Raffaele Viviani (10 January 1888 in

Castellammare di Stabia Castellammare di Stabia (; nap, Castiellammare 'e Stabbia) is a '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania region, in southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento. History ...

Province of Naples The Province of Naples ( it, Provincia di Napoli; nap, Pruvincia 'e Nàpule) was a province in the Campania region of southern Italy. In 2014/2015, the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990 and Law 56/2014), replaced the Province of Naples ...

– 22 March 1950) was an Italian author, playwright, actor and musician. Viviani belongs to the turn-of-the-century school of

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

in Italian literature, and his works touch on seamier elements of the lives of the poor in Naples of that period, such as petty crime and prostitution. Critics have termed Viviani "an autodidact realist," meaning that he acquired his skills through personal experience and not academic education. Viviani appeared at age 4 on the stage, and by age 20 he had acquired a solid nationwide reputation as an actor and playwright. He also played in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, Tripoli, and throughout

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

during his career. His plays are in the "anti- Pirandello" style, less concerned with the psychology of people than with the lives they lead. Viviani's best known-work is ''L'ultimo scugnizzo'' (The Last Urchin) (1931), ''scugnizzo'' being the underclass Neapolitan street child. Viviani composed songs and incidental music for many of his earlier works. One such well-known melodrama is ''via Toledo di notte'', (Via Toledo by Night) a 1918 work which even incorporates American

cakewalk The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern Uni ...

and

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

rhythms to tell the story of the "street people" of via Toledo, the most famous street in Naples.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Table of the Poor ''The Table of the Poor'' (Italian: ''La tavola dei poveri'') is a 1932 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Raffaele Viviani, Leda Gloria and Salvatore Costa. It was based on a play by Viviani set in Naples. It was s ...

'' (1932) * '' The Blue Fleet'' (1932)

Partial bibliography

*A festa ’e Montevergine, in Rivista di Commedie, anno XIII, n. 50, fasc. I, pp. 5–14, March 1930 *’O fatto ’e cronaca, Napoli, Guida, 1932 *L’imbroglione onesto, in Il Dramma, anno XIII, n. 266, 15 September 1937 *Mestiere di padre, in Il Dramma, anno XV, n. 318, 15 November 1939 *La tavola dei poveri, in Sipario, anno IX, n. 100-101, Aug-Sept 1954, pp. 43–61 *Trentaquattro commedie scelte da tutto il teatro di Raffaele Viviani, a cura L. Ridenti, introduction by E. Possenti e saggio La commedia umana di Napoli di V. Pandolfi, 2 vol., Torino ILTE, 1957 *Tuledo ’e notte, ’O fatto ’e cronaca, La musica dei ciechi, in Teatro Napoletano, a cura di G. Trevisani, Bologna, Guanda editor, 1957 *La festa di Montevergine, con saggi di C. Mazza e C. Trabucco, Napoli, ESI, 1963 *Circo equestre Sgueglia, a cura di E. Bellingeri, Roma, Officina Edizioni, 1978 *I dieci comandamenti, presentazione di M. Martone, Napoli, Guida, 2000 *Zingari, ivi, 2006 *Canti di scena, a cura di P. Scialò, ivi, 2006. A listing of Viviani's major works is also listed in *RAFFAELE VIVIANI, I capolavori, a cura di A. Lezza, prefazione di R. De Simone, con una nota musicale di P. Scialò, Napoli, Guida editori, 1992 The complete theatrical output of Viviani is listed in *RAFFAELE VIVIANI, Teatro, voll. I-V, a cura di G. Davico Bonino, A. Lezza, P. Scialò, Napoli, Guida Editori, 1987-1991, vol. VI, a cura di A. Lezza, P. Scialò, introd. di G. Fofi, 1994
Nota bio-bibliografica di Raffaele Viviani, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento de Filologia Moderna (with portrait of Viviani)

Published biographies, criticisms and essays concerning Viviani

*Da Russo a Viviani, A. Palermo, in ID., Da Mastriani a Viviani. Per una storia della letteratura a Napoli fra Otto e Novecento, Napoli, Liguori Editore, 1974, pp. 98–105 *Il teatro di Viviani: lingua, dialetto, gergo, A. Lezza, in Lingua e dialetto nella tradizione letteraria italiana, AA.VV., Roma, Salerno editrice, 1996, pp. 537–551 *Viviani. L’autore – L’interprete – Il cantastorie urbano, A. Lezza, P. Scalò, Napoli, Colonnese Editore, 2000 *Viviani, a cura di M. Andria Napoli, Pironti, 2001 *Raffaele Viviani. Teatro, poesia e musica, a cura di A. Lezza, P. Scialò, Napoli, CUEN, 2002 *La funzione degli spazi: da Raffaele Viviani ad Annibale Ruccello, M. Palumbo, in La civile letteratura. Studi sull’Ottocento e il Novecento offerti ad Antonio Palermo, II, Il Novecento, AA. VV., Napoli, Liguori Editore, 2002, pp. 201–211 *Commedia e dramma da Scarpetta a Viviani, G. Nicastro, in Letteratura e cultura a Napoli tra Otto e Novecento, AA. VV., a cura di E. Candela, Napoli, Liguori Editore, 2003, pp. 51–65 *Raffaele Viviani. La compagnia, Napoli e l'Europa, V. Venturini, Roma, Bulzoni, 2008 *Fondamentale ai fini di una ricostruzione biografica dell’A. è l’autobiografia Dalla vita alle scene, Rocca San Casciano, Cappelli, 1928, poi Napoli, Guida, 1977 e 1988 *(chapter of V. VIVIANI): ''Raffaele Viviani'', in ID., Storia del teatro napoletano, Napoli, Guida Editori, 1969, pp. 807–77 (n. ed. ivi, 1992) *(monograph of G. TREVISANI): ''Raffaele Viviani'', Rocca San Casciano, Cappelli, 1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viviani, Raffaele 1888 births 1950 deaths People from Castellammare di Stabia Italian dramatists and playwrights Italian male actors Italian musicians Culture in Naples Italian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Italian male writers