Theatre
Saul
Vittorio Alfieri · 1785
Opening lines
David
Qui freno al corso, a cui tua man mi ha spinto,
Onnipossente Iddio, tu vuoi ch'io ponga?
Io qui starò.
Is it here, Almighty God, you would have me rein
the course on which your hand has driven me?
Here I will stay.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from it.wikisource.org
Synopsis
In the Hebrew camp, at war with the Philistines, David returns to King Saul, who persecuted him out of jealousy, to be reconciled with him and fight at his side. Jonathan, the king's son, and Michal, his daughter, arrange the meeting. But the old king, who has turned away from God, at first moved by the young man's return, gives way to a fury that nothing seems able to calm.
Context
The author conceived and wrote the play in 1782. It appeared in 1785 in the third volume of the edition of his tragedies printed in Siena, three years after its completion. In the nineteenth century, it was translated into French verse by Achille Du Laurens, then into prose by a translator who signed C. P.; in English, an anonymous translation appeared in London in 1821, before that of Edgar Alfred Bowring, in his edition of the complete tragedies.
Who it is for
A short tragedy, in five acts and in verse, entirely directed towards the reversals of a single character.
Prizes and reception
The play marks the summit of Italian tragedy and of pre-Romantic poetry.