Brief biography of Carlo Gozzi. The last Venetian Carlo Gozzi Gozzi biography

In a remote corner of Venice, on the promenade of San Paterniano, stands a dilapidated 17th century palazzo. The grayish plaster covering the facade has peeled off in places, but, as before, its architectural lines are beautiful, the harmonious combination of windows and graceful balconies - everything suggests that once this three-story building looked completely different.

Four wide arches, covered with intricate openwork gratings, form the first floor, the lancet windows of the second and third are made of yellow marble, on the facade there is a portal with columns decorated with stone vases. Above the cornice there are white marble statues of muses, because the former owner of the palace, Count Gozzi, was a great poet and a brilliant storyteller.

It was he, Carlo Gozzi, who captured the bright festivity and mystery of Venice in his fantastic comedies. His name will remind the reader of the legendary production of E. Vakhtangov "Princess Turandot" or the equally famous performance of V. Meyerhold "The Love for Three Oranges".

Childhood and youth

Gozzi was born in an old dilapidated great-grandfather's palace. His father, Count Jacopo-Antonio Gozzi, was a typical Venetian aristocrat - impractical, frivolous, skeptical; mother Angela Tiepolo was distinguished by an arrogant, domineering character. The main role in the family was played by Carlo's older brother - writer and journalist Gasparo Gozzi, married to the famous poetess Luisa Bergali.

After the death of their mother, Louise seized control of all the property of the Counts of Gozzi, and soon the family was completely ruined, and the ancestral palace turned into a wretched, neglected house, covered with dust and cobwebs. From childhood, the future great storyteller saw around him a terrible impoverishment, almost poverty, a desperate struggle for existence.

Striving to become financially independent, at the age of 20 he entered the military service corresponding to his aristocratic origin - he went to Dalmatia in the retinue of the general intendant of Venice. However, he did not like a military career, four years later he returned to Venice and lived there until the end of his days, never leaving anywhere.

At home, complete ruin and poverty awaited him. To save the remnants of the ancestral property, he led lawsuits, bought and repaired mortgaged houses, and after a few years ensured a tolerable existence for his loved ones, and he himself was able to indulge in his favorite pastime - writing poetry.

Venice - the city of the mask

Venice of the 18th century is called the city of the mask. Never and nowhere else was life so similar to a theatrical show: the Venetians of those times felt like participants in some endless comedy played out in the streets and squares - and with joy and passion they dressed up and put on masks on the days of the carnival. Life in the city was an eternal celebration.

The famous 19th century historian F. Monier wrote: “Venice has accumulated too much history ... and shed too much blood. She sent her terrible galleys too long and too far, dreamed too much of grandiose destinations and fulfilled too many of them ... After a difficult week, finally Sunday came and the holiday began.

Its population is a festive and idle crowd: poets and hangers-on, hairdressers and usurers, singers, gay women, dancers, actresses, pimps and bankers, everything that lives or creates pleasure. The blessed hour of a theater or concert is the hour of their celebration ... Life left the huge crushing palaces, it became common and street and merrily spread as a fair throughout the city ...

From the first Sunday in October until Christmas, from January 6 to the first day of fasting, on the day of St. Mark, on the Feast of the Ascension, on the day of the election of the doge and other officials, each of the Venetians was allowed to wear a mask. Theaters are open these days, this is a carnival, and it lasts ... six months ... everyone walks in masks, starting with the doge and ending with the last maid. They carry out their affairs in a mask, protect the processes, buy fish, write, make visits. In a mask, you can say everything and dare to do anything; The mask allowed by the Republic is under its patronage ... You can enter in disguise everywhere: into the salon, the office, the monastery, the ball, the Ridotto ...

No barriers, no titles. There is no longer a patrician in a long robe, no bearer who kisses its edge, no spy, no nun, no lady, no inquisitor, no juggler, no poor man, no foreigner. There is nothing but one title and one creature - Signor Musk. "

However, around 1755, sad days came for everyone who loved this comedy of masks and saw in it a bright manifestation of the Italian folk genius. The last comedy troupe of the famous harlequin Saki left their hometown and went to distant Portugal in search of work. In theaters there were only the tragedies of Abbot Chiari, translated from French, and Goldoni's plays, imitating French.

