Vittorio Alfieri

Vittorio Alfieri is a poet, playwright and Italian philosopher . It was born the January 16th 1749 with Asti (Piedmont) and died the October 8th 1803 with Florence. It was strongly influenced by the traditional culture and the romantic spirit.

Biography

This famous tragic poet is resulting from a noble and old family. Having lost his/her father of very good hour, its education was neglected, and it had an extremely disturbed youth.

It spent several years to run the world and to seek adventures; but at the 25 years age, it was made in him a sudden metamorphosis: to like the desire a woman as distinguished by her spirit as by her row, the Countess of Albany, wife of the last of the Stuarts, for which he had conceived sharpest passion, inspired to him by the taste for the letters and the poetry, which he had scorned up to that point. He was exerted in the tragedy, and created a very new type-setting system for Italy, substituent a tightened dialog, a male and concise style, with the loose and effeminatized manner his precursors, and pitilessly cutting off from his parts the useless characters in love one or confidants.

Working with an incredible heat, it composed in less than seven years (1775 - 1782) fourteen tragedies, of which several are chiefs of work. At the same time he wrote in prose works which were to place it beside Machiavel, a Traité tyranny , and that which has as a title the Prince and the Letters , in which he is burning republican. He also composed with same the époquue his poem of the Étrurie avenged .

The countess of Albany having become widowed in 1788, it links herself with her by a secret marriage, then he came in France in the desire to make there print several of his works, and to even fix himself in this country, which he then called the fatherland of freedom. But frightened by excesses of the August 10th 1792, it hastened to flee and was withdrawn with Florence. The revolutionary government treated it as an emigrant and most of its fortune stripped it, than it had placed on the French funds. All these joined together causes finished by him inspiring, for France and the revolution a hatred relentless which it did not cease since exhaling in all its writings.

In its last years, Alfieri learned the Greek, in order to study in the original the great tragedies which it had taken for models. It translated and imitated several of the most beautiful tragedies of Eschyle, Sophocle and Euripide.

Exhausted by its work, he died at the 54 years age, in 1803, leaving a great number of posthumous works, among which one notices a particularly famous autobiography that one often regards as his philosopher's stone: Vita ( Life in French).

The theater of Alfieri is composed of the following tragedies:

Philippe II ,
Polynice ,
Antigone ,
Agamemnon ,
Virginia ,
Oreste ,
Conspiracy of Pazzi ,
Gift Garcia ,
Rosemonde ,
Marie Stuart ,
Timoléon ,
Octavie ,
Merope ,
Saül ,
Acted ,
Sophonisbe ,
Myrrha ,
Brutus I ,
Brutus II
Cléopâtre ,
Tymoleon ,
Dom Garel .

Partial source

----

Random links: