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SITTER:
LADY ALICE MONTAGU (as Petrarch's Laura de Sade)* * For the de Nove/de Sade difference - see infra SOURCE: Duclaux. F., Pétrarque et Laure. (page 1)
CONTENTS LAURA - INDENTIFICATION AND INSPIRATION OF PETRARCH INFLUENCE OF PETRARCH'S SONNETS IN ENGLAND COMMENT - RH - REEMERGENCE OF LAURA IN 19TH CENTURY ITEM: OPERA - PRESSBURG - 1816 ITEM: OPERA - Carlsruhe - 1820 Oh quand je dors! Poésie de Victor Hugo ITEM: OPERA by Duprat - MARSEILLE - 1873 ITEM: OPERA - DUPRAT - 1873 - Details Opera by Duprat - Details of Première Duprat's Opera - Performance History Duprat's Opera - Critique and synopsis by Rostrand MARTINI - PAINTER OF LAURA'S PORTRAIT PETRARCH SONNET UPON SEEING LAURA'S PORTRAIT MARTINI PAINTINGS THOUGHT TO BE LAURA LAURA - INDENTIFICATION AND INSPIRATION OF PETRARCH SOURCE: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1973, Micropædia, Vol VI, pp 78-79 Laura, the beloved of the Italian poet Petrarch (? - July 18-19, 1374) and the subject of his love lyrics, written over a period of about 20 years, most of which were included in his Canzoniere or Rime (published 1360). Laura has traditionally been identified as Laura de Noves of Avignon, a married woman and a mother. Petrarch wrote more than 300 sonnets to Laura, as well as other short lyrics and one long poem... After Laura's death (April 8, 1348), his poems continued on the same themes, expressing his sorrow and describing her return to her in dreams.
SOURCE: Duclaux, F., Pétrarque et Laure, Avignon, 1874 {BM 10630 a 1} [p 41] Laure était fille d'Audibert de Sade... elle nacquit en 1308, elle fut mariée en 1325 à Hugues de Noves... {Trans. RH: Laura was the daughter of Audibert de Sade... she was born in 1308, and was married in 1325 to Hugues de Noves...} [p 43] Laure mourut de la peste qui fit périr cent vingt milles âmes, en trois mois, dans Avignon (6 avril 1348). Elle laissa neuf enfants, six garçons et troi filles: {Laura died of the plague which caused the death of twenty thousand souls in three months in Avignon (6 April 1348). She left behind nine children, six boys and three girls.}
INFLUENCE OF PETRARCH'S SONNETS IN ENGLAND SOURCE: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1973, Micropædia, Vol VI, pp 78-79 ...Petrarch's poems... spawned a whole generation of translators and imitators in Europe and particularly in England, where his example inspired the great love-sonnet cycles of Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, and Shakespeare
COMMENT - RH - REEMERGENCE OF LAURA IN 19TH CENTURY {RH - It seems that in the XIXth century, there was a reemergence of the concept of Laura as an inspirational figure for song-settings, ballads, etc. as below:}
SOURCE: Archives de l'Opéra de Paris Laure et Petrarque pastorale lyrique en 3 actes by Candeille, paroles de Molini
Laura. A Ballad. S. Hale. London 1805. {BM H 1671 (s)}
ITEM: OPERA - PRESSBURG - 1816 SOURCE: Stieger, Franz. Opera Lexikon. Tutzing, 1975. Petrarca und Laura Op Joh. Khr. Kienlen Aug.Eckschlager Preßburg 1816/Karlsruhe 1820
Laura. Thomas Miles. London 1816. {BM H.1676 (28)}
ITEM: OPERA - Carlsruhe - 1820 SOURCE: Clément, Félix & Larousse, Pierre. Dictionaire des Opéras, Paris, 1904(?), p 87. {BM MRA 160} Laure et Pétrarque. Opéra allemand, musique de Kienlen, représenté à Carlsruhe en 1820.
Oh quand je dors! Poésie de Victor Hugo.* SOURCE: (Edition ?) * Set by Franz Liszt in 1842 - Source New Grove.
