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Candelaio: A New Stage Translation
Giordano Bruno was as modern in this play as in his universe filled with inhabitable worlds. NASA is right now looking for the worlds Bruno predicted. But Bruno is downright funny in his play, as he is "dead serious" in the works for which he died. Here we're more likely to die--laughing. Bony thinks he's bedding his lover, but it's his wife. The scientist Bart spends every moment trying to make gold, until his ignored wife takes a lover. The teacher Manny reads his poems to his boys hoping to attract them as they attract him. How the boys defeat Manny is humorous. Several Naples street hooligans put on security jackets and steal from Manny and others. At least one character above is bisexual. Is this a contemporary play, or Candelaio from nearly 440 years ago? Bruno only wrote one play, the best first play ever written. Printed in Paris in 1582, the play waited four hundred years for the world to catch up to Bruno--not just in astronomy. Many know Giordano Bruno's martyrdom, but nobody thinks him outrageously funny, until they read this play, and this version. See 15 min of Bridewell Theatre performance, Youtube: “Candelaio Final Edit”
- GenresItaly
140 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2014
1 person is currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Alan W. Powers
6 books383 followersEducated at Amherst College and the University of Minnesota, plus post-docs at Princeton, Brown, Harvard, Cornell, the Folger Library, Breadloaf, Villa Vergilliana (Cuma, Italy) and the American Academy, Rome. Taught and published on 17C English and Comparative Literature and History, especially Shakespeare and Giordano Bruno. Wrote two books of verse. Appeared in two poetry films, Keats and his Nightingale, and A Loaded Gun. Composed several song settings to Yeats and Dylan Thomas, and jazz heads largely based on birds like Wood Thrush, Oriole, and the European Blackbird. See Google profile for NYT publications and www.zoomusicology.com. Mentors include Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Leonard Unger, Jean D'Amato Thomas, Thomas M Greene, Annabel Patterson, Marjorie Garber, Sander Gilman, Tony Molho, LL Lipking, G. Armour Craig, Richard Cody and Theodore Baird.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 21, 2024
For a video of two scenes from Bridewell Theatre, London (2014) see Alan W Powers's profile here.
In one scene, III.12, the Latin teacher, Manny, refuses to call out "Robber!" because, "Robbery is an assault accompanied by larceny-- from Old French 'rober.' 'Surreptor,' on the other hand, implies deceit or snare, as he has done to me." His friend, "Now, see how you've advanced in your studies so you can't communicate with the common man"(54).
I translated Bruno's one play in Carrara, parked on the oily marble sidewalks because my computer then couldn't use 220 European current, and in London. Its first performance was directed by Philippa Waller and Tom Bruno-Magdich, at the Bridewell Theatre, 4 April '14. The Bridewell is near the spot where Bruno lived, at the French ambassador's house, in the 1580s.
It will surprise many, even italianists who think of Bruno as a philosopher and dour martyr. No, he can be hilarious, and racy. This play features a bisexual, a would-be pederast Latin teacher, and a workaholic scientist who neglects his wife. There's also street bums who dress up in security uniforms in order to steal. And there's a "bed-trick" as in Shakespeare's MFM and AWEW, but fifteen year earlier.
I've said Bruno's is the Best First Play ever written--hands down better than Titus Andronicus, despite fancy films etc. Yes, it's long, needs cutting for zippy modern stage performance. I cut all but two of the prologs. But those prologs could be called post-modern, as can various other Brechtian distancing effects, which are effectively metadramatic. What could be more metadramatic than a character's feeling that he is in a play, and his interlocutor asking, "At what point in the play would you prefer to be?" The end, the end--he volunteers. And presto, Candelaio ends: out comes the Plaudite sign.
A prominent international scholar-critic, skeptical of Bruno because of his new book on Galileo, recently praised my translation of the play: "It's lots of fun (and other stuff) and was certainly new to me. I especially enjoyed the sense of how much you share with Bruno: so much energy, wit, learning, boldness (chutzpah)--and neither of you seems afraid of being outrageous or over the top or silly."
