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Saverio Bettinelli

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The Reverend
Saverio Bettinelli
Portrait of Saverio Bettinelli by Domenico Conti Bazzani, 1800
Born(1718-07-18)July 18, 1718
Mantua, Duchy of Mantua
Died13 September 1808(1808-09-13) (aged 90)
Mantua, Kingdom of Italy
NationalityItalian
Other namesM. Versajo Melasio
Diodoro Delfico
Occupations
  • Jesuit priest
  • Dramatist
  • Polemicist
  • Poet
  • Literary critic
Parent(s)Girolamo Bettinelli and Paola Bettinelli (née Frugoni)
Academic background
Influences
Academic work
Era
DisciplineLiterary criticism, italian studies, Medieval studies
InstitutionsUniversity of Modena
Influenced

Saverio Bettinelli (18 July 1718 – 13 September 1808) was an Italian Jesuit writer. He became known as a polymath, dramatist, polemicist, poet, and literary critic. He was a friend of some of the leading authors of his times: Voltaire, Francesco Algarotti, Vincenzo Monti and Ippolito Pindemonte. Théodore Tronchin, Guillaume du Tillot, Melchiorre Cesarotti, Giacomo Filippo Durazzo, Pietro Verri, Giammaria Mazzucchelli and Francesco Maria Zanotti were among his correspondents.

Life

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He was born at Mantua; there and later in Bologna, he studied under the Jesuits, till entering in novitiate in 1736, then formally consecrated as a priest in 1738.

He first taught literature from 1739 to 1744 at Brescia, where Cardinal Quirini, Count Federico Mazzuchelli, Count Duranti and other scholars, formed an illustrious academy. He next went to Bologna, to study divinity. There he was in contact with the circle including the poet Marini, Algarotti, and Zanotti. At the age of thirty he went to Venice, where he became professor of rhetoric. There he wrote the satirical poem Le raccolte (1751), in which he called for a reform of the Italian poetic tradition, aimed at both the literary elite and the public.[2] The superintendence of the college of nobles at Parma was entrusted to him in 1751; and he had principal charge of the studies of poetry and history, and the entertainments of the theatre. He remained there eight years, visiting, at intervals, other cities of Italy, often on the affairs of his order.

In 1755-1758 he undertook a series of journeys. First travelling to Germany in 1755, proceeded as far as Strasbourg and Nancy. He returned to Italy as a tutor to the sons of the Prince of Hohenlohe. The year following, he journeyed again to France, along with the eldest of his pupils; and during this excursion he wrote his famous Lettere dieci di Virgilio agli Arcadi, which were published at Venice. Bettinelli was also a poet of arcadic verse, collected in his Versi sciolti of 1758 and inspired by Frugoni and Algarotti, and of some tragedies including Gionata (1774), Demetrio Poliorcete (1758), Serse (1764) that were put on for the jesuit theater. In 1758 he went to Lorraine, to the court of King Stanislaus, who sent him on a matter of business to visit Voltaire. He would also meet in France with Rousseau and Helvétius.[1]

From Geneva he returned to Parma, where he arrived in 1759. He afterwards lived for some years at Verona and Modena, and he had just been appointed professor of rhetoric there, when, in 1773, the suppression of the Jesuit Order occurred in Italy, he had to abandon his teaching post at Modena,[3] Bettinelli returned home, and resumed his literary labours with new ardor. The siege of Mantua by the French compelled him to leave the city, and he retired to Verona, where he formed an intimate friendship with the chevalier Ippolito Pindemonte.[4]

His major works are the literary criticisms and observations of culture. In 1757, he penned a series of letters addressed to Virgil in which he criticized the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, and affirmed that Among the erudite books, only certain parts from the Divine Comedy should be included, and these would form no more than five cantos [5] Voltaire was to praise his idiosyncratic opinions.[6]

In 1766 he wrote Lettere inglesi where he proposes good taste in modern literature. In Dell'entusiasmo delle belle arti (On Enthusiasm in the Fine Arts, 1769), he exalts enthusiasm as a source of inspiration for fantasy in art according to a tendency that was pre-romantic.[1] Among his main works is an influential sketch of the progress of literature, science, fine arts, industry, and customs in Italy, originally titled Risorgimento negli studi, nelle, Arti e ne' Costumi dopo di Mille (The Revival of Italy in Scholarship, Arts and Customs After 1000, 1773).[7]

