Masaniello - Alexandre Dumas

Tommaso Anielo (better known as "Masaniello") was an illiterate fishmonger-turned-"Fisherman King of Naples." His tale of rebellion, victory, betrayal, and defeat--in other words, all the elements of a good story--has been adapted extensively for literature, poetry, paint, plays, and opera.

In the mid-seventeenth century, Naples was under the rule of Habsburg Spain. To supply its protracted military campaigns, the Court of Madrid fettered the city with ever-increasing demands for men, money, and equipment. A new tax on fruit finally pushed the citizenry into revolt.

On 7 July 1647, Naples was celebrating an annual festival featuring a historical recreation of the Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571). This battle was symbolically significant not only as a military victory of the Spanish over the invading Ottomans, but as a religious victory of the Catholics over invading Islam. Masaniello took the opportunity to rally the mock armies into an actual fighting force and marched upon the castle of the Spanish viceroy.

Masaniello's victory was short-lived. He was assassinated less than ten days later, on 16 July 1647. But from the moment of his death, his figure became legendary. During the 19th-century Risorgimento, he was exalted as a freedom fighter, a hero of the Italian proletariat, and a spiritual successor to Cola di Rienzo.

Masaniello:

• Pdf

Supplemental:

• Masaniello Overture opera by Auber

Trivia:

• Signor Beneventano, an opera singer alluded to in "Cock-a-doodle-doo!," performed in Auber's "Masaniello."

Extracts:

• "Brigands and outlaws; linked with these / Salvator Rosa, and the fierce / Falcone with his fiery school; / Pell-mell with riff-raff, banded all / In league as violent as the sway / Of feudal claims and foreign lords / Whose iron heel evoked the spark / That fired the populace into flame." ("Marquis de Grandvin at the Hostelry")
• "And, see, dark eyes and sunny locks / Of Masaniello, bridegroom young, / Tanned marigold-cheek and tasselled cap; / The darling of the mob; nine days / Their great Apollo; then, in pomp / Of Pandemonium’s red parade, / His curled head Gorgoned on the pike, / And jerked aloft for God to see." ("Marquis de Grandvin at the Hostelry")
• "New spectres streamed from shades below, / Spectres of Naples under Spain, / Phantoms of that incensed Revolt / With whose return Wrath threatens still" ("Marquis de Grandvin at the Hostelry")

This meetup is part of the series The Risorgimento.