Leone de' Sommi Portaleone (Yehuda ben Yitzchak Somi Misha'ar Aryeh; he, יהודה בן יצחק סומי משער אריה - Judah son of Isaac Somi Portaleone; also Leone Ebreo de Somi and Yehuda Sommo; c. 1525 – c. 1590) was a Jewish-Italian playwright,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

, and

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...

r. He lived most of his life in the northern

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

city of

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

, until his death in the late 16th century. He had the fortune to live at Mantua during the apogee of its Renaissance cultural flowering, under the rule of the Gonzaga dynasty. This period was also one of relative peace and well-being for the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community of Mantua, which blossomed from a mere 200 souls in 1500 to a population of 2,000 at the beginning of the 17th century. However, by 1650, a series of catastrophes had cut this number is half, and reduced the remaining Jewish-Mantuan community to poverty. Leone was a member of the renowned Portaleone family, which boasted many famous doctors and scientists. He, however, was the first of his family to garner literary fame, as the author of some 15 plays, most of them written in

, as well as poetry, and even a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, written in Hebrew, ''A Comedy of Betrothal'' (צחות בדיחותא דקידושין) the earliest surviving work of its kind in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. He is now most remembered for having written the first ever treatise on the art of

stage direction In theatre, blocking is the precise staging of actors to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. Historically, the expectations of staging/blocking have changed substantially over time in Western theater. Prior to the moveme ...

, which defines a precise methodology of play production, from the selection of a text through its performance. This work, entitled, ''Four Dialogues on Scenic Representation'' ("Quattro dialoghi in materia di rappresentazioni sceniche"), takes the form of four

conversations Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

, between Veridico, a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

/ playwright/

, who acts as the voice of the author, and two curious gentlemen, Santino and Massimiano, who ask Veridico various questions about the theory and practice of the theater. This work marks a major milestone in the modernization of the theater from the unsophisticated days of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, and it also supplies valuable information on how theatrical spectacles were conceived and performed at this point during the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

. De' Sommi wrote most of his plays in poetry in the service of the Gonzaga dukes, and eventually became a member of the prestigious Accademia degli Invaghiti, from which Jews were technically barred. He wrote and directed many of the plays which the Jewish community were obliged to perform for the ducal court every year at the Carnival celebrations. Unfortunately, almost all of his works were lost in a fire at the Biblioteca Nazionale di

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, in which sixteen volumes of

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

s of his work were destroyed. The only works of de' Sommi which survive to this day are the aforementioned Hebrew comedy, the ''Four Dialogues'', a

and a pastoral work written in Italian, and a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

in defense of women, entitled ''Shield of Women'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ''מגן נשים''), which consists of alternate lines in Hebrew and Italian.

References

External links

*Entry on Leone de' Sommi in the
Jewish Encyclopedia
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sommi, Leone de 1520s births 1590s deaths Italian dramatists and playwrights Jewish dramatists and playwrights 16th-century Italian Jews Renaissance literature Writers from Mantua Italian male dramatists and playwrights