Delle lettere familiari [...], nuovamente raccolte, e date in luce, Libro primo [-secondo].

Two parts in one volume, 4to. I: (6), 124 leaves, a⁴, b², A-Z⁴, Aa-Hh⁴; II: (4), 107, (1 blank) leaves, a⁴, A-Z⁴, Aa-Dd⁴. With the printer's device on both title-pages. Contemporary limp vellum.

Basso, pp. 306-308; Edit 16, CNCE 38191; Quondam, p. 313; Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Le edizioni del XVI secolo, (I) Edizioni lombarde, (Milano, 1981), p. 33, no. 74; L. Carpané, Edizioni a stampa di Torquato Tasso, 1561-1994, (Bergamo, 1998), II, pp. 852-853; L. Chiodi, A. M. Lastrucci Bernardini & S. Maggi, eds., La raccolta tassiana della Biblioteca civica A. Mai di Bergamo, (Bergamo, 1960), no. 1387; C. Guasti, Notizie bibliografiche, in: T. Tasso, “Le Lettere disposte per ordine di tempo ed illustrate da Cesare Guasti”, (Firenze, 1852), I, pp. XXIII-XXIV; G. Resta, Studi sulle lettere del Tasso, (Firenze, 1957), pp. 82-104.

FIRST EDITION of the first comprehensive collection of Tasso's letters, edited by Giovanni Battista Licinio. The first part is dedicated by Comino Ventura to Aurelio Furietti, Baron of Valenzano (Bergamo, May 1, 1588); the dedication of the second part, signed by Licinio, is addressed to Don Angelo Grillo (Bergamo, September 24, 1588).

Although Tasso was aware of the prospective publication of his letters and his “impegno nella stesura delle proprie lettere è documentato ampiamente dal ms. estense α.V.7.7, nel quale ogni carta serba le tracce di una tormentata elaborazione” (Resta, op. cit., p. 24), he did not authorize the present edition. Similarly to the publishing history of several of Tasso's other works, his letters first came out without his permission, which was repeatedly delayed because of his constant doubts and corrections.

Some letters had previously appeared either in various editions of his works or within the works of other authors. The present collection was reprinted nine times until 1611, in one or two books, sometimes together with his treatise Il Segretario. The reference edition of the whole corpus of Tasso's letters (counting more than 1500 letters), is still that issued by Cesare Guasti in five volumes between 1852 and 1855 (cf. L. Carpané, op. cit., II, pp. 847-886).

“Scritte a migliaia nell'arco di quarant'anni, dal 1556 al 1595, dalla fanciullezza ai giorni estremi, le lettere di Torquato Tasso, oltre a una svolta decisiva nell' ‘idea' di lettera, segnano un unicum nel panorama fittissimo della scrittura epistolare cinquecentesca [...] le lettere del Tasso segnano una svolta, credo, anche per il nuovo intreccio di autobiografia, legata a una forma di autodifesa, autogiustificazione, apologia, costruzione sistematica del proprio mito, della propria immagine nel nodo inscindibile ‘cortigiano-scrittore', di diario intimo, legato a una tendenza introversa, a una scrittura della solitudine, della ‘malinconia', della ‘perturbazione d'animo', degli stati morbosi o allucinanti, della prigionia in ospedale, del resistere e durare tra ‘ostinata fortuna', ‘ingratitudine del mondo' e consapevolezza dei propri ‘scritti' ” (M. L. Doglio, Le lettere del Tasso: scrivere per esistere, in: “L'arte delle lettere. Idea e pratica della scrittura epistolare tra Quattro e Seicento”, Bologna, 2000, pp. 145-146).

