Like those of his colleagues, many of Rizzotti's articles show some of the frustration felt by the Radaellians at the continued silence from the Italian Ministry of War regarding the state of sabre fencing in the army and the Radaellians' calls for Masaniello Parise, the technical director of the Master's School in Rome, to come to the table with them and find a compromise.
This frustration is especially evident in an open letter from Rizzotti, published in Scherma Italiana in 1894, entitled 'To Professor and Colonel Masaniello Parise':
While I followed the proceedings of the sabre bouts between the amateurs who flocked to the recent tournament in Venice, fully absorbed and engrossed, my thoughts went to you, dear professor and colonel.A month later, a response from Salvatore Pecoraro, one of the two vice-directors of the Master's School, appeared in Scherma Italiana. Despite being one of the most celebrated Radaellian fencers of the time, Pecoraro is quick to defend to Parise and his sabre method despite the universal opposition shown to it by the other Radaellians.
There before me, seated in a less plebeian stall, but equally absorbed and engrossed, sat Comm. Caracciolo1—a prefect of the province—for hours and hours, and I sense that within him, an old student of Achille Parise, your father and master of great fame, his now advanced age had not extinguished his passion for our art. Perhaps his mind went back to the good times of his youth, when his companions in his great fencing studies were, among others, the ex-minister Rattazzi, Count Nigra, Colli di Felizzano, and…Agostino Depretis2.
Sure, even Depretis—speaking of the period from 1848 to 1859—studied fencing, and perhaps it is to fencing that he later owed, at least in part, his famous ability of manoeuvring through the treacherous waves of power, always staying afloat and valiantly opposing the continuous attacks of his political opponents—fencers less accustomed than he to the tricks of the trade.
The sabre bouts followed one another, and on the piste appeared Baldi, Ceni, Fazi, Fougier, Meyer, Montalto, Galli, Piacenti, Roffeni, Rosso, Sestini, Weysi, and so many other amateurs, one better than the other, a whole pleiad of fencers simultaneously strong and elegant. Sure in the parry, quick in the riposte, and with majestic and light handling of the blade, obtained not just with the wrist, but with coordinated action of all the joints of the arm and with the elbow as the main point of rotation.
They were the students of Rossi, Arista, Corsini, Masiello, Guasti, Foresto Paoli, Pini, Pecoraro, and so on—these all being masters who, with regard to the official system of fencing which revolves around you, professor, have as much faith in it as I have that the sinful mind will one day take flight into the merciful arms of God.
Thinking of you, professor and colonel, I said to myself: Oh, how will you feel, here at the Milan tournament, in your capacity as a juror—provided that you accept the honourable task, as I hope—when you will have to judge these same amateurs and many others?
If you, in homage to your artistic principles, your theories, your method, will give the vestal virgin's pollice verso3 for them all, what will you say when your given sabre rankings are found in clear opposition to those of the other Italian and foreign jurors? Will you not think, professor, perhaps with a shiver, that a decade of the Master's School's life, as well as convincing everyone of the quality of his sabre method, has further cherished the memory of Giuseppe Radaelli, his school, and his devoted, unfailing apostles?
You, professor, are too much of a gentleman not to admit, even tacitly, that your position would have been very embarrassing, all the more considering that among your colleagues of the jury who would have voted in clear contradiction with you, there would be masters who are or were previously instructors at the same Master's School, in which you reign as the absolute—if not inviolable and sacred—sovereign.
And by association of ideas, my mind also went to that great sin of ingratitude which was committed—along with many others—by a young master, recently graduated from the Master's School, when in response to my observation that he did not seem to me to be fencing sabre according to the canons of the official teachings, he said: 'Just between friends, do you know that at the Master's School, when a student has a promising disposition, he is secretly told that when it comes to sabre, there is no use in doing any system other than Radaelli.'
I was thinking about all this because I saw in the Milan newspapers you were appointed to the jury, along with Pecoraro, Guasti, and Captain Moccagatta!
And it was not me, professor, who had the idea of arousing your remorse or making you confess that Fambri's notorious report to the Ministry of War on the fencing treatise which bears your name, the report to which you owe your high position as director of the Master's School and colonel...regardless of whether it is, with regard to form, a masterpiece, with regard to substance—I am speaking of sabre—it is…a tumble.
I thought of this simply because the mind cannot be commanded, nor can its flights be restrained. And I did not predict that you would then not come to Milan, and to me it is a great shame, because instead of writing to you, I would have turned to your proverbial courtesy for a verbal response.
What do you think?
Especially since, as you already know, you do not have time to respond to letters, or you do not want to—not because you are at a loss for good reasons, no, but…so as to not spoil noble blood, perhaps. And so what is the need to write and discuss when you have at your disposal so many means of convincing…forcefully and with so many acolytes to spread your word amongst the faithless rabble, in pills as big as meatballs?
I am, dear professor,
your most obedient servant,RODERICO RIZZOTTI4
DEAR MR. RIZZOTTI,
I read your letter directed to Cav. Parise and published 11 May in the newspaper Scherma Italiana.