In 1797 Bettinelli returned to Mantua. Though nearly eighty years old, he resumed his labors and his customary manner of life. He undertook in 1799 a complete edition of his works, which was published at Venice in 24 vols. At this death at the age of 90 years, he still retained his gaiety and vivacity of mind.[8][9]

Works

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Serse re di Persia, 1800

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Muscetta 1967.
  2. ^ Crotti 2002.
  3. ^ G. F. Galeani Napione (1809), Vita dell'abate Saverio Bettinelli, Turin, Italy: Presso i Fratelli Pomba, p. 91
  4. ^ Cimmino, Nicola Francesco (1968). Ippolito Pindemonte e il suo tempo. Vol. 1. Rome: Abete. p. 43.
  5. ^ "Sia posto tra i libri di erudizione, e della Commedia si lascino solo taluni pezzi che, raccolti e, come meglio si può, ordinati, formino non più di cinque canti." Saverio Bettinelli - Lettere di Virgilio agli Arcadi di Rome — Lettera IX.
  6. ^ Luzzi, Joseph. Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 112–3. ISBN 9780300151787.
  7. ^ Saverio Bettinelli (1786), Del Risorgimento d'Italia negli studi, nelle arti, e ne' costumi dopo il Mille, Bassano, Italy: a spese Remondini di Venezia
  8. ^ Chisholm 1911.
  9. ^ Dizionario biografico universale. Vol. 1. compiled by Gioacchino Maria Olivier-Poli. Naples. 1824. pp. 287–291.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

Bibliography

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  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bettinelli, Saverio". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  • Bonfatti, Alfredo (1952). "Il petrarchismo critico di Saverio Bettinelli". Lettere Italiane. 4 (3): 151–180. ISSN 0024-1334. JSTOR 26243867.
  • Binni, Walter (1966). "La critica fra Illuminismo e Preromanticismo: Bettinelli e Baretti". In Emilio Cecchi; Natalino Sapegno (eds.). Storia della letteratura italiana. Vol. VI. Milan: Garzanti. pp. 628–630.
  • Finoli, Anna Maria (1968). "Inediti francesi del Bettinelli". Lettere Italiane. 20 (3): 391–402. JSTOR 26248935.
  • Fubini, Mario (1970). "Bettinelli, Saverio". In Umberto Bosco (ed.). Enciclopedia Dantesca. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  • Bonora, Ettore (1983). "Il pensiero critico del Bettinelli; Le tragedie e la poetica del tragico di Saverio Bettinelli; L'"entusiasmo delle belle arti" e Pietro Verri". Parini e Altro Settecento. Milan: Feltrinelli.
  • Colombo, Angelo (1986). "Nota su Cesarotti e Dante. Con quattro lettere a Saverio Bettinelli". Lettere Italiane. 38 (3): 362–378. JSTOR 26263874.
  • Bonora, Ettore (1998). Bettinelli e Virgilio, dall'Arcadia al Leopardi. Modena: Mucchi.
  • Ilaria Crotti; Ricciarda Ricorda, eds. (1998). Saverio Bettinelli. Un gesuita alla scuola del mondo. Roma: Bulzoni. ISBN 88-8319-226-5.
  • Ricorda, Ricciarda. Il "Parnaso veneziano": Bettinelli e la cultura veneziana. pp. 247–271.
  • Crotti, I. (2002). "Bettinelli, Saverio". The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-818332-7. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  • Di Ricco, Alessandra (2013). "Idee di nazione tra i letterati del Settecento: Gian Rinaldo Carli, Saverio Bettinelli, Francesco Algarotti". Idea di nazione nel Settecento. Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura. pp. 133–145. doi:10.1400/212178.
  • Besutti, Paola (2019). "Saverio Bettinelli e la musica". Testo: Studi di teoria e storia della letteratura e della critica. 77 (1): 35–49. doi:10.19272/201905501004.
  • Arato, Franco (2019). "In questo secolo sventurato: Bettinelli apologista cattolico". Testo: Studi di teoria e storia della letteratura e della critica. 77 (1): 79–89. doi:10.19272/201905501007.
  • Forner, Fabio (2022). "Saverio Bettinelli e Angelo Mazza: un petrarchista e un dantista per gioco?". Studi sul Settecento e l'Ottocento: Rivista internazionale di italianistica. XVII (17): 147–158. doi:10.19272/202207401010.
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