Torquato+Tasso

=Torquato Tasso=

__**Torquato Tasso** (11 March 1544 – 25 April 1595)__- was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered, 1580), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem. He suffered from mental illness and died a few days before he was due to be crowned as the king of poets by the Pope. Until the beginning of the 19th century, Tasso remained one of the most widely read poets in Europe.

Biography
Born in Sorrento, he was the son of Bernardo Tasso, a nobleman of Bergamo and an epic and lyric poet of considerable fame in his day, and his wife Porzia de Rossi, a noblewoman from Tuscany. His father had for many years been secretary in the service of Ferrante Sanseverino, prince of Salerno, and his mother was closely connected with the most illustrious Neapolitan families. When the prince of Salerno came into collision with the Spanish government of Naples, was outlawed, and was deprived of his hereditary fiefs, Tasso's father shared in this his patron's fate. He was proclaimed a rebel to the state, together with his son Torquato, and his patrimony was sequestered. These things happened during the boy's childhood. In 1552 he was living with his mother and his only sister Cornelia at Naples, pursuing his education under the Jesuits, who had recently opened a school there. The precocity of intellect and the religious fervour of the boy attracted general admiration. At the age of eight he was already famous. Soon after this date he joined his father, who then resided in great poverty, an exile and without occupation, in Rome. News reached them in 1556 that Porzia Tasso had died suddenly and mysteriously at Naples. Her husband was firmly convinced that she had been poisoned by her brother with the object of getting control over her property. As it subsequently happened, Porzia's estate never descended to her son; and the daughter Cornelia married below her birth, at the instigation of her maternal relatives. Tasso's father was a poet by predilection and a professional courtier. Therefore, when an opening at the court of Urbino was offered in 1557, Bernardo Tasso gladly accepted it. The young Torquato, a handsome and brilliant lad, became the companion in sports and studies of Francesco Maria della Rovere, heir to the duke of Urbino. At Urbino a society of cultivated men pursued the aesthetical and literary studies which were then in vogue. Bernardo Tasso read cantos of his Amadigi to the duchess and her ladies, or discussed the merits of Homer and Virgil, Trissino and Ariosto, with the duke's librarians and secretaries. Torquato grew up in an atmosphere of refined luxury and somewhat pedantic criticism, both of which gave a permanent tone to his character. (Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torquato_Tasso#Early_life)

Image of Torquato Tasso in 1595

__**Works of Torquato Tasso**__


 * RINALDO, 1562 - Rinaldo, A Poem, In XII Books (tr. John Holle, 1792)
 * RIME DE GLI ACADEMICI ETEREI, 1567
 * RIME E PROSE, 1581
 * L'AMINTA, 1581 (play, prod. 1573) - The Countess of Pembroke's Ivychurch (tr. 1591) / Amyntas: a Sylvan Fable (tr. by Frederic Whitmore) / Aminta (translators: Henry Reynolds, Louis E. Lord, Charles Jernigan and Irene Marchegiani Jones)
 * GERUSALEMME LIBERATA, 1581 - Godfrey of Boulogne, or, The Recouerie of Ierusalem (tr. by Edward Fairefax, 1594, 1600) / Jerusalem Delivered (translators: John Hoole, J.H. Hunt, Alexander Cuningham Robertson, Ralph Nash, Joseph Tusiani, Anthony M. Esolen) / The Liberation of Jerusalem (tr. Max Wickert, 2009) - Vapautettu Jerusalem (suom. Elina Vaara, 1954) - films: 1910, Le Tyran de Jérusalem, dir. Camille de Morlhon, prod. Pathé Frères; 1911, dir. Enrico Guazzoni, prod. by Cinès; 1913, dir. Enrico Guazzoni; 1918, dir. Enrico Guazzoni; 1958, dir. Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, starring Francisco Rabal, Sylva Koscina, Gianna Maria Canale, Rik Battaglia, Philippe Hersent, prod. MAX Film; 2001 (TV film), Rinaldo, dir. Brian Large, based on Giacomo Rossi's libretto, starring Deborah York, David Daniels, David Walker, Axel Köhler, prod. Arte
 * IL RE TORRISMONDO, 1586 (play, ed. by Bartoldo T. Sozzi, in Opere 2, 1956)
 * DISCORSI DELL'ARTE POETICA, 1587 (lecture, rev. version, Discorsi del poema eroico, 1594) - Discourses on the Art of Poetry (tr. Lawrence F. Rhu, in The Genesis of Tasso's Narrative Theory, 1993)
 * GALEALTO RE DI NORVEGIA (unfinished, 1573-74) / IL RE TORRISMONDO, 1587 - King Torrismondo (tr. by Maria Pastore Passaro)
 * APOLOGIA IN DIFESA DELLA GERUSALEMME LIBERATA
 * RIME, 1591-93
 * GERUSALEMME CONQUISTATA, 1593
 * INTRICHI D'AMORE, 1604 (play, prod. 1598)
 * DISCORSI DEL POEMA EROICO, 1594 - Discourses on the Heroic Poem (tr. by Mariella Cavalchini and Irene Samuel, 1973)
 * MONTE OLIVETO, 1605
 * LE SETTE GIORNATE DEL MONDO CREATO, 1607 - Seven Days of Creation / Creation of the World (tr. by Joseph Tusiani)
 * OPERE, 1821-32
 * LETTERE, 1852-55 (5 vols., ed. Cesare Guasti)
 * I DIALOGHI, 1858
 * PROSE DIVERSE, 1875 (2 vols., ed. by Cesare Guasti)
 * OPERE MINORI IN VERSI, 1891-95 (3 vols, ed. by Angelo Solerti)
 * RIME, 1898-1902 (3 vols., ed. by Angelo S


 * __Links__**


 * __http://www.poetry-archive.com/t/tasso_torquato.html__**


 * __http://kirjasto.sci.fi/ttasso.ht__**


 * __http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/584002/Torquato-Tasso__**