On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Gabriele d’Annunzio’s death (March 1, 1938), the Italian Cultural Institute of Montréal is pleased to present the performance of Claudio Pozzani, “Sensuality and the music of the word”.
May 24th, 2018, 6pm – Free admission
Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Montréal
1200 Av. du Dr Penfield
Performance in Italian
Claudio Pozzani will delight the public with the reading of various poetic essays (La Pioggia nel Pineto, Sopra un erotik, La Passeggiata, La Sera Fiesolana, Meriggio, I Cani…) and several passages from some works in prose (Il Piacere, Notturno, Libro Segreto…) by Gabriele d’Annunzio, precisely to reveal the inimitable sensuality and musicality of the word in his language.
Gabriele D’Annunzio, writer and politician (Pescara 1863-Gardone Riviera, Brescia, 1938), was one of the greatest exponents of European decadence. Rich in culture, he assimilated various literary and philosophical tendencies, creating his own unmistakable style. In 1888 he moved to Rome, where hanging out with the aristocracy inspired him to write the novel Il piacere (1889). During a stay in Naples (1891) he became interested in the works of Nietzsche and Wagner. The Nietzschean readings are revealed in the novels Triumph of Death (1894) and The Virgin of the Rocks (1896). His inspiration for writing for the theatre came from the great actress Eleonora Duse, with whom he had a tormented love story. In a few years, D’Annunzio composed his main works, from the novel Il fuoco (1900) to the pastoral tragedy La figlia di Iorio (1904). After a stay in France, he returned to Italy and in 1915, and once invited to Quarto to inaugurate the monument of the Mille, he started a heated interventionist campaign. In 1919 he led an expedition of veterans, starting from Ronchi (later called “the Legionaries”) and arriving in Fiume; they occupied the city with a paramilitary coup, he established the Italian Carnaro Regency, and keept control of it for more than a year and wrote with De Ambris a Carnaro Charter with a corporatist background. In December 1920 he was finally evacuated by the Italian army. Retreating to Villa Cargnacco, in what he later called the “Vittoriale degli Italiani”, on Lake Garda, he lived the rest of his years with special regard: in 1924 he was elevated to the rank of Prince of Montenevoso; he supervised the national edition of his works and in 1937 he became president of the Royal Academy of Italy.
Claudio Pozzani was born in Genoa in 1961. He is a poet, a novelist and an artist. He is well-known for participating in many international poetry festivals in Europe, in Latin America and in Asia. His poems have been translated into several languages. Also, Pozzani has been organizing since 1995 the Poetry Festival of Genoa as well as tons of other arts and culture events in Europe.
Reservation no longer available