Lu novu tuppi tuppi [Facsimile]. New York: Casa Editrice Biblioteca Siciliana (presso la "Follia"), [1919].
Title
Lu novu tuppi tuppi [Facsimile]. New York: Casa Editrice Biblioteca Siciliana (presso la "Follia"), [1919].
Description
One of the "scherzi poetici" of De Rosalia, this is a short work in verse in 8-line stanzas (A,A,A,A,A,A,B,B; C,C,C,C,C,C,C,C;B,B,B,B,B,B,A,A, etc.), featuring a dialogue between two people, styled as "Cuntrastu tra Titiddu e Rusulia", a "contrast" or "difference" between a lady, Titiddu, and presumably the author himself.
The dialogue in Sicilian dialect is playful, with discussion of marriage and the "bedda" (Itaglish for "bed"). There follows from this four short poems, also in Siclian dialect.
Durante contains a good biographical discussion of De Rosalia, and an excerpt from one of the Nofrio comic sketches or masques (Nofrio on the telephone) for which De Rosalia was most famous in Italian vaudeville in New York.
Born in Palermo in 1864, De Rosalia died in New York in 1935. He broke onto the New York comic scene in 1903, shortly after his arrival, and owned a number of dramatic companies while at the same time teaching in New York City public schools and teaching English to Italians. He began his performing career doing classical roles, but soon found out that while much applauded in such roles, he could make more money creating a comic persona, like but not entirely the same as the master of the genre, Farfariello (Eduardo Migliaccio).
In Durante's estimation, "De Rosalia demonstrates a profound understanding of the life that flowed before his eyes on the streets of Little Italy, the same understanding displayed in his theatrical represetations."
De Rosalia was said to have left an impressive discography of his Nofrio sketches with Victor Records (Durante), but at least in my own 1920 catalogue of that company, I do not find him listed under either De Rosalia or Nofrio.
The dialogue in Sicilian dialect is playful, with discussion of marriage and the "bedda" (Itaglish for "bed"). There follows from this four short poems, also in Siclian dialect.
Durante contains a good biographical discussion of De Rosalia, and an excerpt from one of the Nofrio comic sketches or masques (Nofrio on the telephone) for which De Rosalia was most famous in Italian vaudeville in New York.
Born in Palermo in 1864, De Rosalia died in New York in 1935. He broke onto the New York comic scene in 1903, shortly after his arrival, and owned a number of dramatic companies while at the same time teaching in New York City public schools and teaching English to Italians. He began his performing career doing classical roles, but soon found out that while much applauded in such roles, he could make more money creating a comic persona, like but not entirely the same as the master of the genre, Farfariello (Eduardo Migliaccio).
In Durante's estimation, "De Rosalia demonstrates a profound understanding of the life that flowed before his eyes on the streets of Little Italy, the same understanding displayed in his theatrical represetations."
De Rosalia was said to have left an impressive discography of his Nofrio sketches with Victor Records (Durante), but at least in my own 1920 catalogue of that company, I do not find him listed under either De Rosalia or Nofrio.
Creator
Giovanni De Rosalia
Publisher
Casa Editrice Biblioteca Siciliana (presso la "Follia")
Language
Sicilian dialect
Citation
Giovanni De Rosalia, “Lu novu tuppi tuppi [Facsimile]. New York: Casa Editrice Biblioteca Siciliana (presso la "Follia"), [1919].,” Italian-Language American Imprints: The Periconi Collection, accessed April 28, 2024, https://italianamericanimprints.omeka.net/items/show/580.
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