Firenze Quotes

“Opera was born in Florence at the end of the sixteenth century. It derived almost seamlessly from its immediate precursor, the intermedio, or lavish between-the-acts spectacle presented in conjunction with a play on festive occasions. Plays were spoken, and their stage settings were simple: a street backed by palace facades for tragedies, by lower-class houses for comedies; for satyr plays or pastorals, the setting was a woodland or country scene. Meanwhile the ever-growing magnificence of state celebrations in Medici Florence on occasions such as dynastic weddings gave rise to a variety of spectacles involving exuberant scenic displays: naval battles in the flooded courtyard of the Pitti Palace, tournaments in the squares, triumphal entries into the city. These all called upon the services of architects, machinists, costume designers, instrumental and vocal artists. Such visual and aural delights also found their way into the theater—not in plays, with their traditional, sober settings, but between the acts of plays. Intermedi had everything the plays had not: miraculous transformations of scenery, flying creatures (both natural and supernatural), dancing, singing. The plays satisfied Renaissance intellects imbued with classical culture; the intermedi fed the new Baroque craving for the marvelous, the incredible, the impossible. By all accounts, no Medici festivities were as grand and lavish as those held through much of the month of May 1589 in conjunction with the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinand I and Christine of Lorraine. The intermedi produced between the acts of a comedy on the evening of May 2 were considered to be the highlight of the entire occasion and were repeated, with different plays, on May 6 and 13. Nearly all the main figures we will read about in connection with the birth of opera took part in the extravagant production, which was many months in the making: Emilio de' Cavalieri acted as intermediary between the court and the theater besides being responsible for the actors and musicians and composing some of the music; Giovanni Bardi conceived the scenarios for the six intermedi and saw to it that his highly allegorical allusions were made clear in the realization. Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini were among the featured singers, as was the madrigal composer Luca Marenzio, who wrote the music for Intermedio 3, described below. The poet responsible for the musical texts, finally, was Ottavio Rinuccini, who wrote the poetry for the earliest operas...”
― Piero Weiss, Opera: A History in Documents

“Als aan de grond genageld stond ik voor Masaccio’s Verbanning uit het paradijs. In een sombere, bruine omgeving, die in niets leek op een tuin, hield Adam zijn gebogen hoofd bedekt met zijn handen. Eva’s ogen waren gewonde holtes die bijna dicht waren geknepen en haar openstaande mond uitte een gekwelde kreet die door de tijd echode en in mijn hart weergalmde. Het pathos van hun schaamte ontroerde me zo erg dat mijn benen verslapten. Ik hield me vast aan de stenen balustrade. Tussen Eva en mij voelde ik geen kloof van eeuwen gapen.
“Ik wil haar in mijn armen nemen om haar te troosten,” zei ik zacht.
“Michelangelo, Rafaël en Botticelli zaten precies hier dit fresco na te tekenen,” zei Pietro met een nonchalance alsof hij meer dan honderd jaar geleden tussen ze had gestaan.”
― Susan Vreeland, The Passion of Artemisia

“Tussen twee roze marmeren kolommen stond Donatello's Magdalena op hoge leeftijd. In één schokkend moment werd alles me duidelijk. Een uitgemergelde figuur met wilde holle ogen in diepe oogkassen en ingevallen wangen, geteisterd door de tijd in de wildernis, haar handen tegen elkaar, biddend. Ze was blootsvoets, haar dunne benen wijd gespreid, naakt, niet kunstzinnig naakt, slechts bedekt door in de knoop zittend haar dat tot haar knieën reikte. In haar openstaande mond stonden slechts twee tanden als kleine grafstenen. Haar verschrompelde benen zo wijd uit elkaar en haar gekromde tenen die haar aan de aarde nagelden terwijl ze verlangde naar de hemel. Ik rilde.”
― Susan Vreeland, The Passion of Artemisia

“Circumstances intervened again and his family connections within the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency, combined with their economic and political clout, hastened his Naturalization as a U.S. Citizen, enabling his family to safely take him back to Italy only a few years later, this time to their property in Firenze.

On arrival Tonio’s soul awakened with the deepest and most silent joy. The past few years had been a bad dream. He was home. Everything was right. The sky, the buildings, the people, the smells, the sounds, all of it, even the language of the birds. He felt he would never leave again.

Untold Stories of Tonio”
― Marco M. Pardi