SOURCE: Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Third Edition, 1928. Petrarch: Among more recent settings of Petrachian verse... several Schubert songs, the celebrated Liszt songs* and piano pieces**, choral works by Moniuszko (1855)***... * Tre sonetti di Petrarca: Pace non trovo, Sia'l giorno, I vidi in terra angelici ** Tre sonnetti di Petrarca, #47, # 104, # 123 *** Moniuszko - Madonna (Petrarch Sonnets), Baritone solo, chorus, Orchestra, St. Petersburg, 20 March 1856.
SOURCE: Stieger, Franz. Opera Lexikon. Tutzing, 1975. Petrarca alla corte d'amore* Op Giulio Roberti Dell 'Ongaro Turin. 22.2.1859, t. Vitt. Eman. * Excerpt published in London by Addison & Lucas in 1864. La Notte, Serenata nell'Opera Petrarca {BM H 2704 (5)}.
Laura. A.B. Burrington. 1859. {BM G-435 (48)} (words by Turnbull)
SOURCE: Pinsuti, Ciro., London. 1864. QUATTRO MELODIE PER CANTO {BM H 2680 b(4)} Quattro poeti italiani.
[Number 2 is a setting of a sonnet XXXIV by Petrarc.]
[Trans: from Auslander, Joseph., The Sonnets of Petrarch, London, 1931 {BM 11427 i 12}]
SOURCE: Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Third Edition, 1928, Vol 14, p 183. PINSUTI, Ciro (Il Cavaliere). (b. Singlunga, Siena May 9, 1829; d. Florence, March 10, 1886) ...In 1885 he returned home [to Italy from London], and entered the Conservatorio at Bologna, where he became the private pupil of Rossini... His first Opera, Il Mercante de Venezio was brought out at Bologna, November 8 1873... In addition to a large circle of pupils of all ranks [when professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music, London, after 1856], many eminent artists have profited by his counsels, as Grissi, Bosio, Patti, Ronconi, Graziani, Mario etc.
ITEM: OPERA by Duprat - MARSEILLE - 1873 SOURCE: Stieger, Franz. Opera Lexikon. Tutzing, 1975. Pétrarque Gr.Op.5 Hipp. Duprat J. d'Harmenon [sic] u.d. Komp. Marseille 19.4.1873 Grand Théâtre
ITEM: OPERA - DUPRAT - 1873 - Details SOURCE: Clément, Félix & Larousse, Pierre. Dictionaire des Opéras, Paris, 1904(?), p 87. {BM MRA 160} Pétrarque, opéra en quatre actes, livret de M. Dharmenon, musique de H. Duprat, représenté au Grand Théâtre de Marseille le 19 avril 1873... Cet opéra a obtenu un chaleureux succès. Pétrarque a été représenté à Paris à l'Opéra Populaire (théâtre de la Gaîté) le 11 février 1880, avec un succés nul. {Trans. - Petrarch, an opera in four acts, libretto by M. Dharmenon, music by H. Duprat, produced at the Grand Theatre of Marseille on April 19 1873... This opera met with a warm success. Petrarque was produced in Paris at the Opera Populaire (théâtre de la Gaîté) on February 11 1880, to absolutely no success.}
SOURCE: Le Monde Illustré, Paris, 21 February 1880 [p 12] Pétrarque, opéra en cinque actes et six tableaux de M. Hippolyte Duprat, a enfin été éxecuté sur le théàtre du square des Arts et Métiers... Les interprètes ont donné avec zèle et talent pour évoquer devant nous la légende historique des amours de Pétrarque et de Laure de Noves... Mme Perlani a du feu et de la voix; Mlle Jouanny de la bonne volonté et de la beauté. {Trans. Petrarque, opera in five acts and six tableaux by Mr Hippolyte Duprat has finally been given in the theatre on the Arts et Métiers Square. The interpreters performed with zeal and talent to evoke in front of us the historic legend of the love of Petrarque and Laura de Noves... Mme Perlani has fire and voice; Mlle Jouanny has good intention and beauty.}
