• A Florentine Beginning: Birth and Early Life

• The Apothecary: Farmacia del Moro

• The Accademia degli Umidi: A Founding Member

• The Accademia Fiorentina: A Change of Name

• The Accademia della Crusca: A Crusade for Language

• The Literary Quarrels: Expulsion and Readmission

• The Arameans: A Controversy Over Language

• II Lasca: The Pseudonym That Became a Name

• Tuscan Prose: A Master of Style

• The Works: Poems, Letters, and Novelle

• The Influence: Goethe and the Canti Carnascialeschi

• Death and Legacy: A Founder of Italian Language

 

 

A Florentine Beginning: Birth and Early Life

Antonio Francesco Grazzini was born on March 22, 1503, in Florence or in Staggia Senese. He wrote of himself: Io sono a Staggia, ch è la patria mia, e de miei primi l antica magione (I am from Staggia, which is my homeland, and the ancient home of my ancestors). He was born into a good family, but there is no record of his upbringing and education.

He probably began to practice as an apothecary as a youth. The apothecary was a trade, a profession that required knowledge of plants, of chemistry, and of the preparation of medicines. Grazzini s early life was spent in the world of commerce, but his talents would lead him to the world of letters.

 

 

The Apothecary: Farmacia del Moro

Grazzini owned the then famous Farmacia del Moro near the Cathedral in Florence. The pharmacy was a center of the city s life, a place where people gathered to buy medicines, to gossip, and to discuss the events of the day. Grazzini s work as an apothecary was his profession, but his passion was literature.

 

 

The Accademia degli Umidi: A Founding Member

In 1540, Grazzini was among the founders of the Accademia degli Umidi (the Academy of the Humid). The academy was a society of Florentine intellectuals who gathered to discuss literature, language, and the arts. The name Umidi was chosen to reflect the Florentine climate, but it also suggested a certain humility in the pursuit of knowledge.

 

 

The Accademia Fiorentina: A Change of Name

The Accademia degli Umidi was soon renamed the Accademia Fiorentina. The new name reflected the academy s ambition to be the leading literary institution of Florence. The Accademia Fiorentina was a forum for the discussion of the Tuscan language, the language of Dante and Petrarch, and for the promotion of Florentine culture.

 

 

The Accademia della Crusca: A Crusade for Language

Grazzini later took a leading role in the establishment of the more famous Accademia della Crusca (the Academy of the Chaff). The name Crusca was chosen to suggest the sifting of language, the separation of the pure from the impure. The academy s purpose was to preserve the purity of the Tuscan language, to create a dictionary that would be the standard for Italian.

The Accademia della Crusca published his Vocabulario of words accepted as the purest Italian. The dictionary was a landmark in the history of the Italian language, a work that established the Tuscan dialect as the literary standard for the nation.

 

 

The Literary Quarrels: Expulsion and Readmission

Grazzini was temperamental, his life consequently enlivened or disturbed by various literary quarrels. His Umidi brethren expelled him for a time because of his ruthless criticism of the Arameans, a party of academicians led by Giambattista Gelli who maintained that the Florentine language was derived from Hebrew, Aramaic, or some other branch of the Semitic.

The quarrel was a reflection of the intellectual currents of the Renaissance, the debate over the origins of language and the nature of culture. Grazzini s criticism was harsh, and his colleagues expelled him.

He was readmitted in 1566, when his friend Salviati was consul.

 

 

The Arameans: A Controversy Over Language

The Arameans were a group of academicians who believed that the Florentine language had its origins in the ancient languages of the Middle East. The theory was a product of the Renaissance interest in the ancient world, a speculation about the connections between cultures. Grazzini rejected the theory, and his rejection led to his expulsion.

 

 

II Lasca: The Pseudonym That Became a Name

To both societies, Grazzini was known as Il Lasca or Leuciscus, a pseudonym which is still frequently substituted for his name. The pseudonym was a literary identity, a name that he used in his writings and in his dealings with the academies. Il Lasca became his public persona, the name by which he was known to his contemporaries and to posterity.

 

 

Tuscan Prose: A Master of Style

Grazzini ranks as one of the great masters of Tuscan prose. His style is flexible and abundantly idiomatic, but without affectation. It has the force and freshness of popular speech, whilst retaining a flavour of academic culture. His prose was a model for later writers, a demonstration of the power and beauty of the Tuscan language.

 

 

The Works: Poems, Letters, and Novelle

A number of miscellaneous poems, a few letters, and Four Orations to the Cross complete the list of Grazzini s works. He also edited the works of Francesco Berni, a poet of the Renaissance. He collected Tutti I trionfi, larri, mascherate o canti carnascialeschi, andati per Firenze dal tempo del Magnifico Lorenzo vecchio de Medici fino all anno 1559.

In 1868, Adamo Rossi published in his Ricerche per le biblioteche di Perugia three novelle by Grazzini, from a manuscript of the 16th century in the Comunale of Perugia. In 1870, a small collection of those poems which have been left unpublished by previous editors appeared at Poggibonsi, Alcune poesie inedite.

 

 

The Influence: Goethe and the Canti Carnascialeschi

The collection of canti carnascialeschi (carnival songs) that Grazzini edited influenced Goethe s Faust. The carnival songs were a form of popular poetry, a celebration of the festivals of Florence. Goethe was drawn to their energy, their humor, and their reflection of Italian culture.

 

 

Death and Legacy: A Founder of Italian Language

Antonio Francesco Grazzini died on February 18, 1584. He was eighty years old. He had lived a life of letters, of quarrels, and of academies. He had been an apothecary, a founder of the Accademia degli Umidi, a founder of the Accademia della Crusca, and a master of Tuscan prose.

His legacy is that of a founder of the Italian language. The Accademia della Crusca, which he helped to establish, is the oldest language academy in the world. Its dictionary, based on the work of Grazzini and his contemporaries, is the standard for Italian. His name is preserved in the history of Italian literature and in the records of the Accademia della Crusca.

Источник: https://authority-daily.com/component/k2/item/216506