SHAKESPEARE AND THE QUEEN

William Shakespeare's plays were admired by Elizabeth and his theatral company, called “the Lord Chamberlain's Men”, performed at court many times. They were very popular and everybody, including Queen Elizabeth the First, came to watch them.
There is also a tradition that “The Merry Wives of Windsor” was written by Shakespeare because of the Queen's desire to see Falstaff in love.
Theories abound as to the true identity of William Shakespeare, but a new one suggested that he was the illegitimate son of the Virgin Queen.
There is a strange portrait of Queen Elizabeth featuring her with two boys: one of them holds a helm, symbol of poetry.


L’opera di William Shakespeare piaceva ad Elizabeth e la sua compagnia teatrale, chiamata “gli uomini di Lord Chamberlain”, recitarono molte volte a corte. Erano molto popolari e molti, compresa la regina Elisabetta Prima, andarono a vederli.
Esiste anche una tradizione per la quale “le allegre comari di Windsor” fu scritta da  Shakespeare perché  la regina desiderava vedere Falstaff innamorato.
Sulla vera identità di William Shakespeare abbondano le teorie, ma una di queste insinua che sia il figlio illegittimo della regina vergine.
Esiste uno strano ritratto della regina raffigurata insieme a  due bambini: uno di loro porta un elmo, simbolo della poesia.

QUEEN ELIZABETH I

QUEEN ELIZABETH
Dal sito http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/

Queen Elizabeth was a great follower of fashion. While in private she preferred to wear simple gowns, when she was in public, she dressed to impress.
Clothes were an important status symbol to the Elizabethans, and a person had to dress in accordance with their social status.
The Queen had gorgeous, elaborate dresses of all colours, but white and black were her favourite colours as they symbolized virginity and purity.  The Queen's gowns were decorated with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and all kinds of jewels.
To complete her appearance, the Queen would wear accessories such as a fan, a pomander to ward of foul smells and it was thought against infection, earrings, a diamond or pearl necklace, and a watch encased in a bracelet, the first known in England.
Like other women, she would also often wear a miniature Prayer Book attached to her girdle.
The Queen was never fully dressed without her make-up especially after an attack of smallpox (vaiolo) in 1562. She painted her face with white lead (biacca di piombo), which was poisonous, and vinegar, put rouge on her lips and painted her cheeks with red dye and egg white.
Like other Elizabethan, the Queen hat all teeth rotted and she would stuff rags into her mouth.
She had also followed the fashion of wearing a wig from her youth on.

La regina Elisabetta seguì attentamente la moda. Mentre in privato preferiva vestire abiti semplici, quando era in pubblico vestiva per stupire.
Gli abiti erano un importante modo d’essere per gli elisabettiani e le persone vestivano in accordo con il loro ceto sociale.
La regina aveva elaborati abiti con gorgiere, di tutti i colori, anche se il bianco ed il nero erano i suoi preferiti perchè simboleggiavano la verginità e la purezza. Gli abiti della regina erano decorati con diamanti, rubini, zaffiri ed ogni tipo di gioielli.
A completare il look, la regina indossava accessori come un ventaglio, un pomolo che spandeva profumo per allontanare le infezioni, orecchini, una collana di diamanti o di perle ed un orologio incassato in un braccialetto, il primo conosciuto in Inghilterra.
Come le altre donne, la regina portava un libro di preghiere in miniatura attaccato alla cintura.
La regina non era  completamente vestita senza il suo trucco, specialmente dopo l’epidemia di vaiolo del  1562. Dipingeva la faccia con una biacca bianca, molto nociva, ed aceto, metteva il rosso sulle labbra e dipingeva le guance di tintura rossa e bianco d’uovo.
Come gli altri Elisabettiani, la regina aveva tutti i denti cariati e teneva in bocca una specie di dentiera.
Inoltre ha sempre seguito la moda di portare la parrucca fin da giovane.

