The imaginary romance of Maggiore Cesare Renzi and the chanteuse Elettra Stavros, based on the historical background of d’Annunzio’s Fiume Endevour – 1918-1920.
Major Renzi introduces himself with this bittersweet ballad. The perfect portrait of a “Beautiful Loser”…
LA BALLATA DELL’ARDITO (THE BALLAD OF THE ARDITO*)
Sharing my acquavite** and my strong cut-tobacco
On the Italian Alpine plateau, at dawn
A lieutenant taken prisoner and I sunk
Into the silence of that winter calm.
The clear air of the peaks wouldn’t carry that stench
Which was familiar to both of us,
The stench of a young Europe caught in barbed wire,
Rotting like manure.
But If I led you, it was because of my desperation
Not fearless impetuousness, but only indifference.
And if I’ve ever been ardito*, it was because I’ve been wounded for a long time
And I was waiting for the moment of my ultimate discharge,
Of the definitive Belief of he who feels nothing but disgust.
The battle of Solstice heralded itself with a dreadful roar
Running along the entire front.
The perfect day to die, just the right one instilling its light upon the world
For a very long time.
I led my men outside, singing the bitter lyrics of blame I’ve learnt
In narrow lanes close to port.
Relying on the fact that the Fate, by collecting us by the handful,
Would have at least righted all wrongs.
But even though we were praised, and declared heroes
A treaty betrayed our blood.
And for all those who became dung, only a royal dispatch of vile condolences
So I took the liberty of challenging the Power
Of the Hand which was plotting respectably and in silence, strangling the people with golden chains,
And not of enemies who were bleeding just as we were bleeding
And now I’m wandering, trying to request an audience with the one and only Superior…
– “Major Renzi! Presente!***”
**acquavite = a sort of italian brandy
* “Ardito” in Italian means also “bold, fearless” – so, it’s a pun.
*** it’s the Italian military salute for dead soldiers/officers
The Treaty of Paris: the delegates of the victorious nations, understimating the Italian contribution and its tribute of blood, take some territorial resolutions and assign Fiume and other lands to the Croatian jurisdiction…
VITTORIA MUTILATA (MUTILATED VICTORY*)
Do you remember those years before the War?
Now it seems almost impossible
We really believed we could
Improve the world even more.
“War, the World’s Only Hygiene” you used to say
And above all the firm conviction that
Militancy was nothing but Art
And Art nothing but Action….
My Friend, we talked such nonsense…
What a long farewell to Utopia
Was the War for us…
Just in time to face reality
A generation is burning.
Just having rid ourselves of an Authority
And now here’s a new Master.
With this suicide of a civilization
In destruction and horror,
An old, unjust world is collapsing down and fading
But a worse one is on the horizon,
Much worse…
Now it’s evident what has been the purpose of it
And it’s even more evident who the one was
That cleared the gaming-table
Which now is staining with blood.
Driven on by Gold
Those swindlers of Self-Determination
Are assigning us the role of sacked thugs:
“Now shut up, and just fuck off!”
My Friend, how many answers I can’t give…
But this blood of mine
Is the only coin
I can strike…
Just one cry: “Hic Manebimus Optime!” **
No, we’re not going to demobilize.
Just one gesture: “Audere Semper!”, there’s nothing more left
We’re not going to lay down our arms.
And we’re going to stay
We’re here to stay
Here to stay,
Here to stay….
- and ** are both D’annunzio’s phrases.
Rising against the Italian Government which was forced to ratify the Treaty, D’annunzio and his Arditi conquer Fiume and occupy the “City Of Life”, proclaiming the Free Republic. Major Renzi follows his “Comandante” and is assigned to the Counter-Espionage Office.
XII – IX – MCMXIX: DI NUOVO IN ARMI! (XII – IX – MCMXIX: ARMED AGAIN!)
To the East at dawn the sky would appear as a magnificent fire
Sometimes darkened by the passing of black clouds.
We would play with hand grenades as if they were living creatures,
Domestic animals whose reactions are mostly unexpected,
But women would yield more gladly
To those who couldn’t care less to die!
There were chests full of cognac and munitions,
There were pots of geraniums and flags on every balcony.
There were squinters whose only eye bore the flash of lightning,
Heroes, strolling players and tribunes
Hailed at each crossroad…
Armed again, armed again!
Obey to Love is the newest categorical imperative,
Not stuffing our nose with the stench of an insulting peace,
Sneering with impulsive gestures
Of those who at the same time wish and take,
And pissing on decrees demanded by old loan-sharks,
And on plots good for executioners, accountants and bigots
Who have always preferred a sheepfold to the flight of an eagle
There were songs, and for every song a woman,
There were illusionists, but no deception,
There were lion-hearted boys,
And an embrace between the Fury and the Muse would burst out!
Armed again, armed again!
The seducing Elettra Stavros introduces herself with a sensual and gloomy tango: Major Renzi is enchanted by her performance against his will …
TANGO DELLA MENADE (TANGO OF THE MAENAD)
For you
I ought to be Kali
The Goddess who’s the Mother of a thousand daggers;
I would morbidly enjoy
Holding your decapitated head in my hands.
