She Requires The Aid Of Music, Chuses The Melody; The Audience
Propose The Subject, And Rima Obbligata, And The Intercalario, Where It
Is Required.
In her gestures, particularly before she begins to recite, she
reminded me of the description given of the priestess of.
Delphi. She walks
along the stage for four or five minutes in silent meditation on the
subject proposed, then suddenly stops, calls to the musicians to play a
certain symphony and then begins as if inspired. Among the different rhimes
in osco, a gentleman who sat next to me proposed to her Cimosco. I
asked him what Cimosco he meant; he replied a Tuscan poet of that name.
For my part, I had never heard of any other of that name than the King
Cimosco in the Orlando Furioso, who makes use of fire-arms; and Rosa
Taddei was, it appears, of my opinion, since this was the Cimosco she
chose to characterise; and she made thereby a very neat and happy
comparison between the gun of Cimosco and the arrow of Cupid. This talent
of the improvisatori is certainly wonderful, and one for which there is
no accounting. It appears peculiar to the Italian nation alone among the
moderns, but probably was in vogue among the ancient Greeks also. It is
certain that Rosa Taddei gives as fine thoughts as are to be met with in
most poets, and I am very much tempted to incline to Forsyth's opinion that
Homer himself was neither more nor less than an improvisatore, the Greek
language affording nearly as many poetic licences as the Italian, and the
faculty of heaping epithet on epithet being common in both languages.
The other genius in this wonderful art is Signer Sgricci. He is so far
superior to Rosa Taddei in being five or six years older, in being a very
good Latinist and hi improvising whole tragedies on any subject, chosen
by the audience. When the subject is chosen, he develops his plan, fixes
his dramatis personae and then strikes off in versi sciolti. He at
times introduces a chorus with lyric poetry. I was present one evening at
an Accademia given by him in the Palazzo Chigi. The subject chosen was
Sophonisba and it was wonderful the manner in which he varied his plot
from that of every other dramatic author on the same subject. He acted
the drama, as well as composed it, and pourtrayed the different characters
with the happiest effect. The ardent passion and impetuosity of Massinissa,
the studied calm philosophy and stoicism of Scipio, the romantic yet
dignified attachment of Sophonisba, and the plain soldierlike honorable
behaviour of Syphax were given in a very superior style. I recollect
particularly a line he puts in the mouth of Scipio, when he is endeavouring
to persuade Massinissa to resist the allurements and blandishments of love:
Che cor di donne e laberinto, in quale
Facil si perde l'intelletto umano.
This drama he divided into three acts, and on its termination he improvised
a poem in terza rima on the subject of the contest of Ajax and Ulysses
for the armour of Achilles.
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