ELIZABETHAN FOOD

Over the course of the Tudor period, more and more foods were introduced into society as they were discovered in the New World, such as Tomatoes,  Turkey, Beans and of course the Potato.
However, the Elizabethans did not know quite how to use or cook these foods, so they were not as tasty as they could have been.

The Tudors were fond of desserts. They enjoyed, cakes, cream, and crystallized fruit. They were especially fond of sugar and marzipan, made out such as animals, birds, fruits or baskets.

Of course this is the motive while the Elizabethans teeth were rotted.

Nel corso del periodo dei Tudor, molti nuovi cibi furono introdotti alla società grazie alle scoperte nel nuovo mondo, come i pomodori, i tacchini, i fagioli e naturalmente le patate.
Tuttavia gli elisabettiani ancora non conoscevano il modo per cuocerli e cucinarli nel modo migliore, così non erano così buoni come avrebbero dovuto essere.
I Tudor erano golosi di dessert. Amavano torte, creme e frutta cristallizzata. Erano veramente ghiotti di zucchero e marzapane a forma di animali, uccelli, frutta o cestini.
Naturalmente questo è il motivo per il quale i denti degli elisabettiani erano cariati.

QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE MUSIC

The Elizabethans loved music, and Elizabeth was no exception. She was a musician and played an instrument called the VIRGINAL, a small rectangular harpsichord and the LUTE.  She enjoyed musical entertainments, encouraged musicians and composers, and was especially fond of dancing. She would dance every morning to keep herself fit. Elizabeth also liked to sing and reputedly sang well.
Elizabeth was also a patron of arts and literature, and loved watching plays, masques, and other dramatic performances.

Queen Elizabeth loved the MADRIGAL. The Madrigal is a pastoral song it developed in northern Italy in the 14th century: Petrarch wrote a number of them.
During the Tudor period the Madrigal was adapted to English language.  The madrigal poem is usually short and simple

The influence of the Italian madrigalists is also to be found in the AYRES, song written for a simple voice to an l accompaniment.

Music in the Tudor age was also used for theatrical entertainment.
Initially it was used in the MASQUE, a later version of the INTERLUDE, presented through allegory and interspersed (inframmentata) with a mixture of music, song and dance. A new genre called “opera” was gaining ground, especially in Italy.

The Elizabethan age loved music and produced recognized masters like the poet- musicians Thomas Campien and John Dowland.
From popular ballads and dance to solemn church music and the sophisticated music of the court, Elizabethan music was varied and delightful.

Gli elisabettiani amavano la musica ed Elisabetta non fece eccezione. Fu musicista e suonò uno strumento chiamato Virginale, un piccolo clavicembalo rettangolare, ed il liuto. Amava gli spettacoli musicali, incoraggiava musicisti e compositori ed amava danzare. Ogni mattina danzava per tenersi in forma. Elizabeth amava anche cantare e si dice che lo facesse bene. Elizabeth patrocinava arte e letteratura ed amava guardare giochi, e spettacoli drammatici.
La regina Elizabeth a ava il Madrigale. Il madrigale era una canzone pastorale sviluppatasi nel 14simo secolo nell’Italia m settentrionale. Petrarca ne scrisse molti. Durante il periodo dei Tudor, il madrigale fu adattato alla lingua inglese. Il poema madrigale di solito è corto e semplice.
L’influenza dei madrigalisti italiani è da ricercare anche nelle arie, canzoni scritte per una sola voce con accompagnamento.
La musica nel periodo dei Tudor fu usata anche per gli spettacoli teatrali. Inizialmente fu usata durante la masque, una vecchia versione dell’interludio, presentato tramite allegorie,ed inframezzato da musica danza e canzoni. Un nuovo genere chiamato opera stava prendendo piede specialmente in Italia.
 Gli elisabettiani amavano la musica e produssero talenti come i poeti- musicisti Thomas Campien e John Dowland.
Dalle ballate popolari e danza alla solenne musica religiosa e le sofisticate musiche di corte, la musica elisabettiana era varia e piacevole.


