- Bernardo Tasso
Bernardo Tasso (
November 11 ,1493 –September 5 ,1569 ), born inBergamo , was an Italiancourtier andpoet .He was, for many years, secretary in the service of the prince of
Salerno , and his wifePorzia de Rossi was closely connected with the most illustrious Neapolitan families. Their son, the great poetTorquato Tasso , was born at Sorrento in 1544.During the boy's childhood the prince of Salerno came into collision with the Spanish government of Naples, was outlawed, and was deprived of his hereditary fiefs. Tasso shared in this disaster of his patron. He and his son were proclaimed rebels to the state.
Bernardo moved to
Rome where his son joined him in about 1552. In 1556 news came that Porzia had died, and Bernardo suspected her brother of poisoning her with the object of getting control over her property. As it subsequently happened, Porzias estate never descended to her son; and the daughter Cornelia married below her birth, at the instigation of her maternal relatives.He served various noblemen then, among them duke
Guidobaldo II , in whose court his son Torquato was educated. When Bernardo was serving the duke ofMilan ,Guglielmo Gonzaga , he was appointed governor ofOstiblia .When, therefore, an opening at the court of
Urbino was offered in 1557, Bernardo Tasso gladly accepted it. He read cantos of his "Amadigi" to the duchess and her ladies, or discussed the merits ofHomer andVirgil , Trissino and Ariosto, with the duke's librarians and secretaries. He also traveled toVenice to superintend the printing of the "Amadigi".Bernardo Tasso died in
Ostiglia , then part of theDuchy of Mantua .Work
An author of diverse works, Tasso wrote
psalms ,eclogues ,sonnets andodes . The latter were the first Italian poems written in the manner ofHorace . His lyric poems were published with the title "Amori" inVenice (1555). His main work, "L'Amadigi", is an epic poem divided in 100canto s and inspired by the Spanish chivalric romanceAmadis de Gaula (known in fragmentary form since the 14th century; first printed in its entirety in 1508). The Amadigi was left incomplete but was later completed by his son Torquato, who published the full text under the title Florindante in 1587.References
*1911|article=Tasso, Torquato
*nuttallExternal links
http://www.museodeitasso.com/
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