Lingua e trasposizione in “Hernani” ed “Ernani”

Abstract

The paper compares two texts: Hugo’s Hernani and Piave’s libretto Ernani, based on the former for Verdi’s music. The aim is to investigate what survives of the revolutionary aspects of the original text in the Italian language used in the libretto. Referring to his works and to Hernani as well, Hugo had claimed he had «set the language free» pushing the literary French towards the colloquial one. In spite of that, the libretto draws on the literary archaisms which characterized the coeval poetry ignoring Hugo’s innovations and testifying to the “delay” of the Italian language. In the first part, the paper compares Hugo’s direct expression and prosaic tension to the pretentious periphrasis and syntactic inversions of the Piave’s libretto. Attention is then paid to the level of the signifier, namely to the ludic use of rhymes and phonic iterations. The close reading of the libretto reveals its internal logic and poetic dignity. More than that, comparing Hugo’s virtuoso multi-layered style with the “hyperliterary” style of the libretto leads to reflect on the relationship between style and History.