Tasso (English spelling) Torquato Tasso

The greatest poet of the Italian Baroque period. Born in Sorrento on March 11th. From an early age, he traveled to various Italian courts accompanying his father Bernardo, who was known for his epic poem "Amadigi" and other works. At the age of 15, he began drafting "Jerusalem Liberated" in Venice. At the request of his father, he began studying law in Padua at the age of 16, but at the same time, he matured literary by interacting with various literary figures and reading literary works from ancient times to the present, and wrote many love poems and the chivalric poem "Rinaldo" (1562). In 1565, he abandoned his law studies and moved to Ferrara, where he became a servant of Cardinal Luigi, the younger brother of Alfonso II, head of the Este family. The court of the Este family, which had once played a central role in Renaissance culture and reached the height of its splendor, was now on the verge of decline, but it still attracted many scholars and artists. In this environment, Tasso wrote ``Discourse on Poetics and the Heroic Epic'' (which, after revision in his later years, became the magnum opus ``De Heroic Epic''), published a collection of lyric poems, presented at the Academy, and experienced romantic relationships with various ladies of his generation.

In 1572, he became a direct courtier of Alfonso II, and in the spring of the following year, he wrote the pastoral play Aminta. This work, which premiered in the summer of the same year at the villa of the Este family, established the form of the new literary genre of "pastoral play" that was taking shape in the second half of the 16th century. In April 1575, he completed his magnificent heroic epic poem Jerusalem Liberated, which he had been planning and revising for many years. However, around the time he finished writing this masterpiece, he began to show signs of confusion, and after spending days and nights in despair while repeatedly adding and revising the work under extreme tension and fatigue, relentlessly seeking people's criticism, he turned himself in to the Inquisition. The work passed the inquisition without incident, but the poet's pathological anxiety only grew.

One night in early summer 1577, he suddenly threw a dagger at a servant and was confined to a monastery by order of Alfonso II. However, he managed to escape and wandered around Italy for the next two years. In 1579, he returned to Ferrara, where he became so angry that he cursed Alfonso II and was imprisoned in a dungeon. After seven years of harsh imprisonment, he was finally released and settled in Mantua, where he completed the tragedy "King Torrismondo" (1586), but the following year in 1587 he set out on another long journey of wandering. During those days, he completed the epic poems "Jerusalem Conquered" (1592) and "The Creation" (1594). In 1595, after a long period of wandering, he fell ill and died on April 25th in a room in a monastery in Rome.

[Kyoko Washibira]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イタリア・バロック期最大の詩人。3月11日ソレントに生まれる。叙事詩『アマディージ』などで世に知られた父ベルナルドに伴って、幼少時からイタリア各地の宮廷を歴訪。15歳のとき早くもベネチアで『解放されたエルサレム』の草案に着手。父親の意志により16歳からパドバで法律を学び始めるが、他方ではさまざまな文学者との交流や古今の文学作品の読破を通じて文学的熟成を遂げてゆき、数多くの恋愛詩および騎士物語詩『リナルド』（1562）を執筆。1565年、法律の勉強を捨ててフェッラーラに移り、エステ家の当主アルフォンソ2世の実弟ルイージ枢機卿(すうききょう)に仕える身となる。かつてルネサンス文化の中心的役割を担いながら栄華を極めたエステ家の宮廷は、いまや凋落(ちょうらく)の運命をたどりつつあったが、なおそこには学者や芸術家が数多く集っており、その環境のなかでタッソは、『詩学および英雄叙事詩に関する論考』（晩年の推敲(すいこう)を経て大著『英雄叙事詩論』となる）の執筆、叙情詩集の刊行、アカデミアでの発表活動などを行い、さまざまな貴婦人との恋愛を経験した。

　1572年からアルフォンソ2世直属の廷臣となり、翌73年春に牧歌劇『アミンタ』を執筆。同年夏にエステ家の別荘で初演されたこの作品によって、16世紀後半に形成されつつあった新しい文学ジャンル「牧歌劇」はその形態を確立した。75年4月、長年にわたり構想と推敲を重ねた壮大な英雄叙事詩『解放されたエルサレム』を完成。だが、この代表作を書き上げたころから錯乱の兆しが現れ、極度の緊張と疲労のなかでさらに加筆修正を繰り返し、人々の批評を執拗(しつよう)に求めながら絶望し続ける日夜を送ったすえに、自ら異端審問所へ出頭。作品は審問を無事に通過するが、詩人の病的な不安はさらに募るばかりであった。

　1577年初夏のある夜、突如として従僕に短剣を投げ付けて、アルフォンソ2世の命により修道院に隔離される。が、脱走に成功した詩人は、以後2年間にわたってイタリア各地を放浪。79年、フェッラーラに戻り、激高のあまりアルフォンソ2世を罵倒(ばとう)して、今度は地下牢(ろう)に幽閉される。7年間の過酷な監禁生活ののちにようやく釈放されてマントバに落ち着き、悲劇『トッリズモンド王』（1586）を完成させるが、翌87年にはふたたび長い放浪の旅に出る。その日々のなかで叙事詩『征服されたエルサレム』（1592）および『天地創造』（1594）を完成。95年、流浪の果てに病に倒れ、4月25日、ローマの修道院の一室で永眠した。

［鷲平京子］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例