The following song celebrated queen Elizabeth.

ELIZA IS THEFAIRES QUEEN

Eliza is the fairest Queen
That ever trod upon the green.
Eliza's eyes are blessed stars,
Inducing peace, subduing wars.
O blessed be each day and hour
Where sweet Eliza builds her bower.

Eliza's hand is crystal bright,
Her words are balm, her looks are light.
Eliza's breast is that fair hill,
Where virtue dwells, and sacred skill.
O blessed be each day and hour
Where sweet Eliza builds her bower.
Come again, come again, come again,
sweet nature’s treasure
whose looks hold joys exceeding measure.

ELIZABETH I WARDROBE

Queen Elizabeth was a great follower of the elaborate fashion of the age. She dressed to impress.
Clothes where an important stats symbol to the Elizabethans and her dressed had to mirror the prosperity and energy of the age.
She had gorgeus, elaborate dresses of all colours, but black and white were her favourite colours as they symbolized virginity and purity.
Her gowns were decorated with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and all kinds of jewels.
She also wore a fan  (ventaglio), a pomander (sfera d’oro, d’argento, d’avorio contenente sostanze aromatiche che si riteneva preservassero dalle infezioni) against foul smells, earrings, a diamond or pearl necklace, and a watch.
The queen was never fully dressed without her makeup especially after an attack of smallpox (vaiolo) in 1562. She painted her face with white leaq (biacca di piombo)  (wich was poisonous) and vinegar, put rouge on her lips and painted her cheeks with red dige and egg white.
She had also followed the fashion of wearing a wig from her youth on.

ELIZABETHAN MUSIC

Elizabeth loved great banquets, music and dancing, riding and hunting, and was particularly fond of bear-baiting.
ELIZABETH MUSICAL HARMONY
The idea of society as musically ordered, of political unity as musical harmony, of ritual and dance as physical expressions of such order, are commonplaces of Reinassance thought.
The harmony of the cosmos, created by love, (descends) though the hierarchies of creation from the dance of the fixed stars, the planets and the elements below the planets to the lowest of earth’s elements: strams, flowers, animals, all lone then proper dance too.
The Elizabethan age loved music and produced recognized masters like the poet-musicians Thomas Campien and John Dowland.
From popular ballads and dance to solemn church music and the sophisticated music of the court, Elizabethans music was varied, delightful and moving.
All over the country, in small private houses and public inns, as well as at court, music was played and airs were sung.
AIRS OR LUTE SONGS flourished. They deal above all with love, its pleasures and its pains, in simple language and lightness of touch.
The following song celebrates Queen Elizabeth

ELIZA IS THEFAIRES QUEEN
Eliza is the fairest Queen
That ever trod upon the green.
Eliza's eyes are blessed stars,
Inducing peace, subduing wars.
O blessed be each day and hour
Where sweet Eliza builds her bower!
Come again,come again, come again,
sweet nature’s trasure
whose looks hold joys exceeding measure.