Once in the Bottinelli bookstore, which was in a dark corner behind Torre del Orologgio, several writers met. Among them was Goldoni himself. Intoxicated with success, he talked for a long time about the significance of the revolution he had made in the Italian theater, heaped ridicule and abuse at the old comedy of masks. Then one of those present, a tall and thin man, who until then had been sitting silently on a bundle of books, got up and exclaimed: “I swear that with the help of the masks of our old comedy I will gather more viewers to The Love for Three Oranges than you to your different Pamela and Irkany ". Everyone laughed at this joke of Count Carlo Gozzi - "The Love for Three Oranges" was a folk tale told by nannies to young children. But he did not think to joke, and Venice soon became convinced of this.

Gozzi's Tales

Gozzi adored folk poetry, fairy tales, comedy of masks, called it the pride of Italy and undertook to prove to his opponents that “the skillful construction of the play, the correct development of its action and the harmonious style are sufficient to give a children's fantasy plot, developed in terms of a serious performance, the full illusion of truth. and rivet the attention of every person to him ”- this is how he later writes in his memoirs.

On January 25, 1761, the troupe of actors of the comedy masks of the famous Antonio Saki, who unexpectedly returned from Lisbon, played Gozzi's play "The Love for Three Oranges" at the San Samuele Theater. The transversal roles of the four masks were played by brilliant actors who understood how important this battle for the old folk comedy was. And they came out of it as winners! Gozzi's triumph was complete. “I knew,” he will say, “with whom I was dealing,“ the Venetians have a love for the miraculous. Goldoni stifled this poetic feeling and thus slandered our national character. Now I had to awaken him again. " Thus began the revival of the theater of masks.

Pavel Muratov in his wonderful book "Images of Italy" calls Gozzi's tales "recorded dreams, maybe waking dreams, of some eccentric and dreamer." They have talking pigeons, kings turned into deer, and treacherous cowards who take the form of kings ...

There, statues laugh as soon as a woman lies, there are stairs with 40 702 004 steps, and tables full of food that arise in the middle of the desert, from where a voice emanates, at the sounds of which she becomes a garden. The characters are real kings and kings of cards, enchanted princesses, magicians, ministers, viziers, dragons, birds, statues from the Piazza and also four masks of the famous Saki troupe: Tartaglia, Truffaldino, Brighella and Pantalone.

In her palace, born of the night, the beautiful Barbarina cannot be comforted by the fact that all the blessings on earth were given to her without difficulty, but she does not have the dancing Golden Water and the Singing Apple. Norando, ruler of Damascus, floats on a sea monster; travel to the moon takes place in the blink of an eye. Earthquakes, whirlwinds, sorceries, visions, miracles happen. Nothing is justified by anything, nothing can be explained by the laws of common sense.

“Carlo Gozzi created new art, and the one who creates art becomes his slave; he inadvertently summoned the magic and enchantments of the supernatural world, and the supernatural did not want to let go of its spellcaster now, ”noted the famous English writer and critic of the XIX century Vernon Lee in the book“ Italy ”.

This is confirmed by Gozzi himself in his Useless Memoirs, which he published in 1797. The third chapter of them is entirely devoted to his communication with the world of spirits and fairies. It tells in detail how these mysterious creatures took revenge on him when he too audaciously subjected them in his comedies to the ridicule of Harlequin and Brighella.

"Revenge of the Spirits"

It was “the revenge of the spirits,” says Gozzi, that finally made him quit writing fairy tales: “You cannot play with impunity with demons and fairies. You cannot leave the world of spirits as easily as you would like, since you just rushed into it recklessly. Everything went well until the Turandot show. Invisible forces forgave me these first experiences. But the "Snake Woman" and "Zobeida" made the mysterious world pay attention to my insolence. "Blue Monster" and "Green Bird" aroused his murmur ...

