The Theft
Il Furto
Published on 15. January 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
326 pages
978-1-59910-465-2 (ISBN)
Description
Cornelio, an old doctor, has lost his wife and daughter during the Sack of Rome and his son Valerio in a shipwreck. He now wants to marry Camilla, who however loves Mario. To escape, in turn, from marrying Valerio's widow, Mario then suggests that Camilla run away with him. Meanwhile, Aurelia has been captured by pirates from her father, Guicciardo Gualandi, and is in the hands of their leader, Rinuccio Corso. But Gismondo Castrucci, who's in love with her, pretends to be her real father and promises Rinuccio a reward of one hundred and fifty scudi for her release....
This publication presents a new edition, with the first English translation, of the Italian Renaissance comedy The Theft (Il Furto) by Francesco D'Ambra. The Theft was originally performed in Florence in 1544 for the Accademia Fiorentina and for Duke Cosimo I de' Medici of Florence and subsequently grand duke of Tuscany. The Theft is the work of an accomplished and revered dramaturge.
Although performances of dramatic works in Florence often featured intermedi - entr'acte musical compositions - in many cases the music composed for them exists only in fragments. But this play is almost unique in the history of the Italian Renaissance theater and music because the intermedio materials survive in their entirety.
The volume includes scholarly editions of Francesco D'Ambra's and Ugo Martelli's original Italian texts. Vanni Bramanti uses all the relevant primary sources and provides a critical apparatus to the text and an introduction to the playwright and the play. Linda L. Carroll presents an authoritative facing English annotated translation of the text.
It also offers Alexander Dean's edition of the entr'acte music and Anthony M. Cummings' introduction to poet Ugo Martelli's and composer Francesco Corteccia's entr'actes.
Dual-language drama. Preface, introductions, plot summary, appendix, notes, and bibliography. 324 pages.
More details
Series
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
461 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-59910-465-2 (9781599104652)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Francesco D'Ambra was born in Florence on July 29, 1499 to Giovanni and Costanza da Filicaia. His family was noble, and many of its members held public office. Little is known about D'Ambra's youth. After registering in the Arte del Cambio, he was able to participate in political life and hold public office. In 1527 he was declared eligible for the Great Council. In the meantime, he had married Ginevra di Niccolò Biffoli, with whom he had a son Vincenzo in 1538. He registered in the Arte della Seta di Por Santa Maria on February 6, 1555.D'Ambra was a friend of Cattani di Diacceto, a Platonic philosopher and follower of Marsilio Ficino. Around 1540 he was among the founders of the Accademia degli Umidi, later Accademia Fiorentina, which held symposia on and readings of the major Tuscan poets. D'Ambra specialized in Petrarch's sonnets. In 1543 he was elected advisor to the Accademia's consul.On November 8, 1544, his first comedy, "Il Furto" (The Theft), was premiered at the Accademia Fiorentina's Sala del Papa. A few days later, Duke Cosimo de' Medici, informed of its success, expressed the desire to attend a new performance of it. The first edition of "Il Furto" appeared posthumously in Florence in 1560, with a preface by Frosino Lapini. His success as a playwright favored D'Ambra's rise to the highest positions in the Accademia: counselor, censor, member of the Balia, consul.He dedicated his second comedy, "I Bernardi," written between the end of 1547 and the beginning of 1548, to Duke Cosimo. While "Il Furto" is in prose, "I Bernardi" is written in verse. On June 14, 1548, D'Ambra was named a member of the Collegio. On November 22, 1551, the Accademia elected him a "riformatore della lingua toscana" as part of a five-member commission.The annals of the Accademia stop at 1552, and the last years of D'Ambra's life can only be reconstructed through conjecture. He died in Rome in 1558, but it is not known when he moved there or for what reason.A third play, "La Cofartaria," was written between 1550 and 1555 but premiered only on December 25, 1565 for the wedding of Francesco de' Medici with Giovanna of Austria. D'Ambra also wrote a "Storia dei suoi tempi," which has not survived, and began a translation of the "Storie of Sabellico." Both works were interrupted by his death.D'Ambra, like many playwrights of the sixteenth century insisted on the "novità" of his comedies. In the prologue of "I Bernardi" he stated that his works were the same as those of Terence or other Latin authors, "but are what our times produce, which are not similar to those of ancient times." The "new" comedy did not mean abandoning ancient modes and themes, however, but placing them into contemporary contexts, such as the Sack of Rome in "Il Furto" or the continuous reference to women kidnapped by the Turks throughout his work.While D'Ambra's comedies follow the forms of his Latin sources - astute servants who amuse themselves at the expense of old men in love with young women, sycophants, etc. - there are also characters drawn from the reality of his own times, such as the necromancer or the doctor.- Source: Vera Lettere, "Dizionario Bioografico degli Italiani" 32 (1986).