“Il caso specifico del Tasso, le radici culturali della sua esperienza, la formazione composita dell'epistolario (non del ‘libro di lettere') quale oggi lo leggiamo comportano comunque di necessità un supplemento d'indagine: se non altro, due delle tre raccolte pubblicate vivente l'autore recano il titolo di 'lettere familiari' (e cioè il primo e il secondo libro, dati alle stampe dal Licino presso Comin Ventura nel 1588). E ‘familiari' sono di fatto (se non sempre nel titolo) anche le due raccolte postume del '16-'17 [Lettere non più stampate, Bologna, Bartolomeo Cochi, 1616; Lettere familiari non più stampate, Prague, Tobias Leopolodi, 1617], che costituiscono in assoluto il nucleo più cospicuo delle lettere tassiane pervenuteci. La carriera del Tasso e la tipologia della familiare paiono dunque trovare punti di giunzione anche sul versante della prassi. Per la verità, passare dall'epistolario ai ‘libri di lettere' tassiani comporta una brusca rottura dell'equilibrio di per sé instabile fra progettazione editoriale e progettazione d'autore: nel senso che quelle raccolte, e il disegno editoriale che sottintendono, implicano solo in minima parte dirette responsabilità tassiane. A un minimo d'informazione sul versante dell'autore (le cui intenzioni e i cui progetti, teorici e operativi, andranno come s'è fatto ricercati e documentati altrove), le raccolte cinquecentesche di lettere tassiane giustappongono però un massimo di informazioni intorno ai circuiti di provenienza e di diffusione, intorno ai modi insomma della circolazione di questi testi: un Tasso infine, come per tanti altri avviene proprio sul versante delle lettere, in prospettiva cinquecentesca. E qui un primo fatto merita di essere ricordato: a parte le vicende editoriali di lettere isolate (sempre e comunque lettere/discorso), il primo nucleo a stampa di lettere tassiane pertiene non al versante delle familiari, ma al versante delle discussioni di poetica: prima il gruppo di lettere che segue, una volta almeno su indicazione del Tasso, la pubblicazione dell'Apologia (1585), poi le Poetiche, di seguito ai Discorsi (1587). Il senso dell'operazione è chiaro: è la polemica della metà degli anni Ottanta fra il Tasso e la Crusca, fra ariostisti e tassiani, a rimettere in gioco, oltre a un gruppo di lettere recenti o recentissime direttamente connesse con quella polemica, testi e anche lettere tassiane in fondo ormai superate dagli avvenimenti […] Criteri di politica culturale, e di politica tout court (non solo la Crusca, ma Roma, Mantova, i Medici), che infatti, e nonostante il curioso sottotitolo della raccolta, di per sé capace di mettere in crisi eventuali tipologie rigidamente intese, non che le teorie pseudo-demetriane (‘lettere familiari […] fatte in modo di discorso'!), espungono selettivamente proprio le lettere stilisticamente più vicine alla familiare, pertinenti quasi in esclusiva come si sa in quegl'anni alla corrispondenza Tasso-Scalabrino. Rovesciamento di per sé significativo degli equilibri e delle sovrapposizioni fra il ‘genere' lettera e il sottogenere familiare, e proprio sul versante del Tasso, le Poetiche: mentre per conto loro le Familiari di Comin Ventura, e specie il libro primo, riconducono non proprio paradossalmente dalle ‘familiari' all'idea del ‘Segretario'. 189 lettere in tutto, il primo libro, anzi 189 letterine (nell'ed. Guasti, 34 appena raggiungono o superano la misura della pagina); ma a guardare bene non si tratta affatto di un omaggio alla misura, alla brevità teorizzata nel De elocuzione. Lettere scritte ‘all'improvviso, senza […] cura', avverte preliminarmente lo stampatore, quasi a giustificare la tipologia esibita nel titolo: e tuttavia il modello di lettera tassiana che la raccolta propone è precisamente quello ‘officioso', lettere da segretario. Non a caso del resto lo stesso piccolo canone proposto dall'avvertenza A' lettori (Bembo, Caro, Tolomei, Contile), destinato a comparire di nuovo nella raccolta Guazzo del '90, incrociava con uguale, voluta ambiguità tradizione della ‘familiare' e carriere esemplari di segretari. Si coglie qui una sorta di passaggio anomalo quanto indicativo dalla lettere al ‘Libro di lettere': per un Tasso che, almeno dall'ottobre del 1587, sottopone a revisione soprattutto stilistica le sue lettere, senza smorzare però le polemiche, ricordando di volta in volta ai destinatari il giudizio dei posteri, inseguendo a tratti una propria autobiografia che fa premio persino sul conformismo, sulla prudenza e sulla convenienza cortigiana, le raccolte cinquecentesche, e specie il libro primo delle Familiari, procedono, oltre e più che a interventi censori sui testi, a una selezione preventiva che respinge ai margini il privato, desemantizza gli eventuali testi superstiti (la lunga lettera al Cataneo sul folletto), all'insegna complessiva della ‘significazione d'onore'. Non c'è da stupirsi, al di là dell'apparente contraddizione di facciata, che il Costantini potesse far ristampare questo primo libro di ‘familiari' di seguito al Segretario, e che soprattutto le lettere tassiane accolte nell'Idea del Segretario di Bartolomeo Zucchi provengano in massima parte di qui […] Non che il secondo libro presenti connotati diversi; ma evidentemente le possibilità inferiori di scelta a disposizione del Licino costringono a qualche deroga in più rispetto a simili criteri di selezione, e insomma all'accoglimento, accanto a vere e proprie lettere/trattato (quella lunghissima sul matrimonio, ad es.), di lettere meno congruenti con l'immagine di un Tasso ‘ufficiosissimo'che vien fuori con maggior risolutezza dal primo libro” (G. Baldassarri, ‘Lettere familiari' nel Tasso, in: “La lettera familiare. Quaderni di retorica e poetica”, G. Folena ed., I, Padova, 1985, pp. 117-121).

