Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

Hell, the Musical

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hell-the-musical

“The Vatican has challenged purist Roman Catholics by disclosing plans for a daring rock, punk and jazz opera version of Dante’s Divine Comedy with a soundtrack written by an avant-garde priest.
Monsignor Marco Frisina uses rock music as background for the Inferno, Gregorian chants for Purgatory and lyrical and symphonic classical and modern music for the advent of Paradise in the musical set to be staged in the autumn.
After a premier in a leading Rome theatre sponsored jointly by the Vatican and Italy’s two houses of parliament, the extravaganza will tour other major Italian and European cities ‘to bring back the attention of the widest public to Dante’s immortal poem,’ Riccardo Rossi, director general of Nova Ars, the company producing the opera, told La Repubblica newspaper.”    –John Phillips, The Independent, January 3, 2007

See also : La Divina Commedia home page.

Contributed by Gloria Smith; Patrick Molloy

Dante’s Reconstructed Face?

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dantes-reconstructed-face-reuters“Gruppioni told Reuters in a telephone interview that the multi-disciplinary project discovered that Dante probably did have a hooked nose but it was pudgy rather than pointy and crooked rather than straight, almost as if he had been punched.” [. . .]    –Philip Pullella, Reuters, January 11, 2007

Contributed by Kate Moon (Bowdoin, ’09)

Rolando Perez, “The Electric Comedy” (2000)

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rolando-perez-the-electric-comedy-2000“Confronting not the papacy but the postmodern world of the Internet and global economics, this collection of satirical poems inspired by Dante’s Inferno explores the comic and tragic realities of contemporary life. At times graphic and abrasive, the language and style in this stirring collection mirrors the violence and social fragmentation that it describes. The imagined thoughts and interests of Dante as he composed the Inferno infuse this edgy, inventive collection that invites readers to participate in the creation of new mythologies that draw from the wisdom of the past.”    —Google Books

Canto 6

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canto-6-album-cover“Canto 6 began as Life of Hate, a hard-edged rock outfut along the lines of Metallica and Godsmack. After tiring of that style, the band began working with a producer, reorganized its sound and became Canto 6, taking the name from one of the layers of Hell in Dante’s Inferno.”    –Aaron Yoxheimer, The Morning Call, October 6, 2005 (retrieved on January 1, 2007)

See Last.fm to read more about the band.

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How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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