[170] One of the chief merits of the Calandra in the eyes of contemporaries was the successful adaptation of Boccaccio's style to the stage. Though Italians alone have the right to pronounce judgment on such matters, I confess to preferring the limpid ease of Ariosto and the plebeian freshness of Gelli. The former has the merit of facile lucidity, the latter of native raciness. Bibbiena's somewhat pompous phraseology sits ill upon his farcical obscenities.
[171] See the translation in Dennistoun, vol. ii. p. 141.
[172] See Vasari, viii. 227.
[173] See D'Ancona, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 250, for the special nature of the Farsa. See also ib. p. 211, the description by Paolucci of Leo's buffooneries in the Vatican.
[174] See Campori, Notizie Inedite di Raffaello di Urbino, Modena, 1863, quoted by D'Ancona, op. cit. p. 212. The entertainment cost Leo 1,000 ducats.
[175] No doubt Paolucci refers to the obscene play upon the word Suppositi, and to the ironical epithet of Santa applied to Roma in a passage which does no honor to Ariosto.
[176] For the dates of Ariosto's dramatic compositions, see above, [Part I, p. 499]. The edition I shall refer to, is that of Giovanni Tortoli (Firenze, Barbèra, 1856), which gives both the prose and verse redactions of the Cassaria and Suppositi. It may here be incidentally remarked that there are few thoroughly good editions of Italian plays. Descriptions of the dramatis personæ, stage directions, and illustrative notes are almost uniformly wanting. The reader is left to puzzle out an intricate action without help. All the slang, the local customs, and the passing allusions which give life to comedy and present so many difficulties to the student, are for the most part unexplained.
[177] Gabrielle added the last two scenes of the fifth act. See his prologue. But whether he introduced any modifications into the body of the play, or filled up any gaps, does not appear.
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Poichè a Pavia levato era il salario Alli dottor, nè più si facea studio Per le guerre che più ogni dì augumentano. |