Reading over my "Candelaio," five years later, I found a perfect description of US Pres. Trumpster. A servant, Ascanio says of his boss, Bony / Bonifacio, "Who doesn't know more than he does tends to value more or less what he does" (V.xxiv, p.125). In original, "Chi non sa e conosce piú né men che lui, e chi non vale piú né men che lui."(Einaudi 1964, p.161)
When Bart and Consalvo are bound together on the ground, and later when Bony is being marched off to the Vicaria prison, St Leonard is invoked, patron of prisoners and captives. Bruno discusses the prominence of bordellos near Santa Maria del Carmine, Naples, and in Rome the Pope's locking sex workers up to enable taxation and keep honest women from corruption, while Venice with its wealth treated them best-- Venetian prostitutes not even taxed (V.xviii, p.107). Bruno writes hilarious, almost proverbial vulgarities, like the teen Ascanio telling Bernie about the god Momus's asking Mercury, "Perché la potta non ha bottoni?" Mercury answers, "Perché il cazzo non ha le unghie per spuntarlo"(V.xix, p. 113). For my racy version, check out the book.
In the penultimate scene, Latin-teacher Manny is given the choice of his own school punishments, ratten on his hand, or slaps on his bottom, but finally gives up his briefcase of money. Earlier Bernie, says the Rolling Stones line, "I can't get no satisfaction" from Bony's impersonation, though he drops his charges after convincing Bony to defer to his wife and himself (V.22, p.119).
Royal Danish Library lists it (worldcat), as does the British Library, the Renaissance Center (U Mass) which does not loan, and maybe ten others including Amherst College, Bristol Community College, and local libraries like Snow (Orleans, MA), Rogers (Bristol, RI) and South Kingston, RI. Some foreign libraries have added it, like Liceo Aristofane, Rome, and Catholic Private University, Linz, Austria, as well as many teachers of Italian (librarything). Foyles Bookstore, London, includes
it.
My former Prof Lawence Lipking said in a letter, "It's lots of fun (and other stuff) and was certainly new to mw....This is much better than Galileo's (unfinished) play. At times it reminds me of Ben Jonson."
In one scene, III.12, the Latin teacher, Manny, refuses to call out "Robber!" because, "Robbery is an assault accompanied by larceny-- from Old French 'rober.' 'Surreptor,' on the other hand, implies deceit or snare, as he has done to me." His friend, "Now, see how you've advanced in your studies so you can't communicate with the common man"(54).
I translated Bruno's one play in Carrara, parked on the oily marble sidewalks because my computer then couldn't use 220 European current, and in London. Its first performance was directed by Philippa Waller and Tom Bruno-Magdich, at the Bridewell Theatre, 4 April '14. The Bridewell is near the spot where Bruno lived, at the French ambassador's house, in the 1580s.
It will surprise many, even italianists who think of Bruno as a philosopher and dour martyr. No, he can be hilarious, and racy. This play features a bisexual, a would-be pederast Latin teacher, and a workaholic scientist who neglects his wife. There's also street bums who dress up in security uniforms in order to steal. And there's a "bed-trick" as in Shakespeare's MFM and AWEW, but fifteen year earlier.
I've said Bruno's is the Best First Play ever written--hands down better than Titus Andronicus, despite fancy films etc. Yes, it's long, needs cutting for zippy modern stage performance. I cut all but two of the prologs. But those prologs could be called post-modern, as can various other Brechtian distancing effects, which are effectively metadramatic. What could be more metadramatic than a character's feeling that he is in a play, and his interlocutor asking, "At what point in the play would you prefer to be?" The end, the end--he volunteers. And presto, Candelaio ends: out comes the Plaudite sign.
A prominent international scholar-critic, skeptical of Bruno because of his new book on Galileo, recently praised my translation of the play: "It's lots of fun (and other stuff) and was certainly new to me. I especially enjoyed the sense of how much you share with Bruno: so much energy, wit, learning, boldness (chutzpah)--and neither of you seems afraid of being outrageous or over the top or silly."
Reading over my "Candelaio," five years later, I found a perfect description of US Pres. Trumpster. A servant, Ascanio says of his boss, Bony / Bonifacio, "Who doesn't know more than he does tends to value more or less what he does" (V.xxiv, p.125). In original, "Chi non sa e conosce piú né men che lui, e chi non vale piú né men che lui."(Einaudi 1964, p.161)
When Bart and Consalvo are bound together on the ground, and later when Bony is being marched off to the Vicaria prison, St Leonard is invoked, patron of prisoners and captives. Bruno discusses the prominence of bordellos near Santa Maria del Carmine, Naples, and in Rome the Pope's locking sex workers up to enable taxation and keep honest women from corruption, while Venice with its wealth treated them best-- Venetian prostitutes not even taxed (V.xviii, p.107). Bruno writes hilarious, almost proverbial vulgarities, like the teen Ascanio telling Bernie about the god Momus's asking Mercury, "Perché la potta non ha bottoni?" Mercury answers, "Perché il cazzo non ha le unghie per spuntarlo"(V.xix, p. 113). For my racy version, check out the book.