For the part which concerns me, I feel a duty as both a fencer and the vice-director of the Master's School to address this to you with the request that it be accepted into the columns of Scherma Italiana.
You, Mr. Rizzotti, assert that Guasti, Pecoraro, and many others believe in the quality of the Parise method like the sinful mind will one day take flight into the merciful arms of God.
I will tell you that loyalty is the uniform of the fencer, because if I am converted (as we might say) to the Parise method, it is because I recognise its superiority over all others. And I would have openly fought the Parise sabre system, within the limits of my power, if I were not convinced of what I said above.
Now to the other subject matter, that being what was said by a young master who recently graduated from the Master's School, who told you:
'Just between friends, do you know that at the Master's School, when a student has a promising disposition, he is secretly told that when it comes to sabre, there is no use in doing any system other than Radaelli.'
The NCO in question has certainly forgotten all his duties. It is entirely made up, and at this moment I will reclaim the honour of my colleagues, those who were and who are now employed at the Master's School, in telling you that what he claimed is not true.
My colleagues and I are not dominated by the spirit of servility, and you, Mr. Rizzotti, should have quarantined the words of an individual who, having spent three years at the Master's School and attaining an honourable position, in order to now be accepted by the opponents in art, not only does he seek to renounce the past, but also throw a shadow of distrust on masters who all have an artistic life to prove their loyalty.
I declare myself a partisan of the Parise method; I firmly believe in it. And on behalf of my dear colleagues I reject the words spoken to you by the young master.
Thank you, Mr. Rizzotti.
Rome, 27 May 1894
yours truly,SALVATORE PECORARO5
This is not the first time Pecoraro has publicly defended Parise's method in Scherma Italiana. The first time he did so was when Parise's cavalry sabre method was being reformed so that it would at last be accepted by the Ministry of War (see here and here). As would be expected, Rizzotti did not pass up the opportunity to include his own response underneath Pecoraro's letter, with even more emotive and somewhat poetic language than his first open letter:
À tout seigneur, tout honneur,6 esteemed Professor, and as you see, not only do I hasten to give you your requested hospitality, but, certain that I echo the thoughts of our whole editorial staff, I have respectfully given you the front page.
My goodness! It is not every day one is lucky enough to publish something of yours, even if it is a letter in which you inform us that you serve in a camp which is not ours.
Having said that, I take note of your ample and loyal declaration of your conversion to the Parise sabre method—a conversion which may pain me, but does not surprise me. What would surprise me would be a declaration to the contrary, given your position as vice-director of the Master's School. But if you, as you write, 'would have openly fought the Parise sabre system, within the limits of your power, if you were not convinced of its superiority over all others', you would understand, Professor, how I too do the same in the opposite sense, taking advantage of the means which are at my disposal, with this difference: that in the work of our respective propaganda—presumption aside—there is a consideration of a moral order which I feel must be put in a position favourable to the eyes of those who love the art of fencing, and it is that by making yourself a champion of an idea, you, Professor, are also implicitly fighting for yourself and your eminent position. I, on the other hand, have no other hope than in the triumph of the idea because of the idea. Sic vos non vobis7 could apply to me, and you would not wish for it, albeit unjustly, to apply to you.
I wrote that you, Arista, Rossi, Masiello, Guasti, Paoli, and Pini do not have faith in the official sabre system, and I was wrong; but mine is a slight error, because I only needed to bring the verb into imperfect past tense and say 'did not have faith, etc.', not because everything went smoothly like oil, but because aside from those mentioned previously, I could cite countless other names, such as Pessina, Monti, Sartori, etc., who, like you, Guasti, and Pini, I cannot cite in 'present tense' for the simple reason that they are not free teachers, as all fencing masters should be, but even if they are civil masters, they instead depend on the Master's School and the Ministry of War, such that it would be certain that if they were officially consulted one by one, they would out of necessity make the same declaration that you made of your own free will.
And this, Professor, only because the spirit of discipline, so high and noble in those who wear or have worn the uniform of the Italian soldier, seals the lips to truth when it may be unwelcome to one's superiors.
But try, Professor, to remove the appointment of military and civilian masters from the Master's School; try to raise them to the dignity of free and independent professionals in their artistic criteria, and you will see the debacle that is caused by the Parise sabre method.
If Parise can now be proud of the statement of faith which you give for his method, you nevertheless cannot change face to sacrosanct truth: that with regard to sabre, Parise is to Radaelli, Masiello, and Rossi as the flea is to the cyclops.
With all due respect to your opinion, this is as true for me, esteemed Cav. Pecoraro, as it is true that you achieved your greatest triumphs and brought the greatest prestige to your name when you served in our ranks. This is as true as the fact that even now, despite your new faith, and certainly without knowing it, through force of inertia or habit, you wield the sabre just like when you were at the perihelion of your fame. At least so it seemed to the whole audience who applauded you recently at the La Scala theatre, and so it seemed to me that in this same newspaper I gave you, as best as I know how, the modest tribute of my admiration, even though I had already received your letter, which was not possible for me to publish until now. Unless, however, Giordano Rossi has also changed; he who had a sabre bout with you at the La Scala which was altogether marvellous, but especially due to the simultaneously majestic and light handling of the blade which used to be the most beautiful quality of Papa Radaelli's students.
