Postuma: Il canto dellodio e altri versi " proibiti

by Lorenzo Stecchetti

141 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1981

About the author

Lorenzo Stecchetti was a fictional persona invented by the poet Olindo Guerrini (1845-1916) whose collection of poems Postuma was published in 1877. Allegedly, the posthumous work of Guerrini's cousin, Lorenzo Stecchetti, a poète maudit in the Romantic mould of Byron and Heine, who had supposedly died of consumption at the age of thirty. The collection provoked a scandalized response when it appeared in print on account of its frank treatment of erotic themes and the overtly blasphemous sentiments expressed in some of the verse. Nonetheless, Postuma sold extremely well and became widely popular, so much so that its publisher was compelled to reprint the volume several times to meet public demand as also a "complete edition" of Sacchetti's collected poems (Le rime di Lorenzo Stecchetti) in 1903.

The poems, which are generally short, concise and couched in straightforward language reminiscent of folk poetry, dwell on themes of lost love and world-weariness. They proved highly amenable to musical treatment and were much set by contemporary Italian composers, including Tosti, Denza, Leoncavallo, Sgambati and even the young Toscanini, amongst others. They also represents the macabre and controversial style of the Scapigliatura movement popularized in those years by Emilio Praga, Iginio Ugo Tarchetti and many others.