Music was an essential fact of every gentlemans’s education and it was the fashion at court for everyone, from the king down, to compose musical tunes and verses to go with them. But music was not the prerogative of royalty and aristocracy. Most people dabbled in it (se ne dilettava) to pass the time, expressing indirectly the relatively happy and peaceful era of the Golden Age.
People did not go to concert halls to listen to a piece of music. It was performed in the home.
It was during the Tudor period that the typical English tradition of viewing music as a domestic pastime took root.
THE MADRIGAL: originally a pastoral song, it developed in northern Italy in the 14th century. Petrarch wrote a number of them. In the 16th century there was a revival and it became popular in England where, however, it was re-elaborated and adapted to suit the characteristic of the English language. The madrigal poem is usually short and simple both in language and ideas because, being polyphonic, the same phrases are often repeated and different words are sung by many voices at the same time making it difficult for the words to be distinguished. Two famous madrigals were:
THE NIGHTINGALE
IS LOVE A BOY?
The influence of the Italian madrigalists is also to be found in the AYRES, songs written for a simple voice to a lute accompaniment. The lute was the favourite instrument for accompanying the songs. Another great school is that of the Virginalist. They played an instrument called the Virginal, a small rectangular harpsichord (clavicembalo) played on the table or in the lap (in grembo). It was mainly used for songs and dances while the organ was used for sacred music.
Music in the Tudor age was also used for theatrical entertainment. Initially it was used in the MASQUE. Consider a later version of the INTERLUDE, the Masque was a form of Court entertainment presented though allegory and interspersed (inframmezzata) with a mixture of usic, song and dance. Soon however, with the development of drama, as the many form of entertainment in the popular theatres, instrumental and vocal music was introduced as part of the action, as an integral part of the play itself.
Given the great variety of people that made up the Elizabethan audiences, the playwrights, among them Shakespeare, rightly tried to please the different tastes by introducing all sort of music, ballads, love songs and folk songs.
Whereas, on the Continent a new genre called “opera” was gaining ground, especially in Italy, the great tradition of prose theatre in England delayed the spread of this new musical form for several generations. Sacred music had its heyday (apogeo) under the Tudors as well.
Fortunately, the Reformation had not killed off the desire for music as an accompaniment to the liturgy.

ELIZABETH I

Princess Elizabeth’s birth, on 7th September 1533, was a bitter disappointment to her father, King Henry VIII, who wanted a male heir after his daughter Mary,  born of Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, 17 years earlier.
Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Bolene, was Catherine’s lady-in-waiting (dama di compagnia). Henry had fallen violently in love with her, but she refused to throw herself at Henry’s feet until they were married.
Henry then tried to convince the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine, but Rome did not comply to his request, so the King opted for, so to speak, a homespun (semplice) solution. He put an end to papal power and named himself Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England.
He married Anne and repudiated Catherine. As a result, Mary, his first daughter, was declared illegitimate.
Childhood (infanzia) was fot Elizabeth a period of excitement, terror and tragedy. Soon Henry was in love with another woman, Jane Seymour, and Anne was accused of adultery and be headed, when Elizabeth was only two years old. Her mother’s death was a terrible blow for her. The years that followed were full of trouble. Her fate depended on the political changes her father wrought (autig = to work) and on his marriages.
She was alternately the heir to England and a bastard.
The adversities of early life taught her the importance of self-reliance (fiducia in se stessa) and subtlety (xxx) as necessary tools for survival. She received an outstanding education: she spoke six languages fluently, was a superb calligraphist, an excellent musician  and knew painting and poetry very well.
In 1558 as soon as she was crowned Queen, the questions of marriage and succession were raised
Elizabeth was the last of her dynasty, and she was expected to find a husband and have an heir.
The court then buzzed with suitors (ronzava di pretendenti) and European ambassadors, each trying to advance the suit (richiesta) of their respective masters. Elizabeth was the most courted woman in Europe.
She rejected some of the offers and allowed other suitors to remain hopeful, but she did not see the urgency for marriage and often declared that she preferred the single life.
Religious and political reasons made the choice of a husband very difficult, and she did not want to give any power over English affairs.
Matters were further complicated by her passion for Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
They first met when they were children. It seems Dudley said much later: “I have known her from her 8th year, better than any man upon earth. From that date she has invariably declared that she would remain unmarried”
It was obvious from the beginning of her reign that he was to be her favourite. He shared the Queen’s love of music, dancing and horse riding, and she spent more time with him than with anyone else. Marriage to Dudley, however, would have given aise to competition within the English nobility and would not have provided England with a foreign ally. Furthermore, he was already married when he died in 1588, Elizabeth was devastated and it is said she locked herself away in her apartment for days. She put the letter he had sent her into her treasure box and it was still there when she died ,15 years later.
For over 20 years, Elizabeth had been courted by the most eligible (idonei) men in Europe.
The “marriage game” had became an important part of foreign relations and was always a useful card to play when it seemed that England was losing friends. But the list of candidates became so long that it caused a royal scandal which threatened the political stability of England.
When Elizabeth became older, however, she could no longer use the marriage as a diplomatic weapon, and became the Virgin Queen.