I will not repeat what was said by many, many great masters, even those joined to you by the bonds of old friendship, which is that at the Master's School, one is now taught the Parise system theoretically and the Radaelli sabre system practically, with clear, patent artistic plagiarism. But I will limit myself to vowing, for the good of our cause, that you, like Emperor Julian of the East—who went from paganism to Christianity then back to paganism—may return to us who will gladly open our compassionate arms...that if this does not come true, we will have one less soldier—or rather—one less skilled captain in our ranks, but we will continue on all the same, even knowing we will leave victims along the way.
And now we come to the second part of your letter, Professor.
The quotation written by me and cited by you was said by a young master, sure; but why call him an NCO, thus running the risk of turning an artistic matter into a matter of military discipline?
The quote was said to me—and so I wrote it—but how, esteemed Professor, were you able to read that it related to teachers past or present of the Master's School? I am with you in rejecting it, but for it to be known, is it necessary for this great discovery of the superiority of the Radaelli sabre method compared to the Parise method to 'descend through the branches' 8 in the minds of those who are barely intelligent and slightly out of their minds? No, by the Gods, no! If it is sacrosanct truth (and I have a whole pyramid of fellow believers, masters who cannot confess for reasons of discipline and employment), it will penetrate, like the light, from every direction, from a fellow student or colleague in the art, from this or any other newspaper that deals with the subject. If it is true, it will sing itself in the air or arise clearly in the brain of anyone through love of study or a comparative reading of Parise's treatise and those of Radaelli, Masiello or Rossi.
Unless it is forbidden to read any bible other than that of the meek silk-fisted Parise—as one of his admirers said—or put the intelligence and common sense of our good students of the Master's School at daggers drawn for the rest of their lives.
And it would perhaps be the only means for the sure triumph of the good cause.
In this case, we will content ourselves with finding us all together, in forty years, in the glory of heaven to gather around Giuseppe Radaelli, who will perhaps apostrophise us again with his fatherly: vioroni9.
And when they are close in fraternal embrace, Colonel Del Frate (now an incessant hunter), the quick-witted and unswerving Arista, the volcanic and nebulous Monti, the profound Masiello, the candid and virtuous Varrone, the untiring Pessina, the diabolical Pini, the slender Barbasetti, the agile Gallanzi, the powerful Sartori, the cautious Morini, the elegant Foresto Paoli, Roggia, Arzani, Verzani, Rognini, Cardellini, and hundreds of others—when they are close in fraternal embrace, without the fear of superiors and glad to be guaranteed golden bread for all of eternity, you can be certain, Professor, that they will let fly those jests and witty remarks concerning the Parise sabre method, disturbing even the cautious and cold sap of the Great Priest of the Master's School...until then, even if it will not be as I suppose and hope, there is a lot of time before it all goes to ruin.
And even the ghosts of many intelligent women, who have learned to make their own refined judgement through marrying a fencer, will have companions in their jests. And as full as they are of that fantasy which always portrays and considers things from new artistic and scientific points of view, they have already ruled that, for them, handling the sabre according to Parise method is a desolately feeble method.
I am, dear Professor,
your most obedient servant,RODERICO RIZZOTTI
The question of 'military discipline' has arisen on several other occasions in the various writings in defence of Radaelli (see Gelli's Resurrectio, for example) in reference to the relative silence of the Radaellians post-1884, supposedly due to the fact that their loyalty to the army took precedence over publicly denouncing the new regulation sabre method. With the benefit of our modern hindsight, it is curious to see Pecoraro so publicly defending Parise's sabre method, considering he would revert back to a largely Radaellian sabre method after Parise's death in 1910.10
1 Emilio Caracciolo di Sarno↩
2 These men being Urbano Rattazzi, Costantino Nigra, and Major general Giuseppe Colli di Felizzano, all prominent political or military figures of the Risorgimento.↩
3 A reference to the famous 'turn of the thumb', which the vestal virgins of Rome would supposedly signal to a gladiator to indicate whether they wished them to kill or spare their fallen opponent.↩
4 Roderico Rizzotti, "Al prof. e colonnello Masaniello Parise," Scherma Italiana, 11 May 1894, 37–8.↩
5 Salvatore Pecoraro, Scherma Italiana, 15 June 1894, 49.↩
6 'Credit where credit is due'.↩
7 'For you, but not yours': a phrase attributed to Virgil in response to seeing his work plagiarised.↩
8 A quote from Dante's Divine Comedy (Purgatorio, VII:121).↩
9 I have absolutely no idea what he means here. The word is perhaps a variant of fioroni, which are large, artistic flowers. Perhaps it was an endearing nickname Radaelli gave to his students?↩
10 S Pecoraro & C Pessina, La scherma di sciabola, G. Agnesotti, Viterbo, 1912. Chris Holzman's translation is available here.↩
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