“Le lettere, pur nella provvisorietà e nella frammentarietà data dalle stampe (le prime Poetiche furono annesse ai Discorsi dell'arte poetica del 1587, mentre le Familiari uscirono a Bergamo per Ventura nel 1588 in 2 volumi) incontrarono da subito il favore del pubblico, proseguito anche presso i posteri in virtù della loro gravità cordiale e coinvolgente e di una prosa eloquente e suasiva [...] Le lettere, senza alcuna tentazione agiografica (è ben noto il giudizio che ne diede il Leopardi dello Zibaldone giudicandole come il ‘meglio del Tasso') e tenendo conto delle affermazioni alternantesi tra sincerità e dissimulazione, rappresentano un documento fondamentale per ricostruire la biografia tassiana […] non solo per gli accadimenti più rilevanti che lo scrittore racconta ai suoi corrispondenti, ma anche per scoprire gli angoli più nascosti della sua forma mentis, per percepire ad esempio l'umore e i sentimenti oscillanti fra la rabbia per le stampe scorrette e l'intima confessione agli amici […] Scritte ‘all'improviso e con poco studio', non per ‘acquistar gloria, ma per ischivar vergogna' secondo le parole del Tasso stesso, nelle lettere si rintracciano, più che nei Dialoghi, i risultati più alti dell'eloquenza tassiana” (F. Martillotto, Torquato Tasso epistolografo, in: “Gli scrittori d'Italia. Il patrimonio e la memoria della tradizione letteraria come risorsa primaria”, XI Congresso dell'ADI, Napoli, 26-29 settembre, 2007”, digital edition, www.italianisti.it, Graduus, 2008).

The first book contains 191 letters, the second 112. As stated by the editor in the dedication all the dates in the letters have been omitted to speed up the publication of the volume. But, according to Guasti, almost all the letters can be placed between 1566 and 1588.

(Book I:)

Farnese, [Alessandro]. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 1r)

Farnese, Odoardo. Ferrara, [September 26, 1584] (l. 1v)

Sersali, Alessandro. Ferrara, [March 17, 1585] (l. 2r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 2v)

id. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 3v)

Gonzaga, Scipione. [Ferrara] [1579-1586] (l. 4v)

Al Nunzio Pontificio in Firenze (to the papal nuncio in Florence). Mantova, [1587] (l. 4v)

Grillo, Paolo. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 5r)

id. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 5v)

id. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 6r)

Gonzaga, Rodolfo. [Ferrara, November 15, 1585] (l. 7r)

Grillo, Paolo. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 7r)

Facio, Lattanzio. Sant'Anna, [November 2, 1584] (l. 7v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1584] (l. 8r)

Grillo, Angelo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 8v)

Grillo, Paolo. [1586] (l. 8v)

Spino, Marco Antonio. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 9r)

[Farnese, Ottavio]. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 9v)

id. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 9v)

Farnese, Ranuccio. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 10r)

Gonzaga, Piero. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 10v)

Eleanor of Austria. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 10v)

Grillo, Angelo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 11r)

Spinola, Nicolò. Mantova, [1586] (l. 11v)

Castello, Bernardo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 12r)

Grillo, Angelo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 12v)

Spino, Marco Antonio. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 13r)

Spinola, Nicolò. Mantova, [1587] (l. 13v)

Grillo, Angelo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 14r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 14r)

Giroldi, Eutichio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 14v)

Grillo, Angelo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 15r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 15r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 16v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 17r)

id. Mantova, [March 28, 1587] (l. 17r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 18r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 19v)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1587] (l. 20r)

