Lettere amorose [...], con alcune altre di nuovo aggiunte alla fine

Autore: PARABOSCO, Girolamo (ca. 1524-1557)

Tipografo: Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari

Dati tipografici: Venezia, 1547


8vo. 79, (1) leaves. A-K8. With the printer's device on the title-page and at the end. Modern calf, richly gilt spine with gilt title; with the bookplate of Giorgio Fanan.

Basso, p. 104; Braida, p. 52; Edit 16, CNCE 54672; Quondam, p. 306; S. Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari, (Roma, 1890), I, pp. 142-143; R. Kelso, Doctrine for the Lady of the Renaissance, (Urbana, IL, 1959), pp. 396-397, no. 627.

 

THIRD EDITION of Parabosco's first book of Lettere amorose (love letters) (so called to distinguish them from his Lettere famigliari, published at Venice in 1551).

It was first printed by Giolito in 1545 and with it Parabosco made his entrance into the literary world. A second book was issued at Venice by Gherardo in 1548, a third by Griffio in 1553, and a fourth by Giolito in 1554. All the books were separately reprinted several times. The first collected edition of all four books appeared at Milan in 1558. A French translation (Lettres amoureuses) by Philippe Hubert de Villiers was published for the first time at Antwerp by Plantin in 1556.

In the present edition the original dedication to Gottardo Occagna (Venice, June 12, 1545) has been retained. The collection contains 96 letters, seven more than in the first edition of 1545. None of them is dated. The work was put on the Index in 1590 (cf. J.M. Bujanda, ed., Index de Rome: 1590, 1593, 1596. Avec étude des index de Parme, 1580 et Munich, 1582, Sherbrooke, 1994, p. 403; and U. Rozzo, Italian Literature on the Index, in: “Church Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy”, G. Fragnito, ed., Cambridge, 2001, p. 207).

Of great interest are two letters addressed to two famous Italian poetesses, Francesca Baffo and Gaspara Stampa. In particular, on the latter, who also was an accomplished musician, he writes: “Who has ever heard such sweet and elegant words [...] and what will I say of that angelic voice that struck the air with its divine accents and made such sweet harmony that it awakened spirit and life in the coldest stones” (cf. K. Pendle, Women & Music: A History, Bloominton IN, 2000, p. 62).

“Paraboscos Briefbuch... illustriert die inhaltliche Bandbreite, die in den Briefpoetiken der lettera amorosa und deren Aufteilung in mögliche Untergattungen eine Entsprechung findet: ‘Non omnes in eadem genere versantur'. Sie unterscheiden sich entsprechend der möglichen Schreibintentionen, die mit der Thematisierung einer Liebesbeziehung in Zusammenhang stehen. Diese können, Erasmus zufolge, Bitten, Forderungen, Klagen, Entschuldigungen und Schmeicheleien beinhalten. Bei der partiellen Inhaltlichen Koinzidenz von Paraboscos Texten mit den Erasmischen Anweisungen zum Schreiben eines Liebesbriefes darf die Intention von Paraboscos Briefbuch nicht mit der eines Briefstellers gleichgesetzt werden: Neben Texte, die eine Vielzahl von Elementen eines idealen ‘authentischen' Liebesbriefes aufweisen, tritt eine erhebliche Zahl von Briefen, welche literarische Traditionen über das Sprechen von Liebe aufnehmen und in extremis vorführen. Sie führen pastiches von Liebesbriefen vor, in denen sich Parabosco der Mittel von Ironie und Verfremdung bedient, die in ihrer komischen Wirkung mehr dem delectare als dem movere zuzuordnen sind. So ironisiert er z.B. die Textgattung des Liebetraktates, eine der beliebtesten zeitgenössischen Textformen, wenn er in aristotelisierender Manier beweist, dass der Mann zu grösserem ‘amore' und ‘passione' fähig sei als die Frau. Er präsentiert - analog zu den Anthologien von poesie amorose im Bereich der Lyrik - in seinen aneinandergereihten Einzelbriefen die Variationsbreite, die das Schreiben in einem amourösen Kontext und in der Umsetzung in die epistolare Form beinhaltet” (C. Ortner-Buchberger, Briefe schreiben im 16. Jahrhundert. Formen und Funktionen des epistoralen Diskurses in den italienischen ‘libri di lettere', München, 2003, pp. 106-107).

 

Love letters to an unknown recipient (the author's lady-love), 13 letters (l. 4r)

Pavoni, Medea, 15 (l. 13v)

Stampa, Gaspara, 3 (l. 24r)

Vecellio, Orazio, 11 (l. 26v)

Doni, Anton Francesco, 1 (l. 33v)

Curto, Gasparo, 20 (l. 34r)

Madonna Lucretia, 2 (l. 47r)

Madonna H.G., 2 (l. 49r)

Stampa, Cassandra, 1 (l. 50r)

Vago Augello, Giovanna, 4 (l. 51r)

Madonna Isabella, 2 (l. 54r)

De Cavaneis, Alberto, 1 (l. 55v)

Alessandrino, Giovanni, 1 (l. 57v)

Alcune lettere scritte per donne (letters written by certain women), 10 (l. 60r)

Domenichi, Ludovico, 1 (l. 67r)

Daniello, Bernardino, 1 (l. 69v)

Brunetto, Orazio, 1 (l. 71v)

Vago Augello, Giovanna, 1 (l. 72v)

Baffo, Francesca, 2 (l. 74r)

Occagna, Gottardo, 4 (l. 76r)

 

Little is known of Girolamo Parabosco's early education, but he had his first instruction from his father Vincenzo, who was an organist at the cathedral of Brescia. According to Zarlino (Sopplementi musicali, 1588, p. 326), in 1541 he became a pupil of Adrian Willaert (who was eulogized in his comedy La Notte). He made several trips to Florence, Urbino, Ferrara, Piacenza, Brescia, Padua, and Verona. Returning to Venice, he was appointed in 1551 first organist at St. Mark's, retaining this post until his death.

A. Einstein (The Italian Madrigal, Princeton, 1949, p. 182) suggested that Titian portrayed Parabosco in the painting Venus and the Organist now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. He was active in literary and musical academies in Venice and knew Anton Francesco Doni, Andrea Calmo, Pietro Aretino, and Titian. Parabosco was not only a talented dramatist (he published eight comedies between 1546 and 1556), but also a skilled poet (Madrigali, 1546; Il Tempio della Fama, 1548) and a writer of ‘novelle' (I Diporti, ca. 1550). Almost all his music production is now lost (cf. F. Bussi, Umanità ed arte di Girolamo Parabosco. Madrigalista, organista e poligrafo, Piacenza, 1961, pp. 7-44; see also G. Bianchini, Girolamo Parabosco, scrittore del secolo XVI, Venezia, 1899, passim).


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