I was the lunar bleeding
Which would butcher the Reason,
And I was the Torch of Dyonisus,
But now I am here,
Like a tamed she-wolf
And I’m dying for you…
You’re listening to the Tango of the Maenad
A tango dragged by wild winds…
For you
I’ll be the Initiator,
A proud queen then a slave,
I’ll deny that God coming from Arcadia or Java.
I am the Ruby, I am the Poison,
I am the Serpent’s Coil,
And I am the Hair of Medusa,
Then suddenly I find myself anxiously awaiting
What you know all too well…
You, who taste salty like the sea to my palate
My soldier,
Clear fountain I can drink from
To consecrate again
That redeemed Inconnue
Rising inside of me…
You’re listening to the Tango of the Maenad
A tango dragged by wild winds…
Because
I’ll be your New Moon,
A Whore, then a Saint
And my bad-seed I’ll turn into a White Lily again…
I’m dragging out this pain of mine
Between emptiness and silence,
But be amazed and listen, Renzi:
I’ll raise my fiery song for you
Till I’m out of breath…!
Major Renzi is torn apart because of his passion for Elettra… Love Vs. Duty, Ideal Vs. Eros.
PER NON DORMIRE (NOT TO SLEEP FOR)
Something really peculiar happened,
To tell the truth, it’s a very bad matter…
Please sit down Lieutenant, I need to talk
And I’m relying on your discretion…
Have you ever had an enemy
Who listens to the same voice
Lashing your soul like a wild wind,
Though with a different cross to bear?
Then, if that enemy has the same, spontaneous and invincible wisdom
Of the Ancestral Woman,
And makes you know the taste of derision,
And the instincts of the most brutal hunter…
I know that she’s been there,
In lands I never dared to penetrate,
Because I’ve always been afraid to be a King.
And I also know well the reason why
This is offending the Lord,
Because her life and mine
Will be fire, then ashes
All at once….
We are men, after all
So you can see the fire and the fury rising
When you realize that the Cause is becoming
Merely an excuse to chase personal prey
Which leaves a trail,
Torrid like an Aegean Summer.
An archaic Sun has given birth to her Vine
And ecstasy is already flooding…
I see, you say nothing
Because you don’t recognize me anymore
And maybe you also feel pity for me,
But nobody can stop the lightning.
So, just tell me now
What should I do?
Which solution should I implement with that woman
Whose name is like lightning:
Elettra!
The Italian Army has been given order to open the fire against the “Rebel Army” of Fiume.
Elettra thinks of Major Renzi in her prison and has a vision of the future.
FUOCO A FIUME (FIRE IN FIUME)
It’s not like sinking
Into that protective pond
So deeply known by opium addicts.
It’s not a morphine shake in my veins,
Like a heard of wild horses
In the middle of a fire.
I wish you could kindly wrap me
In bandages yellow with age,
And give me that pain
Tasting of an old orphanage, of rusty swings
Like those leaves in the arms of the wind
In October sunsets…
I wish I had a rosary to pray
While on my face
The shadow of a grid of bars
Is sealing my coffin.
Gazing above,
My eyes are still begging
To be forgiven and saved
Out of here, at your side….
Don’t hold it against me, my Friend…
Just think that I’ll pay for my sins with my own life,
Drifting in a gloomy cemetery
Made of needles and constrictions
Where it’s my own regret which will judge its intentions…
…. Where the fire which is consuming us
Won’t be extinguished with the Idea,
And the chest of our memories
Will pervade everything without creating,
Where the battle-cry raging against the sun
Will just seem a cold and dead echo
Of past ages of Love.
The ill-famed “Christmas Of Blood 1920”. Fiume is under siege.
Major Renzi and his troops put up a valiant resistance – brothers Vs. brothers. He meets Elettra and kisses her among the ruins, promising they will meet in Trieste after the end of the crisis, to sail on and live a new existence in Argentina.
But the Fate is waiting for him…
MURI D’ASSENZIO (ABSINTHE WALLS)
Absinthe walls inside of us, a pale dawn was rising.
The fire-fight started at the waterfront.
We exchanged dismayed and sharp glances,
But wouldn’t tremble, though we were drunk…
A strange company, the Legion of Fiume
With a reckless passion transcending the Present.
Joy, swearing and abandon in only one Gift
Making equally worthy homeland and cheap women.
Oh but of how many storms I’ve been the source,
On the rim of so many volcanoes I’ve burnt my hands!
So many coveted alcoves I’ve violated at night,
Life as a raid; and seduction is an option…
Walls of absinthe, and tobacco for us
That good, strong Macedonian blend.
A Dream fading into lead, you know
Is worthy an Avant-garde Aesthetic.
But now we must face reality: At arms!
The artillery was already sweeping the Dream away
Then, among the crowd, I saw her and she was lost
The dark-haired adventuress
With the lips of a wild beast
She said: ‘Major, I’m going to stay
Where you are, there I’ll be!’
And I: ‘Please, reach safety! This place is going to be hell soon!’
There was just one kiss, and my blood turned to fire.
‘Now, go for Heaven’s sake! Leave it all to me,
And God willing, we’ll meet in Trieste’.
With her scent still lingering in my nostrils
I met my Fate as did many of my peers,
And an enfilade of friendly fire
Caught and hit me from behind
Laying my brain bare….