Melbourne Dante Club

26/07/2020

Paolo and Francesca singing in Russian... sounds intimidating, but the effect is hauntingly superb!
Francesca hopes to be reunited with Paolo in eternal life in Heaven... but her expectations are misplaced...

Gelena Gaskarova Franceska's aria Conductor Rani Calderon Director Silviu Purcarete Theatre de Lorrein,Nancy,France

26/06/2020

05/06/2020

The English translation of the Commedia (2013) by The late Australian poet Clive James
You may like it or hate it, but it is a tremendous effort to render the poetic strength of the poem, its rich texture, into English.

At the mid-point of the path through life, I found
Myself lost in a wood so dark, the way
Ahead was blotted out. The keening sound
I still make shows how hard it is to say
How harsh and bitter that place felt to me—
Merely to think of it renews the fear—
So bad that death by only a degree
Could possibly be worse. As you shall hear,
It led to good things too, eventually,
But there and then I saw no sign of those,
And can’t say even now how I had come
To be there, stunned and following my nose
Away from the straight path.

The following canto is reprinted from Clive James’ new translation of The Divine Comedy, out now from Liveright.

28/05/2020

Da Inferno, XX, 70-78. (Bolgia degli indovini). Virgilio racconta della sua città e delle zone limitrofe fino a descrivere Peschiera e il Garda (Benaco).

Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake At the Alp’s foot that shuts in Germany Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco.

By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed, ‘Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, With water that grows stagnant in that lake.

Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor, And he of Brescia, and the Veronese Might give his blessing,⁹ if he passed that way.

Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks,¹⁰ Where round about the bank descendeth lowest.

There of necessity must fall whatever In bosom of Benaco cannot stay, And grows a river down through verdant pastures.
[...]

Excerpt from: "The Inferno (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)" by Dante Alighieri.

24/05/2020

Croce del Sud o semplice ‘invenzione’ di Dante? / Southern Cross or mere ‘creation’ by Dante?

Purgatorio I, 22-27:

«I' mi volsi a man destra, e puosi mente
a l'altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle
non viste mai fuor ch'a la prima gente.
Goder pareva 'l ciel di lor fiammelle:
oh settentrional vedovo sito,
poi che privato se' di mirar quelle!»

«To the right
I turned, and on the other pole I set
My mind, and saw four stars that were a sight,
Seen by the first men, that has never yet
Been seen again. The sky seemed to rejoice
In these four flames. North, you’re a widow, since
You are denied that sight!» (translated by Clive James)

24/05/2020

Cari amici,
Benvenuti al Dante Club di Melbourne!
Per favore scrivete qualsiasi cosa vi richiama alla mente la figura e l’opera di Dante. Con questo gruppo si vuole far conoscere il nostro Sommo Poeta qui all’altro polo, senza ambizioni accademiche, ma solo per passione e interesse personale. Scrivete!

Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Melbourne Dante Club!
Please write anything that you associate with Dante and his work. With this group we want to let our Sommo Poeta know to everyone here in the ‘altro polo’, without academic ambitions, but only out of passion and personal interest. Write!