Opera by Duprat - Details of Première SOURCE: Duprat, H., Pétrarque. Grand Opéra en 5 Actes. Piano Score {BM MRA F. 537} Pétrarque. Grand Opéra en 5 Actes. Représenté pour la première fois, le 19 avril 1873 au Grand Théâtre de Marseille. Pétrarque: Ténor. M. Delabranche Laura: Soprano Mme. Arnaud
SOURCE: Fétis. F-J., Biographie Universelle des Musiciens. Supplément. Paris 1878. {BM MRA 310.V} Duprat (Hippolyte). Né à Toulon le 31 octrobre 1824... Il donna sa demission [l'armée], et vint se fixer à Paris, où il écrivit la musique de Pétrarque, grand opéra en cinq actes, dont il avait écrit également le livret avec M. Dharmenon. Son oeuvre terminé, il appliqua toute son énergie à le faire représenter:... Il se décida alors à donner son oeuvre en province, et Pétrarque fut enfin joué au Grand Théâtre de Marseille, le 19 avril 1873. Après avoir obtenu un assez grand nombre de représentations, cet ouvrage fut repris l'année suivante, et monté à Lyon, Toulouse, Avignon et Toulon... En résumé, Pétrarque pèche par l'absence de personnalité, l'inexpérience et le défaut de style. {Trans. Duprat, Hippolyte. Born in Toulon, October 31 1824... He gave his notice [to the army] and came to settle in Paris, where he wrote the music for Petrarque, a grand opera in five acts, for which he had also written the libretto with Mr. Dharmenon. When it was finished, he applied all his energy to having it produced... He then decided to have his work performed in the provinces, and Petrarque was finally played at the Grand Theatre of Marseille on April 19 1873. After having had with a fairly large number of performances, this piece was taken up the following year and mounted in Lyon, Toulouse, Avignon and Toulon... In short, Petrarch fails through an absence of personality, inexperience [of the composer] and the lack of style.}
Duprat's Opera - Performance History SOURCE: Manferrari, Umberto, Dizionario delle Opere Melodrammatiche, Firenze, 1955. Duprat, Ippolito (Tolone, 1824 - ) Pétrarque (J. Dharmenon). Op 4 Marsiglia, Grand Théâtre, 19 aprile 1873. Italia: Milano, Tr. Dal Verme, 22 Nov 1876. rifatta in 5 a. e 6 q... riprodotta al Tr. dell Opéra Populari di Parigi, 11 fêbbraio, 1880.
Duprat's Opera - Critique and synopsis by Rostrand SOURCE: Rostrand, Alexis., La Musique à Marseille. Paris, 1874. {BM 1578/8734} Chapter XII. Pétrarque. Bien que Laura fût mariée, Pétrarque lui voua un amour sans espoir qui dura toute sa vie... Sept ans plus tard Laura mourait de la peste... Au dernier tableau, le poète accourt auprès de sa fiancée: il est là, devant cette église où il l'a rencontreé naguère. Tout-à-coup des chants lugubres se font entendre, et une procession funèbre passe devant lui. Agité de tristes préssentiments, il la suit et pousse un cri de désespoir en se trouvant en face du corps inanimé de Laura au cercueil. - C'est alors que la princesse se dresse devant lui. C'est elle qui a empoisonné sa rivale. Singulière artiste que Mme. Arnaud! Au moments périlleux, la cantatrice a un redoublement de hardiesse et de bravoure, et c'est alors où elle paraît à bout de forces qu'elle surprend le public. {Trans. Although Laura was married, Petrarque vowed to her a hopeless love which lasted throughout his life... Seven years later Laura died of the plague... In the last tableau, the poet rushes to see his fiancée: he is there, in front of the church where he had met her previously. Suddenly solemn chants can be heard and a funeral procession passes in front of him. Disturbed by sad forebodings, he follows the procession and gives a cry of dispair when he comes across the inanimate body of Laura in the coffin. It is then that the Princess draws up in front of him. It is she who has poisoned her rival. What an unusual artist Madame Arnaud is! In the perillous moments, the singer has a second burst of stamina and bravura, and it is when she seems to be at the end of her strength that she surprises the public.}
