede, Ser Thomao, Pittaro, Sivello, Pasquale, Tura and Maregale; the lovers are Tancredo, Theodoro, Gismonde, Flavio, Roberto, Federico, and Polidoro (a ridiculous lover); the leading ladies are Ginevra, Isotta, Fiorinetta, and Beatrice; his peasant girls are Gnua, Fiore, Bettia, Nina, Ghetta and Dina; his soubrettes are Besa, Gita, Betta and Maddalena; in the rôles of mother he has Theodosia, Ruspina, Resca, Sofronia, Felicita, Celega and Prudentia (_ruffiana_), and Doralice (a courtesan); his rustic types are Ruzzante, Menego-Menato, Duozzo, Marchioro, Bilora, Bedon, Truffa, Vezzo, Loron, Forbino, and Siton; his intriguing lackeys are Tonin the Bergamese, Nale, Slavero, Garbuio, Daldura, Garbinello, Zane, Bertevello, Campeggio, Naso and Corrado (the German). In addition to these his comedies include a notary and Piolo, a singer.

END OF VOLUME ONE

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH

FOOTNOTES

[1] About £160,000 of our present money.

[2] _I.e._ players in the Théâtres de la Foire—that is to say, players who set up their theatres at public fairs.

[3] See the dialogue between Clindor and Matamore, etc., etc., in P. Corneille’s _L’Illusion Comique_.

[4] Mondor’s diction in these performances in Paris was an extraordinary mixture of French, Italian and Spanish, which it is only possible to appreciate by a glimpse at the original:

“RODOMONT. Cavallières, mousquetadères, bombardas, canones,
morions, corseletes! Aqui, veillaco!... Son il Capitanio
Rodomonté, la bravura, la valore de todo el mondo; la mia spada
s’est rendue triomphante del toto universo.

“TABARIN. Il est vray, par ma foy; il n’y a personne qui joue
mieux de l’espée à deux jambes que luy.

“RODOMONT. Que fasto en sta casa, Tabarin? Que fasto veillaco?
Io te quero ablar.... Aqui, veillacon? Aqui, poerco? Io te
quero matar, eres moerto!”

[5] Courtesans did not allow their hair to grow, so that they might dress in male attire when the fancy took them. But those who were faithful to their lovers retained long hair as a sign of the propriety of their conduct.

[6] “The white uniform of the gardes-françaises,” says M. Édouard Fournier, “is somewhat reminiscent of the costume of the naïve comedian; hence they are everywhere called Pierrots. The street urchin did not stop at that: whenever he beheld a soldier in white uniform he imitated the cry of the sparrow, which is also called a pierrot, and cried out ‘Piou-piou’; hence this sobriquet, which is still given to our infantry soldiers.”

[7] “_Il TEATRO delle favole rappresentative, overo la ricreatione comica, boscareccia e tragica; divisa in cinquanta giornate. Composte da Flaminio Scala, detto Flavio, comico del sereniss. sig. duca di Mantoua. In Venetia 1661._”

[8] Gennari, in his _Saggio storico sulle accademie_, page 21, calls him “the new Roscius of his day, an admirable man, a prodigious actor and the author of very clever comedies.”

[9] The manuscripts were not printed until several years after his death.