Memorie

by Carlo Goldoni, Guido Davico Bonino (Editor)

Le "Memorie" di Carlo Goldoni vedono la luce in francese a Parigi, a metà agosto 1787, presso l'editore Duchesne, in tre tomi corrispondenti alle tre parti dell'opera: l'autore ha, a quella data, ottant'anni e mezzo. A scrivere i suoi ricordi, che intende servano "alla storia della propria vita e a quella del proprio teatro", si è gettato con ardore tutto giovanile sulla fine dell'83 ultimandone la stesura negli ultimi giorni dell'86 (Alfieri, che gli ha reso più di una visita, ha trovato ogni volta il buon vecchietto... ingolfato nell'impresa). Ma, alla fine è nata una delle più gustose autobiografie della nostra letteratura, in perfetto equilibrio tra il romanzo d'educazione alla vita, il sommario di poetica e il rendiconto dei costumi di una nazione (nella fattispecie, quella francese che lo ospitò negli ultimi trent'anni della sua esistenza). Goldoni muore, infatti, a Parigi il 6 febbraio 1793. Questa nuova edizione tascabile delle "Memorie" del Goldoni, riccamente annotata, è completata da un'appendice di scritti tratti dalle edizioni settecentesche del teatro e dalla cronologia della vita e delle commedie.

Genres: Italy, France, Nonfiction, Italian Literature

685 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1787

About the author

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty. His plays offered his contemporaries images of themselves, often dramatizing the lives, values, and conflicts of the emerging middle classes. Though he wrote in French and Italian, his plays make rich use of the Venetian language, regional vernacular, and colloquialisms. Goldoni also wrote under the pen name and title "Polisseno Fegeio, Pastor Arcade," which he claimed in his memoirs the "Arcadians of Rome" bestowed on him.

Reviews

[Philippe Malzieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldoni has a a particular place in history of the theatre. He is indisputably a heir to the Italian theatre, the commedia del arte. He said also he was a heir of Molière. So I thought he was author of only light venitian comedy.
I saw a representation of "La trilogie de la villégiature" and I was surprised. There is of course this lightness, this seduction. The beautiful and rich characters play to the game of love and chance. But we are not in Marivaux's play. There is gravity. It is even surprising.Spontanouesly, I think to Tcheckov (especially "La cerisaie"). I saw after "La locandiera" and it was the same conclusion. Mirandonila will marry neither the marquis, nor the comte. It will be the servant like wanted it his father. And it will be with resignation, with at least, freedom is limited.
Thus I concluded that Goldoni is a pre-Romantic.
I found in a secondhand bookseller his memories. It was in the magnificent collection "Le temps retrouvé" to "Mercure de France" editor. On this subject, since Gallimard purchased this editor, the books of this collection became very ugly pocket things.
Venise at the XVIII°, it is the end of prosperity. But the agony of this city is brilliant and joyful.
He was born in a family liking theatre and opera. Young lawyer, we discover with him the operation of justice in the north of Italy at this time. For me, the interest of this book is to see the maturation of the author. He began with mythological plays he give up quickly. He writed comedies with the inevitables harlequin and patalone. He gave up after these typical characters. He is first has to remove the masks with "locandiera".
He wrote many opera's libretto but he did not choose always the best musician. Its meeting with Vivaldi is funny. He regarded the red-headed priest as a poor musician. He rewrote the libretto of Griselda which remains the more played of the operas of Vivaldi.
Other writer Gozzi complained him to quit Venise. He went to France where he has renewed the Italian theatre in Paris.
He died in Paris at 85 years.
Goldoni is from my point of view largely under estimated. His important work is rather heterogeneous. But there are undoubtedly beautiful things to discover.
His memories enables us to know the cultural life of France and Italy to the XVIII°.

