Fifty Selected Sonnets by Gaspara Stampa

Stampa, Gaspara (1523–1554), translated by Kline, A. S. (contact-email)

Gaspara Stampa, described as the Sappho of her day, was a renowned 16th-century poet and musician from Venice. She was known for her cultural influence and musical talent. After her father’s death, she lived in a culturally vibrant household overseen by her educated mother. She excelled in music, performing her compositions and others' works, and gained public recognition by the mid-1540s. Her romantic entanglement with Count Collaltino di Collalto, a soldier and poet, ended by 1551. Stampa’s legacy lies in her sonnets, which express her love for Collaltino, published posthumously in 1554 by her sister. Despite her portrayal, for example by Rilke, as a symbol of unrequited love, Stampa’s work is valued for its literary merit, continuing the tradition of love poetry exemplified by figures such as Sappho and Petrarch. Her contribution to the Petrarchan sonnet showcases her as a significant poet of her time. This translation presents fifty selected sonnets.

Author Details

Gaspara Stampa, born in 1523 in Padua, Italy, emerged as a preeminent poet of the Italian Renaissance. Her father, Bartolomeo, a member of a cadet branch of the Stampa family, was a merchant of jewels and precious metals. Following the death of her father when she was eight years old, Gaspara moved to Venice with her mother, Cecilia. There, alongside her siblings Cassandra and Baldassarre, Gaspara received a varied education in literature, music, history, and art. Gaspara and Cassandra became capable singers and lute players, possibly under Tuttovale Menon’s tutelage.

The Stampa household in Venice soon became a centre for literary and artistic circles. The musically talented Gaspara may well have performed her own madrigals. She became temporarily reclusive after her brother’s death in 1544, considering joining a convent, but eventually returned to Venice’s vibrant life.

Gaspara’s literary career began when she joined the Accademia dei Dubbiosi in 1550, adopting the name “Anaxilla.” During this period, she commenced a relationship with Count Collaltino di Collalto, who became the primary subject of her 311 known poems. Despite the relationship’s dissolution in 1551, Stampa’s poetic output flourished, transforming her personal grief into poetic expression.

She then began a new friendship with Bartolomeo Zen, but suffered from deteriorating health. She spent time in Florence in 1553-1554, seeking a milder climate for convalescence, but returned to Venice, where she eventually died on 23 April 1554. Her death was recorded as due to fever, colic, and mal de mare.

Her poetry collection “Rime di Madonna Gaspara Stampa” was published posthumously in October 1554, and was edited by her sister Cassandra, and dedicated to Giovanni Della Casa. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke notably referenced Gaspara Stampa in his “Duino Elegies”, as a symbol of unrequited love, rather than in an act of praise for the force and excellence of her own poetry, though that is perhaps implied.

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Kline, A. S.

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