Guastavini, Giulio. [1586] (l. 21r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 21v)

Spinola, Alessandro. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 22r)

Spinola, Livia. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 22v)

Zaniboni, Basilio. [Sant'Anna, 1584] (l. 23r)

id. [Sant'Anna, 1584] (l. 23v)

id. Sant'Anna, [January 20, 1585] (l. 24r)

id. Sant'Anna, [April 9, 1585] (l. 24v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Mantova, [1586] (l. 24v)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 25r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [December 31, 1585] (l. 25v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 26r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 27v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 28r)

[Agosti] Tasso, Lelia. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 29r)

Albani, [Giovanni Girolamo]. Mantova, [1587] (l. 30r)

Sersali, Alessandro. Ferrara, [February 9, 1585] (l. 30r)

Tasso, Cornelia. Mantova, [1586] (l. 30v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 31r)

Arcivescovo di Sorrento (Archbishop of Sorrento). Roma (l. 31v)

Cattaneo Maurizio. Ferrara, [1579] (l. 31v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 32v)

Albani, Giovanni Girolamo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 33v)

id. Zanga, [1587] (l. 33v)

Albani, abate. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 34r)

Cavallara, Giovanni Battista. Sant'Anna, [1579-1586] (l. 34v)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 35r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 35v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 36r)

Beffa Negrini, Antonio. Mantova, [1586] (l. 36v)

Mori, Ascanio. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 37r)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 37v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 37v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 37, i.e. 38r)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 37, i.e. 38v)

Grillo, Angelo. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 39r)

Mori, Ascanio. Corte, [1586] (l. 39, i.e. 40r)

Cavallara, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1586] (l. 39, i.e. 40r)

Beffa Negrini, Antonio. Mantova, [1586] (l. 39, i.e. 40v)

Sanvitale, Eleonora. [1579-1586] (l. 41v)

Anziani, signori. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 41v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Mantova, [1586] (l. 42v)

[Gonzaga, Scipione]. Mantova, [1587] (l. 43v)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1587] (l. 45r)

Gondi, [Cosimo]. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 45r)

Capilupi, Ippolito. [1580] (l. 45v)

Gonzaga, Rodolfo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 44, i.e. 46r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 44, i.e. 46r)

Sersali, Antonino. Mantova, [1587] (l. 44, i.e. 46v)

Medici, [Ferdinando] de'. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 47r)

Grillo, Angelo. Roma, [1587] (l. 47r)

Albani, Claudio. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 47v)

id. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 42, i.e. 48r)

id. Roma, [February 25, 1588] (l. 42, i.e. 48r)

Grillo, Angelo. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 42, i.e. 48v)

id. Roma, [1587] (l. 49r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 49v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 50r)

Este, Marfisa d'. Sant'Anna, [1583] (l. 50v)

Tasso, Ercole. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 51r)

Tasso, Enea. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 51r)

Caleppio, Paolo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 51v)

Bentivoglio, Cornelio. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 52r)

Della Torre, Bartolomeo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 52v)

Albani, Giovanni Domenico. Mantova, [1586] (l. 53r)

Sersali, Antonino. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 53r)

Gonzaga, Scipione. Ferrara, [1576] (l. 53v)

id. Ferrara, [1576] (l. 55r)

Malpigli, Lorenzo. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 55v)

Mori, Ascanio. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 57v)

id. Ferrara [Guasti, III, 678, has Mantova], [1586] (l. 58r)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 58r)

Gonzaga, Rodolfo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 58v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 58v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1587] (l. 59r)

id. Mantova, January 3, 1587 (l. 59v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 60r)

Guastavini, Giulio. Roma, [1587] (l. 61r)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 61v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 61v)

id. Ferrara, [October 12, 1584] (l. 62v)

Tasso, Enea. Mantova, [1587] (l. 63r)

Tasso, Giacomo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 63r)

Tasso, Ercole. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 63v)

Agosti Tasso, Lelia. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 64r)

Gonzaga, Scipione. Mantova, [1586] (l. 64v)

Este, Cesare d'. Sant'Anna, [1586] (l. 65v)

Este, [Filippo] d'. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 65v)

Malpigli, Vincenzo. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 61, i.e. 66r)

Solza, [Girolamo]. Mantova, [1587] (l. 61, i.e. 66r)