SOURCE: Archives de l'Opéra de Paris Laure et Petrarque, opéral by Morac (?), 1912
MARTINI - PAINTER OF LAURA'S PORTRAIT SOURCE: Enaud, François., Simone Martini à Avignon, Number 3 in Series Les Monuments Historiques in France, Paris, July/September 1963. {BM AC5279/2} [p 115] Simone Martini, le plus illustre des peintres italiens du Trecento avec Giotto, est appelé en Avignon au moment où la papauté s'y installe et en fait un seconde Rome. Il passe les dernières annés de sa vie à la cour pontificale, avel le prestige que connaître duex siècles plus tard, dans des circonstances analogue, Léonard de Vinci à Amboise... {Trans. Simone Martini, the most famous Italian painter of the Trecento along with Giotto, was called to Avignon when the Papacy set itself up there and made it into a second Rome. He passed the last years of his life at the pontifical court, with the prestige that Leonardo da Vinci was to know, two centuries later and in similar circumstances.} ... Quelques dates pas toujours sûres, une grande amitié: celle de Pétrarque, de trop rare oeuvres, parfois ruinées, parfois de chronologie douteuse. {all we know of him... some dates of which one cannot be too sure, a great friendship: that of Petrarc, too rare works which are sometimes in ruins, and sometimes of doubtful chronology.} [p 118] Pour le reste, nous en étions reduits à des souvenirs et à des regrets. Perdu le fameux portrait de la Laure de Pétrarque dont le poète a célébré l'enchantement en deux sonnets.(1) {As for the rest, we are reduced to memories and regrets. Lost is the famous portrait of Petrarc's Laura, the enchantment of which the poet celebrated in two sonnets.}
PETRARCH SONNET UPON SEEING LAURA'S PORTRAIT SOURCE: Auslander, Joseph., The Sonnets of Petrarch, London, 1931 {BM 11427 i 12} Sonnet LVII Per Mirar Policleto a prova fiso. {Petrarch upon seeing Martini's painting of Laura}
SOURCE: Simone Martini, Piccola Collezione d'arte, n. 12, Florence, 1926. [p 24] At Avignon Simone Martini met Petrarch and a warm friendship sprang up between the two. A celebrated sonnet of the poet records the fact that Simone painted the portrait of Laura and he also illustrated a Virgilian codex, now in the Ambrosiana at Milan, in which Petrarch inscribed the following distich: Mantua virgilium qui talia finxit Sena tulit Symonem digito qui talia pinxit a touching and tangible evidence of the close ties uniting the two great men, both dear to us.
SOURCE: Michel, André., Histoire de l'Art. Depuis les premiers jours chrétiens jusqu'à nos jours, Paris 1929 {BM ?} [Vol II2, pp 854-5] ... il n'est moins certains que Simone eut mission de portraire la belle Laure, car Petrarque l'en a remercié en des vers immortels (sonnet XLIX) Ma certo il mio Simon fu in Paradiso Onde questa gentil donna si parte; Ivi la vide, e la ritrasse in carte Per far fede quaggiù del suo bel viso et aussi le sonnet L: Quando giunse a Simone l'alto concetto... {Trans. ... it is no less certain that Simone was commissioned to paint the beautiful Laura, for Petrarque thanked him with some immortal verses (sonnet XLIX): My Simon was certainly in Paradise whence this fair lady came; He saw her there and painted her on paper to make this world believe [the truth] of her fairness.