But I was too young to appreciate the real danger that threatened me. On the day of the presentation of "The King of the Jinn", the indignation of invisible enemies manifested itself clearly. I was wearing new knickers and drinking coffee backstage. Curtain rose. A thick, hushed crowd filled the theater. The play had already begun, and everything indicated success, when suddenly an invincible fear took possession of me, and I was seized by a shiver. My hands made an awkward movement and I knocked a cup of coffee over my new silk knickers. In a hurry to get into the acting foyer, I slipped on the stairs and tore at my knee the ill-fated trousers, already poured with coffee. "

Mysterious forces pursued Gozzi on the streets of Venice: “Whether it was winter or summer, I take the sky as a witness, never, oh never, a sudden downpour broke out over the city without me being on the street and not under an umbrella. Eight times out of ten throughout my life, as soon as I wanted to be alone and work, an annoying visitor would interrupt me and push my patience to the extreme. Eight times out of ten, as soon as I started to shave, the phone immediately rang, and it turned out that someone needed to talk to me without delay.

In the best time of the year, in the driest weather, if somewhere between the pavement slabs there was at least one puddle, an evil spirit pushed my absent-minded leg just there. When one of those sad necessities, to which nature doomed us, forced me to look for a secluded corner on the street, it never happened that hostile demons did not force a beautiful lady to pass near me - or even a door opened in front of me, and a whole society emerged from there. despairing my modesty. "

One day Gozzi was returning from his estate to Friuli. It was in November, and he drove up to Venice exhausted by the cold and difficult road, wanting only one thing - to have supper and go to bed. But as he approached his house, he was surprised to see that the street was crowded with a crowd of masks. It was impossible to get to the central entrance, and Gozzi had to use a secret door located on the side of the canal.

On the bridge, he stopped in amazement: in the brightly lit windows, couples could be seen dancing to loud music. Gozzi was barely allowed into the house, and when they found out who he was, they said that Senator Bragadin, his neighbor, celebrating his election to the Council of Venice, thanks the count for his kind permission to connect their palaces in order to use both palazzo for the holiday. "How long will this celebration last?" - could only talk about Gozzi. "In order not to lie to you," the butler replied, "three days and three nights."

The poor storyteller spent these three days and three nights at the hotel. When it was all over, he went on a visit to Bragadin, and he, scattered in gratitude, told Gozzi that he had received a permit signed ... by himself! “This is the first time I heard about this letter and about the answer. I had no difficulty in guessing where all this was coming from. All these things are beyond explanation. They must be left in the fog that hides them. "

The last Venetian

Carlo Gozzi published his memoirs in the year when Venice, captured by Napoleon's troops, ceased to exist. From this time, one of his letters has survived. “I will always be an old child,” he wrote. - I cannot rebel against my past and I cannot go against my conscience, at least out of stubbornness or out of pride; so I look, listen and keep quiet. In what I could say, there would be a contradiction between my reason and my feeling.

I admire, not without horror, the terrible truths that have come from across the Alps with a gun in my hands. But my Venetian heart bleeds when I see that my fatherland has perished and that even his name has disappeared. You will say that I am petty and that I should be proud of a new, broader and stronger fatherland. But in my age it is difficult to have youthful flexibility and resourcefulness of judgment.

There is a bench on the Schiavoni embankment where I sit more willingly than anywhere else: I feel good there. You do not dare to say that I am obliged to love the whole embankment as much as this is my favorite place; why do you want me to push the boundaries of my patriotism? Let my nephews do it. "

Pavel Muratov called Gozzi the last Venetian. But he can also be called the first romantic. Already in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, German and French romantics saw him as their predecessor. This is evidenced by the enthusiastic statements of Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, Tieck, Hoffmann, Madame de Stael, Nodier, Gaultier. The influence of Carlo Gozzi is also felt in the work of the genius Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen.