THOMAS STEARN ELIOT

Thomas Stearn Eliot, although an American born in St. Louis, Missouri, lived the most part of his adult life in England becoming a British subject in 1927.
During the war years in England worked as a teacher and in a bank whilst cultivating his literary interests.
In 1922 he founded his own periodical, The CRITERION, in which he published THE WASTE LAND, one of the first poems to express the aspirations of Modernism and the feelings of post-war depression and disillusionment.
In 1925 Eliot became the director of the publishing house Faber and Faber and dedicated his energies to building up a group of poets who represented the mainstream or modern poetry.
He continued writing poetry as well as prose and the style and contents reflect his conversion to the High Anglican Church and his interest in tradition; in 1935 he wrote the poetic drama “Murder in the Cathedral”. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948.
T.S. Eliot is the voice of this disillusioned generation and through his work he epitomises (compendia, riassume) the Era he lived in “The Age of Anxiety”.
His poems and dramas reflect the despair of a generation without faith, ideals or values.
Their civilization is barren (sterile, arida, povera) and their lives are futile with nothing left except “birth, copulation (accoppiamento) and death”.
According to him, only faith, the Christian faith, could save them.
Eliot’s major poetic works were produced immediately during and after the First World War.
The Country was in chaos and facing grave economic difficulties.
The old European Civilization had come to an end and totalitarian dictatorships were looming (incombevano) on the horizon in the persons of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and Stalin.
Eliot’s sentiments are of universal, cosmic despair.
The overall theme of his poetry is that of 20th century frustration, its hollowness and hopelessness; to express this harsh (dura) reality he avoids melodiousness omits commechans and links between Words and phrases.

T.S. Eliot, sebbene Americano nato a San Louis nel Missouri, visse la maggior parte della sua vita adulta in Inghilterra, diventando cittadino inglese nel 1927.
Durante gli anni della guerra in Inghilterra egli lavorò come insegnante ed in una banca, coltivando i suoi interessi letterari.
Nel 1922 fondò il proprio giornale periodico, il Criterion, in cui pubblicò “La terra desolata”, una delle prime poesie in cui esprime  le aspirazioni del Modernismo ed i sentimenti della depressione post bellica ed il disillusionismo.
Nel 1925 egli divenne direttore della casa editrice Faber & Faber e dedicò le sue energie alla formazione di un gruppo di poeti che rappresentasse il flusso principale della poetica moderna.
Egli continuò scrivendo poetica come anche prosa e lo stile ed i contenuti riflettono la sua conversione alla Alta Chiesa Anglicana e il suo interesse nella tradizione: nel 1935 egli scrisse il dramma poetico “Assassinio nella Cattedrale”.
Egli ricevette il Premio Nobel per la Letteratura nel 1948.
T.S. Eliot è la voce di questa generazione disillusa e attraverso il suo lavoro egli riassume, l’era in cui visse nell’Età dell’Ansia.
I suoi poemi e drammi riflettono la disperazione di una generazione senza fede, ideali o valori.
La loro civilizzazione è sterile e le loro vite sono futili senza nulla lasciare eccetto che “ nascere, accoppiarsi e morire”.
Secondo lui, solo la fede, la fede cristiana, può salvarli.
I principali lavori poetici di Eliot furono prodotti immediatamente durante e dopo la Prima Guerra Mondiale. Il Paese era nel caos e affrontava gravi difficoltà economiche.
La vecchia civilizzazione europea era giunta alla fine e le dittature totalitarie incombevano all’orizzonte nelle persone di Hitler, Mussolini, Franco e Stalin.
I sentimenti di Eliot sono di universale, cosmica disperazione.
Il tema complessivo della sua poetica è la frustrazione del XX secolo, il suo svuotamento e la sua mancanza di speranza; per esprimere questa cruda, dura realtà egli evita di usare collegamenti melodiosi tra parole e frasi.