In the penultimate scene, Latin-teacher Manny is given the choice of his own school punishments, ratten on his hand, or slaps on his bottom, but finally gives up his briefcase of money. Earlier Bernie, says the Rolling Stones line, "I can't get no satisfaction" from Bony's impersonation, though he drops his charges after convincing Bony to defer to his wife and himself (V.22, p.119).
Royal Danish Library lists it (worldcat), as does the British Library, the Renaissance Center (U Mass) which does not loan, and maybe ten others including Amherst College, Bristol Community College, and local libraries like Snow (Orleans, MA), Rogers (Bristol, RI) and South Kingston, RI. Some foreign libraries have added it, like Liceo Aristofane, Rome, and Catholic Private University, Linz, Austria, as well as many teachers of Italian (librarything). Foyles Bookstore, London, includes
it.
My former Prof Lawence Lipking said in a letter, "It's lots of fun (and other stuff) and was certainly new to mw....This is much better than Galileo's (unfinished) play. At times it reminds me of Ben Jonson."
March 4, 2016
What an experience!
The play itself is actually revolutionary in structure and contents, even for our standards: the threefold prolog untangled by the intervention of a janitor, the threefold language twist, the consciousness displayed somewhere by characters about their being on stage, more than bisexuality and homosexuality displayed, which seem to me more consistent with the spirit of farcical overthrowing of social rules common in comedy during Middle Age and Renaissance. Of course, Bruno was not as cynical as, say, Machiavelli in "La Mandragola".
Translation must have been a Titan's work. Most of all, I appreciated the Jamaican version of the necromancer and the conciseness: I'll wait until I have read the original (available here "Candelaio" presso Archivi di Teatro Napoli ) to comment deeper into the matter. It sounds like there are lots of interesting solutions!
The play itself is actually revolutionary in structure and contents, even for our standards: the threefold prolog untangled by the intervention of a janitor, the threefold language twist, the consciousness displayed somewhere by characters about their being on stage, more than bisexuality and homosexuality displayed, which seem to me more consistent with the spirit of farcical overthrowing of social rules common in comedy during Middle Age and Renaissance. Of course, Bruno was not as cynical as, say, Machiavelli in "La Mandragola".
Translation must have been a Titan's work. Most of all, I appreciated the Jamaican version of the necromancer and the conciseness: I'll wait until I have read the original (available here "Candelaio" presso Archivi di Teatro Napoli ) to comment deeper into the matter. It sounds like there are lots of interesting solutions!
January 22, 2018
Candelaio by Alan Powers
A Comedy before being gagged and burned at the stake
After reading “Candelaio” Alan Powers translation of Giordano Bruno comedy (1582: “The candle maker” which is a protest comedy about contemporary morality and corruption of the time). It is important to remember he was not executed until 18 years later. He was sentenced to be executed by Pope Clement VIII on February 17 1600---his tongue in a gag and burned alive at Campo dei Fiori . After reading Author Powers translation I have come to the conclusion that he was not only executed for rejecting the earthy centered cosmology and Aristotelian physics endorsed by the Roman Catholic and Reformed church but because he had a ‘big mouth’ and an outrageous sense of humor. It was in Paris that he penned his comedy “candelaio”.He lived a nomadic life traveling to Savona, Turin, Venice, France, and England.
Reading “Candelaio” was demanding for a non-academic like me. Bruno as a comedy writer comes across as a religious reformer, philosopher, weird astronomer and I wonder if his doubting the divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the resurrection and trinity sealed his horrible fate. I now understand why he was considered a heretic. He lived in a time where science collided with, magic, religion and philosophy. He believed that the human soul and universal soul were one. Philosopher Bruno asked the obvious question, that if there is a boundary or edge to space, what is on the other side? In 2018 we still don’t have answers to that question? As a black man in America I have always wrestled with the fact that only-in-Judeo-Christian tradition,(my parents were Baptists) with its doctrine of the creator that we have this idea of a universe infinite in time and space is a heretical idea. Augustine argued 2,000 years ago: Infinity is exclusive to God and thus not allowed in the material universe. To say that the universe is unlimited is a big difference between God and nature. Which makes me like Bruno a Pantheist because I believe nature is inherently divine but to say that there is no God in the universe is a stretch for me because if we live in a godless, immoral universe we are all doomed. But on the other hand does a personal God care about who wins the Super bowl?
