Drama for the Literary Academies by the Younger Corneille
CORNEILLE, Thomas.
Il Pirro, tragedia … tradotta dal francese e recitata da’ signori cavalieri del Collegio Clementino nelle vacanze del Carnevale. Bologna, Longhi, [1700?].
[bound with:]
—. [‘Solero CROMIZIO’, pseud., i.e. Filippo MERELLI, translator.] Dario, opera tragica … trasportata dal francese, e dedicata dal traduttore a se medesimo. Bologna, Longhi, [1713?].[and:]
—. Laodice, tragedia … tradotta dal francese. Bologna, Longhi, [1700?].[and:]
—. Antioco, tragicommedia … tradotta dal francese nell’italiano. Bologna, Longhi, [1708?].[and:]
—. [Antonio ZANIBONI, translator]. Il Comodo, tragedia … tradotta dal francese e dedicate all’eminentissimo, e reverendissimo, signor cardinale Agostino Cusano, legato di Bologna. Bologna, Longhi, 1717.[and:]
—. Il Timocrate, opera tragicomica … tradotta dal francese e rappresentata da’ signori accademici Ardenti di Bologna, a’ sig. accademici Stravaganti del Collegio Clementino di Roma. Bologna, Longhi, [1700?].[and:]
—. Il Nicomede … trasportata dall’idioma francese, ed accomodata per le scene all’uso d’Italia. Bologna, Longhi, [1700?].[and:]
—. Il conte di Essex, tragedia … Bologna, Longhi, [1700?].Eight works in two vols, 12mo, pp. 144; 142, [2, blank]; 138, [1], [5, blank]; 108; 104, [4, blank]; 119, [1]; 120 (quire ‘A’ misbound); 80, [1], [1, blank]; woodcut initials and ornaments; sporadic light foxing, a few leaves slightly shaved at top- and fore-edges, otherwise a good set; bound in eighteenth–century carta rustica, manuscript titles to spines.
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Il Pirro, tragedia … tradotta dal francese e recitata da’ signori cavalieri del Collegio Clementino nelle vacanze del Carnevale.
A very uncommon set of eight early translations by Thomas Corneille (1625–1709), the younger brother of Pierre, 'le Grand Corneille', published in the context of the Italian Accademie.
Thomas Corneille was ‘a highly successful dramatic poet in his own right, whose works helped to confirm the character of the French Classical theatre’; his Timocrate (1656), for instance, was ‘among the dramatic successes of the century’ (Britannica).
The plays included in this set are all centred on historical figures, at least two of which were translated from the original French for performances during the Roman Carnival at the Collegio Clementino, an international school for young noblemen in Rome. In Il Pirro, the actors themselves were members of the Collegio; in Il Timocrate, members of the Accademia degli Ardenti of Bologna performed to entertain the Roman Accademia degli Stravaganti of the Collegio Clementino. Another play, Il Comodo, was dedicated by the translator, count Antonio Zaniboni, to Agostino Cusani (1655–1730), cardinal legate of Bologna. These plays were often set to music.
All these plays are very rare outside Italy: OCLC traces no copies of any of them in the UK and single copies of Il Dario and Il Nicomede only in the US (Johns Hopkins only); Library Hub finds a single copy of Il Timocrate only, at the Taylor Institution Library, Oxford.