MARTINI PAINTINGS THOUGHT TO BE LAURA # SOURCE: Martindale, Andrew., Simone Martini, Oxford 1988 {BM YV 1988 b 2058} [p 188] (Avignon, Notre Dame) Of all the paintings in the porch, the fresco of St. George attracted the earliest literary attention. This was partly on account of the princess, who was thought to have the features of Laura.* The scene was described with its lines of verse in 1517-18; and thereafter it enjoyed a distinguished reputation even though it became increasingly dilapidated and was eventually totally destroyed (in 1828). * The fascination with Laura is remarkable. Antonio de Beatis (Pastor, L., Die Reise des Kardinals Luigi d'Aragona...1517-18 beschrieben von Antonio di Beatis (Freiburg-im-Breisgau 1905)) thought that the princess was a portrait of Laura and that the fresco had been commissioned by Petrarch. [p 50] The evidence for the portrait of Laura contains also a clue to the date since it takes the form of two sonnets written before November 1336... THe portrait of Laura was manifestly a private commission... [p 183] Avignon(?), original location unknown. Portrait of Laura (lost) The only evidence for this picture lies in the writings of Petrarch himself. Specific reference is found in the two well-known sonnets. Per mirar Policleta a prova fiso... Quando giunse a Simon l'alto concetto... The Portrait of Laura haunted the subsequent literature. In the sixteenth century, her likeness was believed to be present in the St. George fresco at Avignon and in the Spanish chapel, S. Maria Novello (Florence, erroneously supposed to have been painted by Simone. Della Valle* still hoped in the late eighteenth century to find portraits of Laura surviving at Avignon. But there is no reason to suppose that the image praised in Petrarch's poems survived his lifetime - or indeed that it was shown to anyone outside a small circle of friends. * Valle, G. Della., Lettere senesi sopra le belle arti, Venice 1782
Front page of Piano Score of Pétrarque by H. Duprat Laura. Supposed portrait by Simone Memmi (Simon Martini), frontespiece of Auslander's The Sonnets of Petrarch q.v. infra.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Auslander, Joseph., The Sonnets of Petrarch, London, 1931 {BM 11427 i 12} Burrington, A.B. Laura. 1859. {BM G-435 (48)} Clément, Félix & Larousse, Pierre. Dictionaire des Opéras, Paris, 1904(?). Duclaux, F., Pétrarque et Laure, Avignon, 1874 {BM 10630 a 1} Duprat, H., Pétrarque. Grand Opéra en 5 Actes. Piano Score {BM MRA F. 537} Enaud, François., Simone Martini à Avignon, Number 3 in Series Les Monuments Historiques in France, Paris, July/September 1963. {BM AC5279/2} Encyclopædia Britannica, Micropaedia, 1973, Vol VI, pp 78-79 Encyclopædia Britannica, Macropædia, 1973, Vol 14, p 163, for bibliography. Fétis. F-J., Biographie Universelle des Musiciens. Supplément. Paris 1878. {BM MRA 310.V} Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Third Edition, 1928. Hale, S. Laura. A Ballad. London 1805. {BM H 1671 (s)} Manferrari, Umberto., Dizionario delle Opere Melodrammatiche, Firenze, 1955. Martindale, Andrew., Simone Martini, Oxford 1988 {BM YV 1988 b 2058} Martini, Simone - bibliography: E. Muntz. Pétrarque et Simone Martini à propos du Virgile de l'Ambrosienne., «Gazette Archéologique», Paris 1887. E . Muntze D'Essling., Pétrarque, ses études d'art etc., Paris, 1902. P. Rossi., Simone Martini e Petrarca, «Arte antica senese», Siena, 1904. C. Paccagnini., An Attribution to Simone Martini, «Burlington Magazine», July 1949. Pinsuti, Ciro., QUATTRO MELODIE PER CANTO, London. 1864. {BM H 2680 b(4)} Rostrand, Alexis., La Musique à Marseille. Paris, 1874. {BM 1578/8734} Simone, Martini, Piccola Collezione d'arte, n. 12, Florence, 1926. Stieger, Franz. Opera Lexikon. Tutzing, 1975. Thomas, Miles., Laura. London 1816. {BM H.1676 (28)} Wilkins, E.H. Studies in the Life and Works of Petrarch, 1955 Monde Illustré, Le, Paris, 21 February 1880 Archives de l'Opéra de Paris 1. The whole text of the sonnets is reproduced in: Muntz, E., Gazette Archéologique, 1887, p. 99, and by G. Paccagnini, op.cit., p 171. |
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