Facio, Lattanzio. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 61, i.e. 66v)

Alario, Giorgio. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 67r)

Gonzaga, [Vincenzo]. Sant'Anna, [April 9, 1585] (l. 67v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 63, i.e. 68r)

Albani, [Giovanni Girolamo]. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 63, i.e. 68v)

Albani, Claudio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 63, i.e. 68v)

Beccaria, Alfonso. Ferrara, [December 31, 1585] (l. 69r)

Borgogni, Gherardo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 69v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 70r)

Grillo, Angelo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 70r)

id. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 70v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 71r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 71v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 72v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 73v)

Grillo, Paolo. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 74r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 74v)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 75r)

id. Ferrara, [November 27, 1585] (l. 75v)

id. Ferrara, [November 28, 1585] (l. 76r)

id. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 76v)

id. Ferrara, [December 31, 1585] (l. 77v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 78r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 78r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 78v)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 79v)

id. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 80r)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 80v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 81r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 81v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1586] (l. 82r)

id. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 82r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 82v)

id. Mantova, [February 1, 1587] (l. 83r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 83r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 83v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 84r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 84v)

id. Mantova [Guasti has Roma], [1587] (l. 85r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 86r)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 86v)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 87v)

id. Mantova, [1587?] (l. 88r)

Licino, Fermo. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 88r)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 88v)

Grillo, Angelo. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 89r)

[Gonzaga, Scipione]. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 89v)

Albani, [Giovanni Battista]. Bergamo, [1587] (l. 90r)

[Geremia degli Albizi, Dorotea]. Ferrara, [1587] (l. 90v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 98v)

Supplica a la Città di Bergamo [to the members of the City Council]. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 99r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 99v)

Pio, Marco. Sant'Anna, [1579-1586] (l. 102r)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 102r)

Este, Cesare d'. Ferrara, February 19, [1586] (l. 102v)

[Pinelli], Giovanni Vincenzo. Ferrara, [1583] (l. 103r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1587] (l. 103v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [December 30, 1585] (l. 104r)

Donati, Marcello. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 108r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Sant'Anna, [1579-1586] (l. 108r)

Gonzaga, Scipione. Ferrara, [1576] (l. 108v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. [1585] (l. 109v)

(Book II:)

Ardizio, Curzio. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 1r)

id. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 3v)

id. Ferrara, [1584] (l. 4v)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 8v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1581] (l. 9r)

id. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 9v)

Mori, Ascanio. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 10v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 10v)

Arizio, Curzio. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 11v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1581] (l. 11v)

Savoia, [Emanuele Filiberto di]. Urbino, [1578] (l. 12r)

Mori, Ascanio. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 12v)

Arizio, Curzio. Sant'Anna, [1582] (l. 13r)

id. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 14r)

id. Ferrara, [June 20, 1586] (l. 15r)

id. Sant'Anna, [July, 1581] (l. 15v)

id. Ferrara, [1582] (l. 16r)

id. Ferrara, [1582] (l. 17v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1582] (l. 18r)

id. Ferrara, [1582] (l. 19v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1582] (l. 20v)

id. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 21v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1581] (l. 23v)

Tasso, Ercole. Padova, [1566] (l. 24v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 26r)

Tasso, Ercole. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 26v)

id. Mantova, [1566] (l. 27r)

Albani, Claudio. Napoli, [1588] (l. 28r)

Ardizio, Curzio, Sant'Anna, [1582] (l. 28v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 29r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Sant'Anna, [June 16, 1586] (l. 29v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 30r)

Ardizio, Curzio. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 30v)

Tasso, Ercole. Mantova, [1587] (l. 30v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 31r)

id. Roma, [1587] (l. 31v)

id. Roma, [1587] (l. 32r)

Del Monte, Guidobaldo. Ferrara, [1577] (l. 32v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Mantova, [1586] (l. 33r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Roma, [1587] (l. 34r)

Alario, Ascanio. Ferrara, [1583] (l. 34v)

Beffa Negrini, Antonio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 34v)

Donati, Marcello. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 35r)

[Della Rovere, Francesco Maria]. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 35v)

Mori, Ascanio. Mantova, [1586] (l. 35v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. Mantova, [1587] (l. 36r)

Grillo, Angelo. Roma, [1588] (l. 37r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Roma, [1587] (l. 37v)

Mori, Ascanio. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 37v)

Beffa Negrini, Antonio. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 38r)