note grammaticali
according to me = in my opinion = as for me = secondo me

THOMAS BECKET

Henry’s Chancellor was his friend Thomas Becket (1118-1170), who had faithfully carried out his policy of forcing the barons to pull down unauthorised castles and to stop trying criminals themselves instead of handing them over to the King’s judges.
Henry now thought that the easiest way of controlling the Church would be to make Becket the head of it.
Unfortunately for Henry, once Becket was archbishop of Canterbury (1162) he was transformed from the pleasure-loving courtier into the devout man of God and became a stubborn opponent of the King and a defender of the interests of his Church.
He refused to comply with the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), so called after the castle of Clarendon near Salisbury, one of the royal residences, where a committee had met and written a declaration according to which the King claimed great authority both in investing the bishops (that is giving them the legal title to their land) and in restraining the power of the Church of Rome to excommunicate English subjects.
These constitutions also ruled that clergymen who committed serious crimes were to be tried by a civil court as well as by an ecclesiastical one, and that no serf’s son could become a priest without his lord’s consent.
For a long time the conflict dragged on – Becket himself was in exile for five years – until on December 29, 1170, Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights who, if not actually sent by the King, were sure they were acting in accordance with his wishes.
In spite of his death, however, it was Becket and the Church who were the victors. Becket becamea martyr and a saint and pilgrims from all over England and Europe visited his shrine in Canterbury Cathedral.


Il cancelliere di Enrico II era il suo amico Tommaso Becket (1118-1170) che compì fedelmente la sua politica di forzare i baroni a demolire i castelli abusivi ed a fermare le scorri¬bande criminali invece di consergnarli ai giudizi del re.
Enrico allora pensò che il modo più facile per controllare la Chiesa era di porre Becket a capo di essa.
Sfortunatamente per Enrico, quando Becket divenne arcivescovo di Canterbury (1162) egli ne fu trasformato dal cortigiano amante del piacere a un devoto uomo di Dio e divenne uno strenuo oppo¬sitore del re e difensore degli interessi della Chiesa.
Egli si rifiutò di firmare le Costituzioni di Clarendon, così chiamata dal castello di Clarendon, vi¬cino a Salisbury, una delle residenze reali, in cui una commissione si incontrò e scrisse una dichia¬razione accordando che il re reclamasse maggiore autorità di investitura del vescovo, e togliesse alla chiesa di Roma il potere di scomunicare cittadini inglesi.
Queste costituzioni deliberarono inoltre che il clero che commetteva seri crimini doveva essere giu¬dicato da una corte popolare in egual modo di un’ecclesiastica, e che il figlio di un servo non po¬tesse diventare un prete senza il consenso del suo padrone.
Per molto tempo il conflitto proseguì –Becket stesso restò in esilio per 5 anni- fino al 29 dicembre del 1170 quando Becket fu assassinato nella cattedrale di Canterbury da 4 cavalieri che, se non spe¬diti direttamente dal re, era certo stessero agendo in accordo con i suoi voleri.
Nonostante la sua morte, tuttavia, fu Becket e la Chiesa a vincere.
Becket divenne martire e santo ed i pellegrini di tutta l’Inghilterra e dell’Europa visitarono la sua tomba nella Cattedrale di Canterbury.

in memoria di Marilena Comaschi

in memoria della Professoressa
Marilena Comaschi
che ci ha lasciati
il 29 Gennaio 2009



LET IT BE
http://profmarilena.splinder.com