Biography

Carlo Gozzi was the sixth of eleven children of the impoverished Venetian Count Jacopo Antonio Gozzi and his wife Angiola Tiepolo. In search of a livelihood, at the age of 16, he enlisted in the army operating in Dalmatia. Three years later he returned to Venice. He wrote several satirical works (poems and pamphlets), which ensured his fame and opened the way to the literary society (Academy) of Granelleschi. This society advocated the preservation of Tuscan literary traditions and against the newfangled realistic plays of such playwrights as Pietro Chiari and Carlo Goldoni. With his fairy-tale plays, Gozzi tried to form an aesthetic opposition to the new literature.

Gozzi began his literary career by writing poems that fully corresponded to the spirit of Pulci ("The Quirk of Marfisa", etc.) and essays in which he polemicized with Goldoni, who was then carrying out his famous theatrical reform. An excellent connoisseur and ardent admirer of the commedia dell'arte, Gozzi believed that plebeian tastes were indulged primarily by the comedy of Goldoni himself, and not at all by the comedy del arte, as was claimed. Gozzi considered the comedy of masks to be the best that Venice gave to theatrical art.

Legend has it that Gozzi wrote his first play, arguing with Goldoni (who was then at the zenith of fame) that he would write a play on the most simple plot, while achieving tremendous success. Soon, The Love for Three Oranges appeared. With her appearance, Gozzi created a new genre - fiab, or a tragicomic fairy tale for the theater. The fiaba is based on fabulous material, where the comic and the tragic are bizarrely mixed, and the source of the comic is, as a rule, collisions with the participation of masks (Pantalone, Truffaldino, Tartaglia, Brighella and Smeraldina), and the tragic is the conflict of the main characters. The story of this tale was used by S. Prokofiev for his 1919 opera The Love for Three Oranges.

The Love for Three Oranges was written especially for the troupe of Antonio Sacchi, the great improvisational actor. Sacchi, together with his troupe, fulfilled Gozzi's plans in the best possible way - the success of "The Love for Three Oranges" was amazing, as well as the success of 9 subsequent fiab.

The Love for Three Oranges was almost entirely improvised. Nine subsequent fiab preserved improvisation only where the action was associated with the masks of the commedia dell'arte, the roles of the main characters are written in noble and expressive white verse.

Fiaba Gozzi are very famous. They were highly valued by Goethe, brothers August and Friedrich Schlegel, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Madame de Stael, A. N. Ostrovsky and many others. Conquered by Gozzi's talent, Schiller reworked for the stage of the Weimar Theater Turandot, one of Gozzi's best plays, the plot of which was later written to the music of Carl Maria von Weber and the opera by Puccini.

Leaving the writing of fiab around 1765, Gozzi left no pen. However, 23 plays in the manner of a cloak and sword comedy brought him incomparably less fame than the fiabs and the famous "Useless Memoirs" written at the end of his life. He was buried in the Venetian church of San Cassiano.

His fiabs still go all over the world, arousing the admiration of the viewer.

The asteroid (530) Turandot, discovered in 1904 by the German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory, is named after Carlo Gozzi's play "Turandot".

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Essays

• The Love for Three Oranges (L'amore delle tre melarance, 1761)
• Raven (Il Corvo, 1761)
• The Stag King (Il Re cervo, 1762)
• Turandot (English)Russian(Turandot, 1762)
• The Snake Woman (La donna serpente, 1762)
• Zobeide (1763)
• Happy Beggars (I Pitocchi fortunati, 1764)
• Blue monster (Il mostro turchino, 1764)
• Green bird (L'Augellino belverde, 1765)
• Zeim, king of the genies (Zeim, re de "geni, 1765)
• Useless memoirs of the life of Carlo Gozzi, written by himself and published with humility by him (Memorie inutili della vita die Carlo Gozzi, scritte da lui medesimo, e da lui publicate per umilita, 1797). First translated into Russian by L.M. Chachko in 2013.