[Gonzaga, Scipione]. Mantova, [1587] (l. 38v)

Marini, Pier Giovanni. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 41r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1587] (l. 41v)

id. Mantova, [1587] (l. 42r)

Este Tassoni, Ferrante d'. (l. 42v)

Pinelli, Giovanni Vincenzo. Ferrara, [1583] (l. 43r)

Grassi, Pietro. Napoli, [1588] (l. 43r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 43v)

Grillo, Angelo. Corte, [1579-1586] (l. 44r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Sant'Anna, [1586] (l. 44r)

Grassi, Pietro. Napoli, [1588] (l. 44v)

Del Monte, Guidobaldo. Ferrara, [1577] (l. 45r)

Gonzaga, Scipione. [1576] (l. 46r)

[Della Rovere, Francesco Maria]. [1578] (l. 48r)

id. [1578] (l. 50r)

Ardizio, Curzio. Ferrara, [1581] (l. 62v)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1587] (l. 63r)

Guastavini, Giulio. Bergamo, [August 14, 1587] (l. 63v)

Corno, Giorgio. (l. 64r)

Gonzaga, Ferrante. Ferrara, [July 25, 1585] (l. 64v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 65r)

Ippoliti, Annibale. Mantova, [1586] (l. 65v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 65v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 66r)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 66v)

id. [Sant'Anna], [1586] (l. 67v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 67v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 68r)

A Ercole… (l. 68v)

Gonzaga, Ferrante. Mantova, [1587] (l. 69v)

Tasso, Cristoforo. [1585] (l. 69v)

Pio, Marco. Mantova, [1587] (l. 70v)

Gonzaga, Scipione. [1585] (l. 71r)

id. [1586] (l. 72r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [May 7, 1586] (l. 74v)

De' Vecchi, Germano. Mantova, [1587] (l. 76v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 77r)

Este, Cesare d'. Mantova, [January 17, 1587] (l. 80v)

Tasso, Ercole. [1585] (l. 81r)

id. Napoli, [1588] (l. 92v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [December 25, 1585] (l. 93r)

Mori, Ascanio. Mantova, [1586] (l. 95v)

id. Mantova, [1586] (l. 96r)

Grillo, Paolo. [1585] (l. 96v)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Monte Oliveto, [1588] (l. 97r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 98v)

Manfredi, Muzio. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 99v)

[Gonzaga, Vincenzo]. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 100r)

Zaniboni, Basilio. Napoli, [1588] (l. 100v)

Grassi, Pietro. Napoli, [1588] (l. 101r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Ferrara, [1585] (l. 101v)

id. Ferrara, [1579-1586] (l. 102v)

Bentivoglio, [Cornelio]. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 104r)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Mantova, [1587] (l. 104v)

Scalabrino, Luca. Sant'Anna, [1586] (l. 105r)

Gonzaga, Fabio. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 105r)

Cattaneo, Maurizio. Mantova, [1587] (l. 105v)

Scalabrino, Luca. Sant'Anna, [1585] (l. 106r)

Bentivoglio, Ippolito. Sant'Anna, [1579-1586] (l. 106v)

Licino, Giovanni Battista. Ferrara, [1586] (l. 106v)

id. Sant'Anna, [1579-1586] (l. 107r)

id. Ferrara, [September 6, 1585] (l. 107v)

Torquato Tasso was born in Sorrento, where his father Bernardo, a famous writer and humanist from Bergamo, was principally occupied as secretary to the Prince of Salerno, Ferrante Sanseverino, one of the foremost figures in the Kingdom of Naples, at the time under the rule of the Spanish empire. When in 1547 Spain attempted to introduce the Inquisition in Naples, provoking widespread resistance, the Prince of Salerno agreed to expound the objections of the Neapolitan population to King Charles V. As a result of his perceived disobedience to the Spanish crown, he was subsequently exiled by the Viceroy of Naples and his property confiscated. When Bernardo's loyalty to his patron condemned him to the same fate, Torquato initially remained with his mother and sister in Naples, where he was educated in a Jesuit school.

The precocity of intellect and the religious fervor of the boy attracted general admiration. At the age of ten he joined his father in Rome, while his mother was forced by her brothers to remain in Naples where she died two years later under suspicious circumstances. Bernardo was convinced that her brothers had poisoned her in order to repossess her dowry – which they subsequently did. They also managed to have Torquato included in the judgment against his father, thus preventing him from obtaining his inheritance. Father and son fled Rome in 1556 at the news of an impending Spanish invasion occasioned by the hostility between the Pope and King Philip II. They experienced more positive aspects of court life at the service of Guidobaldo II Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, where Torquato was a companion to Francesco Maria, the duke's son.

In the spring of 1559 Torquato joined his father in Venice, where the latter had gone to supervise the publication of his works: five books of poetry, a collection of letters, and his chef d'oeuvre, Amadigi (1560), a romance adaptation of the popular Spanish poem Amadís de Gaula. It was at this time that the younger Tasso began writing an epic poem dealing with the First Crusade that was to be his masterpiece. Entitled Il Gierusalemme (Jerusalem) and dedicated to Duke Guidobaldo II, this draft consisted of an initial canto of 116 stanzas. In 1560 Torquato began to study at the University of Padua. Although his father had encouraged him to pursue a law degree in order to be independent of courtly patrons, the following year he switched to courses in literature and philosophy. During this period Torquato wrote lyric poetry, in particular poems dedicated to the Ferrarese noblewoman and singer Lucrezia Bendidio. He also penned two works of substantial length: the Discorsi dell'arte poetica, which he would continue to revise, and the Rinaldo, a chivalric romance published in 1562 when he was only eighteen. Since at the beginning of 1562 Bernardo had entered the service of Cardinal Luigi d'Este, the brother of Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara, Torquato accordingly dedicated the work to his father's patron, by whom he would himself be employed three years later. In the same year Scipione Gonzaga invited him to become a member of the local Accademia degli Eterei.

Tasso changed to the University of Bologna in 1562. In addition to his studies he continued to write love poetry, now for the young singer and harpist Laura Peperara. In January 1564 he was accused of writing a stinging satire against professors and fellow students, and was forced to flee the city to avoid arrest. After temporarily residing in Padua, he entered the Ferrarese court under Cardinal Luigi d'Este in 1565. Although his role as a court poet with no specific duties was the kind of position his predecessor Ludovico Ariosto had sought in vain, it also tied him to the patronage system that had ruined his father. Indeed, the exiled Bernardo never regained his status or his property, and would die impoverished and disenchanted in 1569.

Tasso traveled to Paris in the fall of 1570 with the entourage of Luigi d'Este, whose mother, Renée of France, had left Ferrara for her homeland ten years earlier. Tasso returned to Ferrara the following spring when the cardinal reduced his staff to curtail expenses. His Lettera dalla Francia (1571) expresses a variety of first- and second-hand impressions concerning the differences between the two countries. In 1572 Tasso passed to the service of Duke Alfonso II d'Este. With much better pay, he continued to have no other obligation than to write poetry. In addition to encomiastic and occasional lyrics for members of the court, Tasso authored a pastoral drama in five acts, the Aminta (1573). First performed at the Estense summer palace on the island of Belvedere del Po, the play was an immediate success. The first edition appeared at Cremona in 1580. During this period Tasso also resumed the work on his poem about the First Crusade which he referred to as the Goffredo, but which was later published with the title Gerusalemme Liberata. Completed in 1575 with twenty ottava rima cantos, it was dedicated to Duke Alfonso II.

His desire for autonomy in both his life and poetry increased Tasso's discontent at the Ferrarese court. Indeed, during this period he secretly attempted to pass to the Medici and other patrons despite Alfonso's ban on leaving his service without authorization. He complained of being beleaguered by malicious and envious courtiers, in particular the newly-appointed ducal secretary Antonio Montecatini (letter of March 1576). Tasso's suspicions and anxieties could not have been simply the fruit of paranoia as is sometimes assumed; in September 1576 the Mayor of Ferrara reported that he was clubbed in a public square by another servant of the court. Tasso himself explains in a letter from the following month that his aggressor attacked him after being slapped in response to an insolent lie. We are not told the specific content of the offensive words on this occasion. We do know, however, that at this time Tasso began to fear that Montecatini and his cohorts were planning to report him to the Inquisition for heresy. A few weeks after the incident Tasso protested that someone had illicitly searched through his private papers, and in March 1577 he requested a trustworthy personal attendant from another city. He finally pre-empted any action against him by voluntarily seeking an audience with the Inquisition in Ferrara: in June 1577 he confessed his own religious doubts about basic Christian tenets and at the same time denounced his antagonist Montecatini. Not satisfied with the matter being dropped upon his absolution, he then sought to appear before the Bolognese Inquisitor. Alfonso became concerned that Tasso's new confession - especially what he might say about members of the court - would give the Pope a pretext for absorbing Ferrara into the Papal States. The same month he had him arrested on charges of threatening a servant with a knife. After his release, Tasso was placed under guard, first in his quarters and subsequently at a Franciscan convent.

