Trissino, Gian Giorgio

Trissino, Gian Giorgio (jän jôr`jō trēs–sē`nō), 1478–1550, Italian poet and philologist. His play Sofonisba (written 1515, produced 1557) introduced classical Greek dramatic techniques to Italian drama. Also well known is his epic poem Italia liberata dai Goti (1547). His treatise advocating a blending of dialects in literary Italian was attacked by Machiavelli and by Bembo, who supported the Tuscan dialect.

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Trissino, Gian Giorgio 

Born July 8, 1478, in Vicenza; died Dec. 8,1550, in Rome. Italian Renaissance writer.

A proponent of classicism, Trissino turned to the form and meter of Greek drama in his tragedy Sofonisba (1515; published 1524) and his comedy The Simillimi (published 1548). His attempt to create a classical epic poetry in opposition to the poetry of L. Pulci, M. Boiardo, and L. Ariosto was less successful. His heroic poem in 27 books, Italy Liberated From the Goths (published 1547–48), was written in imitation of Homer and used hexameters rather than ottava rima. Trissino’s work anticipated the Italian classicists in many respects. In works on grammar and linguistics, Trissino argued the need to standardize the Italian literary language.

WORKS

Scrittiscelti. [Vicenza] 1950.

REFERENCES

Istoriia zapadnoevropeiskogo teatra, vol. 1. Edited by S. S. Mokul’skii. Moscow, 1956.
Palumbo, P. “G. Trissino.” In Letteratura italiana: I minori, [vol. 2]. Milan [1969]. Pages 873–89.

R. I. KHLODOVSKH