DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0152
SONNETS AND POEMS
97
own love of literature and the refined tastes of
Elisabetta and her ladies lent a strong stimulus to
literary production. Sonnets and
and W7726*, were composed and recited, now by one
member of the group, now by another. Most of
Castiglione's finest poems and many of Bembo's most
elegant verses belong to this period. Other courtiers
less accomplished, but no less anxious to please,
caught the prevailing fashion, and tried their hand at
rhyming. Cesare Gonzaga, Ottaviano Fregoso, even
Giuliano de' Medici, were among the poets in those
days. Bembo's correspondence abounds in allusions to
these poetic effusions which reached him from all
parts of Italy, and were read and recited to the whole
court, whether they were composed in Rome or
Venice, at Mantua or Ferrara. At carnival time
flights of a higher order were attempted ; pastoral
plays and comedies were composed and acted before
the Duchess and her ladies. Vincenzo Calmeta,
Beatrice d' Este's old secretary, vcho since the death of
his lamented mistress had been a wanderer from one
court to another, came to Urbino in the early spring
of 1504, and delighted the ladies by a comedy of his
invention, not without exciting the jealousy of Bembo,
who wrote from Venice to Madonna Emilia, that he
would like to pull his rivals ears were he not afraid of
Calmeta s superior stature ! Next year it was the
turn of Castiglione and Cesare Gonzaga, then of
Bembo and Ottaviano Fregoso, who were all called
upon to contribute to the amusements and pleasures
of the court.
Graver and more solid works were also produced
by leading scholars and humanists. Here during
many years Bembo pursued those studies of the
/mg'Ma that were ultimately to find shape
VOL. 1. y
97
own love of literature and the refined tastes of
Elisabetta and her ladies lent a strong stimulus to
literary production. Sonnets and
and W7726*, were composed and recited, now by one
member of the group, now by another. Most of
Castiglione's finest poems and many of Bembo's most
elegant verses belong to this period. Other courtiers
less accomplished, but no less anxious to please,
caught the prevailing fashion, and tried their hand at
rhyming. Cesare Gonzaga, Ottaviano Fregoso, even
Giuliano de' Medici, were among the poets in those
days. Bembo's correspondence abounds in allusions to
these poetic effusions which reached him from all
parts of Italy, and were read and recited to the whole
court, whether they were composed in Rome or
Venice, at Mantua or Ferrara. At carnival time
flights of a higher order were attempted ; pastoral
plays and comedies were composed and acted before
the Duchess and her ladies. Vincenzo Calmeta,
Beatrice d' Este's old secretary, vcho since the death of
his lamented mistress had been a wanderer from one
court to another, came to Urbino in the early spring
of 1504, and delighted the ladies by a comedy of his
invention, not without exciting the jealousy of Bembo,
who wrote from Venice to Madonna Emilia, that he
would like to pull his rivals ears were he not afraid of
Calmeta s superior stature ! Next year it was the
turn of Castiglione and Cesare Gonzaga, then of
Bembo and Ottaviano Fregoso, who were all called
upon to contribute to the amusements and pleasures
of the court.
Graver and more solid works were also produced
by leading scholars and humanists. Here during
many years Bembo pursued those studies of the
/mg'Ma that were ultimately to find shape
VOL. 1. y