“In this infinite space is placed our universe (whether by chance, by necessity or
Provenance I do not consider).” Giordano Bruno
Translator Powell stated he wanted to emphasize the modernity of the text which made it easier for Americans to digest the dialog. Some examples:
“Scar. Go West, Young man.”
“Nor is it recommended in Strunk and White,
Nor taught by the composition specialist.”
Vinegar the Maître ‘D shouts, “Who the hell do you think you are, some fuggin’duke or count?”
Sounds like something I would hear at “Harold’s Chicken Shack on the Southside of Chicago. On page 21 I laughed when I read: Hot dogs! Chili dogs here!
Come get your hot dogs.
Chimney sooty? Sweep for hire
Clean ‘em or lose out to fire!
Reminded me of the barking I heard at a recent Bulls game in Chicago, I momentarily forgot Candelaio was published in 1582, it took 400 years for a translator like Powers to add “Hot dogs” and totally Americanize the text.
If you are intrigued with Giordano Bruno’s literary life “Candelaio” will reveal an outrageous and satirical mind.
A Comedy before being gagged and burned at the stake
After reading “Candelaio” Alan Powers translation of Giordano Bruno comedy (1582: “The candle maker” which is a protest comedy about contemporary morality and corruption of the time). It is important to remember he was not executed until 18 years later. He was sentenced to be executed by Pope Clement VIII on February 17 1600---his tongue in a gag and burned alive at Campo dei Fiori . After reading Author Powers translation I have come to the conclusion that he was not only executed for rejecting the earthy centered cosmology and Aristotelian physics endorsed by the Roman Catholic and Reformed church but because he had a ‘big mouth’ and an outrageous sense of humor. It was in Paris that he penned his comedy “candelaio”.He lived a nomadic life traveling to Savona, Turin, Venice, France, and England.
Reading “Candelaio” was demanding for a non-academic like me. Bruno as a comedy writer comes across as a religious reformer, philosopher, weird astronomer and I wonder if his doubting the divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the resurrection and trinity sealed his horrible fate. I now understand why he was considered a heretic. He lived in a time where science collided with, magic, religion and philosophy. He believed that the human soul and universal soul were one. Philosopher Bruno asked the obvious question, that if there is a boundary or edge to space, what is on the other side? In 2018 we still don’t have answers to that question? As a black man in America I have always wrestled with the fact that only-in-Judeo-Christian tradition,(my parents were Baptists) with its doctrine of the creator that we have this idea of a universe infinite in time and space is a heretical idea. Augustine argued 2,000 years ago: Infinity is exclusive to God and thus not allowed in the material universe. To say that the universe is unlimited is a big difference between God and nature. Which makes me like Bruno a Pantheist because I believe nature is inherently divine but to say that there is no God in the universe is a stretch for me because if we live in a godless, immoral universe we are all doomed. But on the other hand does a personal God care about who wins the Super bowl?
“In this infinite space is placed our universe (whether by chance, by necessity or
Provenance I do not consider).” Giordano Bruno
Translator Powell stated he wanted to emphasize the modernity of the text which made it easier for Americans to digest the dialog. Some examples:
“Scar. Go West, Young man.”
“Nor is it recommended in Strunk and White,
Nor taught by the composition specialist.”
Vinegar the Maître ‘D shouts, “Who the hell do you think you are, some fuggin’duke or count?”
Sounds like something I would hear at “Harold’s Chicken Shack on the Southside of Chicago. On page 21 I laughed when I read: Hot dogs! Chili dogs here!
Come get your hot dogs.
Chimney sooty? Sweep for hire
Clean ‘em or lose out to fire!
Reminded me of the barking I heard at a recent Bulls game in Chicago, I momentarily forgot Candelaio was published in 1582, it took 400 years for a translator like Powers to add “Hot dogs” and totally Americanize the text.
If you are intrigued with Giordano Bruno’s literary life “Candelaio” will reveal an outrageous and satirical mind.
May 6, 2014
An absolutely delightful book. This play by Giordano Bruno (updated by Alan Powers) made me laugh out loud many times.
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