Having no real prospect of assistance, near the end of July Tasso escaped from the convent and sought refuge with his sister in Sorrento, traveling disguised as a peasant to escape notice (the old warrant issued by the Viceroy of Naples against him and his father being still in effect). Although thus freed from the intrigues of the Ferrarese court, Tasso lacked the manuscript of his epic masterpiece and his other works. He tried for two years to retrieve his writings through humble letters seeking the duke's pardon and admittance to the court. During this self-imposed exile Tasso composed Canzone al Metauro (1578), an unfinished autobiographical poem that looks back on his father's expulsion from Naples and the vicissitudes he suffered as a youth. After leaving his sister and passing through various cities, Tasso returned to Ferrara in late February 1579 while Duke Alfonso was celebrating his third marriage in the hope of producing an heir to guarantee Estense succession. On March 11, still unsuccessful in gaining possession of his manuscripts, he lost his temper and vehemently denounced Alfonso and his family. Following this public outburst the duke had him chained and taken to the hospital of Sant'Anna on the pretext of insanity. Although his alleged madness is often accepted unquestioningly, it is actually impossible to determine with certainty Tasso's mental state either at this point or in the years that follow. Visitors such as Aldus Manutius (the Younger), who called on him in 1582, did not find him to be insane.

Tasso's master poem appeared in 1581 with the title Gerusalemme Liberata. Although it became immensely popular, with seven editions printed within six months, he received none of the profits from its sale. During his imprisonment Tasso devoted considerable time to his lyric poetry and to prose dialogues on philosophical and moral themes. His twenty-eight Dialoghi, completed between 1578 and 1594, treat universal topics such as love, virtue, nobility, courtly style and beauty, but also touch on some of the major issues of his time, including the tension between religious doctrine and intellectual freedom. The autobiographical Il Gonzaga, overo del piacere onesto (1580) reconsiders his father's involvement in the Neapolitan Rebellion.

Tasso wrote the Apologia in difesa della Gerusalemme Liberata (Apology in Defense of Jerusalem Delivered) in 1585 to defend his work against the criticism of two members of the Accademia Della Crusca. He also composed theoretical writings on the epic genre that built on his earlier Dell'arte poetica. His Discorsi dell'arte poetica e in particolare sopra il poema eroico were published in 1587. From prison Tasso also emitted a voluminous correspondence: many of his approximately 1,700 extant letters stem from this period. He was generally careful to speak well of Alfonso, but on occasion compared him to Caligula and Nero and wondered aloud if the ruling family was acting out of sheer revenge for his having spoken out against its members. Tasso was finally released from Sant'Anna in July of 1586 at the solicitation of the Prince of Mantua, Vincenzo Gonzaga. He never again returned to Ferrara, traveling instead across a number of Italian cities, including Naples, where he attempted unsuccessfully to regain his maternal inheritance.

Tasso continued to write and to revise his previous works. While at Mantua he completed his tragedy Il Re Torrismondo (1587), begun in 1573-74. In 1592 he wrote a poem in blank verse, Le sette giornate del mondo creato (The Seven Days of the World's Creation), which elaborates on the opening of Genesis. The following year he published the Gerusalemme Conquistata, a revision of his epic masterpiece begun around 1586. Purged of all passages that could evoke the censure of moralists, the poem was dedicated to his new patron, Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, whose uncle had become Pope Clement VIII the previous year.

The Pope and his nephew invited Tasso to Rome in 1594 in order to crown him poet laureate. When the ceremony was deferred because of the cardinal's illness, Tasso remained in Rome under the protection of Clement, who ceded him a pension and some monies derived from his mother's former estate. He took up residence at the convent of Sant'Onofrio on April 1, 1595. He died there on the 25^th of that month at the age of fifty-one without having received the promised laurel crown (cf. A. Solerti, Vita di Torquato Tasso, Turin & Roma, 1895, passim; and C. Gigante, Tasso, Roma, 2007, passim).

[9064]