[Janez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Commencés en 1783, finis et imprimés en 1787, les Mémoires de M. Goldoni pour servir à l'histoire de sa vie, et à celle de son théâtre évoquent le passé de l'auteur. Mais encore plus que cela, il s'agit aussi de l'histoire culturelle du XVIIIe siècle. Le vieil auteur y avait décrit et sa vie, et son travail au théâtre, et ses nombreuses rencontres avec les célébrités du XVIIIe siècle (avec Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire…..), et ses idées et ses expériences différentes….On pourrait dire que ces Mémoires sont aussi eux-mêmes une comédie en prose qui reflète et la vie de l'artiste et celle de son temps. Carlo Goldoni s'est exprimé d'une manière vraiment intéressante sur les acteurs théâtraux, sur le théâtre (italien surtout, mais aussi français et anglais), sur les salles de spectacle, sur le public, sur la critique, sur les éditeurs (de ses comédies), sur les passions que peut inspirer le théâtre. En faisant cela d'une manière particulière à lui, Goldoni a réussi à créer un mythe dans lequel il jouait le rôle principal. Même si sa vie n'était pas toujours facile (on peut voir qu'il avait des besoins pécuniaires), il a écrit ces Mémoires avec une sérénité et un humour typique pour l'homme méditerranéen. Sa manière phlegmatique est plutôt amusante, mais on peut y discerner, on peut y voir les effets de fugacité de temps.
En finissant ses Mémoires, je voudrais seulment dire que j'ai l'impression d'une séparation d'avec un ami très, très cher!!!

[sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

» 𝟒.𝟓 ☆

“Non può negarsi c’hio non sia nato sotto gli influssi di stella Comica, poiché la mia vita medesima è una Commedia.”

same bro

[Tittirossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldoni riesce a far apparire la sua vita una felice passeggiata , rischiarata dal sorriso delle fortune.
Anche se sono consapevole che non è stato così, mi lascio irretire dal suo fascino e faccio finta di crederci (l'unico modo è leggere le note a fine capitolo, ahimé loro, le note, ristabiliscono l'ordine storico e non mi va di spezzare l'incanto e l'unità del racconto)
Forse, questo è il modo migliore di rendere onore al suo genio e alla sua capacità di alleviare la vita, ovvero di rendere lieve la pesantezza dei giorni.

[❀ Diana ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, even though I've only listened to a radiofonic theatre of this book, it gave me a nice overview of Goldoni's life and plays. Beautifully played.

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goldoni was - and is - one of the biggest names in Italian theatre, and European I guess. Written in French during his last years spent there, it could be more interesting historically if it was slightly less focused on theatre. But then again, it's hard to reproach him with writing about his life, i.e his profession...
While this text has cut through his analyses/discussions of his own work, there still remains quite a bit in that line, which, when you don't know the play etc., can get tiresome (although rarely so I admit). Goldoni is also rather thin on everyday life, and (as explained in the introduction) had an interest in coming across in a certain way because of his hopes for procurement from the French court.
Well, he got nothing, was very poor at the end, gave Italian lessons to the King's daughters and probably dies as a result of his poor living conditions.
AS his style and voice (both very nice) do not really dabble in the very personal, it's hard to get an idea of how immensely successful and famous he was; his long antagonism with Gozzi and other leading theatrical figures is only alluded to, a shame as I would have liked to know more about it and about the differences in acting/scripting etc.
All in all, a good read.

[Aryanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho letto questo libro per prepararmi per un esame dell'Università. Ho sempre amato molto il teatro, e Goldoni in particolare è sempre stato uno dei miei preferiti, tuttavia ho trovato la sua autobiografia abbastanza difficile da leggere. Lo stile è molto chiaro e Goldoni sfoggia una comicità ed un'ironia non da poco, ma è palese, sin dalla prima pagina, il suo tentativo di rendersi simpatico agli occhi dei suoi lettori (proposito molto giustificato) ma che lo rende assolutamente detestabile. Più cerca di mostrarsi impenetrabile e con una grande capacità di raziocinio, più mette in mostra il suo carattere focoso, incline alla vendetta verso i suoi avversari ed assolutamente poco tranquillo.
Nonostante questo, il carattere di un uomo non toglie assolutamente valore alla sua attività poetica e le sue opere restano, ancora oggi, incredibilmente attuali.