Hvar City Theatre Days, Vol. 37 No. 1, 2011.
Original scientific paper
Metastasio and Tomiković between remembrance and forgetting
Cvijeta Pavlović
orcid.org/0000-0002-5800-961X
; University of Zagreb
Abstract
The subject of this analysis is the oratorio by Pietro Metastasio Giuseppe riconosciouto (1733) and its Croatian poetic translation by Aleksandar Tomiković entitled Josip poznan od svoje braće (Joseph Recognized by His Brothers) (1791). It is possible that Tomiković adapted the Italian text encouraged by Metastasio’s popularity, but we must take into consideration the Biblical theme which Metastasio’s work deals with, which was widespread in both European and Croatian literature from the Middle Ages to Tomiković’s time, and thus became a very popular topic of artistic analysis. Tomiković, too, became interested in representations of new aspects of already known stories. His poetic translation is an important contribution to the European concept of Italianization, especially the so-called Metastasianism of the 18th century, which was interesting for the modern literary theory, particularly from the point of view of theme and translatability. In the context of the artist’s period, his text was a successful translation-interpretation of the Italian poetic drama. The subject of remembrance and forgetting intertwined with a touching Biblical story, which overlaps with the dramatic situation of recognition is illustrative of the culture of morality and psychology in the period from Rococo to Sentimentalism.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
71834
URI
Publication date:
3.5.2011.
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