POETIC IMPROVISATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: GIUSEPPE REGALDI AND GIANNINA MILLI.

NOVARA (Italy); ITALY

REGALDI, Giuseppe; MILLI, Giannina; SGRICCI, Tommaso

The article presents information on the improvisatory performance of Italian extempore poets during the nineteenth century by taking the examples of poets Giuseppe Regaldi and Giannina Milli. Poet Tommaso Sgricci mixed the improvisation of poems with the creation extempore of entire five-act tragedies in the early nineteenth century. However, the practice of public, solo improvisation continued well beyond Sgricci. During that time, urban intellectuals were taking a new interest in the folk traditions of verse improvisation. Among them, Regaldi and Milli were the two most dominant figures in the second third of the century, the best known and the most successful in material and professional terms. Regaldi was born in Novara, Italy in 1809. He flourished during the 1830s and 1840s before becoming an expert on the history of civilizations and accepting appointments to teach history in Parma, Cagliari and Bologna.