Teoría de la esgrima by Horacio Levene

Although it has been well over two years since I had an opportunity to talk about Italian fencing in Argentina, my silence on the fascinating history of fencing in South America has primarily been caused by the difficulty in obtaining copies of the relevant works from the early 20th century. To address this drought I present today Horacio Levene's Teoría de la esgrima, a foil treatise published in 1929 in Buenos Aires.

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As Levene states in the preface, this book was adopted as the official text of the Argentinian military's fencing and gymnastics school, of which he was the director at the time of publication. Born in 1883, Levene was himself a graduate of the school, first entering its halls in 1901, after which he was posted to several different regiments, military schools, and at one point even a navy frigate, all of which he lists at the beginning of the book along with the civilian clubs he had taught at.¹ His diligent work was rewarded in 1923 when he was appointed as the army's inspector of gymnastics and fencing, and three years later he became director of the fencing and gymnastics school itself. In addition to his work on fencing, Levene made notable contributions to the field of gymnastics in Argentina and also wrote a duelling code that saw several republications during his lifetime.² He died in 1960.

As would be expected, Levene's method inherits much from the father of Italian fencing in Argentina, Eugenio Pini, and it retains a distinctly Italian character.³ Levene mostly repeats much of Pini's particular terminology, such as the term reccoglimento for the envelopment and the distinction between counter and half-counter parries, but includes some of his own modifications, such as the additional parries of 6th (a supinated 2nd) and 5th (equivalent to that used in Italian sabre).

The most unique feature of this treatise is in the second half, which was written almost entirely by Levene's 3rd-year students at the Argentinian military master's school. The first technique is described by Levene, who provides the structure that is then repeated by his students. Each one outlines the tactical applications of a specific technique (or combination thereof) and give notes for the instructor to take into account when teaching it.

The final page of the book refers to synoptic tables of actions that were supposed to follow, but these are missing in my copy. I presume that they were either removed at some point in this book's life, or, alternatively, they were perhaps never present at all. As the title page of the book states, this particular printing was the 'provisional edition', thus there may have been later printings that included the tables, but this is of course mere conjecture. If readers are aware of any other exemplars of this seemingly rather rare book, I would be very interested to know if they differ at all.

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1 Alejo Levoratti and Diego Roldán, "Los batallones escolares de la patria. Estudio comparado de las representaciones sobre el cuerpo y el entrenamiento de los maestros de esgrima del centenario en la República Argentina," Revista História da Educação 23 (2019): 23–4, https://doi.org/10.1590/2236-3459/88977.^↩
2 Some of Levene's other publications: La esgrima y el duelo: espada de combate (Buenos Aires: n. p., 1914); Duelo: manual de procedimiento (Buenos Aires: Fueyo, 1917); Gimnasia metodizada (Orientación integral humana, 1939).^↩
3 See Eugenio Pini, La esgrima de espada (Buenos Aires: Félix Lajouane, 1902). The treatise was subsequently republished in 1905 by Maucci in both Barcelona and Buenos Aires. The Italian version edition is Trattato pratico e teorico sulla scherma di spada (Livorno: Raffaello Giusti, 1904).^↩

Radaellian sabre in Argentina

Among the many corners of the world which felt the influence of Italian fencing at the turn of the 20th century, South America is arguably one that deserves much greater attention in the Anglophone sphere of historical fencing. In my own modest attempt to contribute, today I will be sharing two sabre treatises from Argentina, both published in 1928 and both detailing distinctly Radaellian methods.

Students of the Argentinian military fencing master's school, with its director Eugenio Pini on the far left (1899)

The first of these is entitled Esgrima del sable, written by Italian expat Escipión Ferretto (a Spanishified version of his Italian name, Scipione Ferretto).

Click here to view Ferretto's book.

This book is an updated version of his 1901 treatise Esgrima italiana: primer tratado completo sobre esgrima de sable publicado en castellano ('Italian fencing: first complete treatise on sabre fencing published in Castilian'), referenced in the glowing reviews in the introduction. Despite the title of the 1901 version, it was certainly not the first sabre treatise published in Castilian Spanish, nor was it even the first Italian sabre treatise published in Argentina, as a Spanish translation of Masaniello Parise's Trattato teorico-pratico della scherma di spada e sciabola saw publication in 1896.¹ It does, however, appear to have been the first Radaellian sabre treatise to be published in Spanish.

Parries of 5th, 6th, and 7th

Ferretto reveals his Radaellian influence immediately in the dedication, saying that his material is 'the fruit of a wide and serious evolution of the magnificent works of the unforgettable founder of sabre fencing, Prof. Radaelli, and of the famous master Masiello.' The work of the latter master is very much apparent throughout Ferretto's text in both structure and content, with several sections being merely abbreviated Spanish translations of those in Masiello's book.

Cut to the flank

The earliest mention of Scipione Ferretto I have found so far is his participation at an exhibition in Verona in 1888, then an amateur student of Radaellian master Federico Giroldini in Vicenza. Three years later he is still living in Vicenza, but with Giroldini having since moved to Mantua Ferretto appears to have taken over the role of teaching at the local fencing club, but still as an amateur.² 

By 1896 he had moved to Argentina and found employment there as a fencing master, joining the ranks of other Italian masters that had been immigrating there in the late 19th century. Recognising the need for fencing masters in the army, Ferretto submitted a request to the Argentinian army chief of staff, eventually leading to a fencing and gymnastics master's school being founded in late 1897 under the leadership of Eugenio Pini. Little wonder then that Ferretto was among those Pini chose to be assistant instructors at the school.³ He seems to have continued being employed by the military for several decades, teaching at Argentina's military college and naval school as late as 1932.⁴

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The second treatise featured today is Contribución al estudio del arte de la esgrima: el sable ('Contribution to the study of the art of fencing: the sabre') by Juan Bay.

Click here to view Bay's book.

Juan Bay, Jr.

Juan Bay was the son of an Italian veteran of the Risorgimento and fencing master of the same name who immigrated to Argentina in 1870.⁵ Born in 1876, from an early age Juan Jr. was taught fencing by his father and as a young adult was sent to Italy to continue his fencing education under the renowned Radaellians Tito Corsini and Giordano Rossi (or possibly Gaetano Garbagnati) in Milan. On returning to Argentina he continued his training under the various Italian masters then in Bueno Aires such as Ernesto De Marinis and Luigi Scarani. Like Ferretto, the talented young Juan Bay was also hired as an assistant instructor at the new Argentinian military fencing master's school (the only Argentinian-born instructor to be hired initially) when it began its first course at the Buenos Aires Jockey Club in 1898, which also gave him ample opportunity to train with its director, Eugenio Pini.⁶

Exhibition in Buenos Aires, October 1895, organised by Ernesto De Marinis (centre, white clothing). Juan Bay is second from the left and Ferretto is third from the right, front row.

In 1902, Bay accompanied Pini on one of his many fencing tours of Europe. Being a natural showman and already well-known and well-loved by much of Europe's fencing scene, Pini actively sought to prove the skill of his protégé, which included issuing an open challenge on behalf of Bay to all French fencers in anticipation for their visit to Paris.⁷ Bay fenced foil with several amateurs and masters in public exhibitions throughout the city and was admired by the French press for his skill and effective adaptation of some aspects of the French method, thus clearly emulating his master Pini.⁸ He met a similar reception in Vienna, this time being matched against other proponents of the Italian school in both foil and sabre.⁹

Bay (left) fencing Prof. Masselin in Paris, January 1902.

Bay remained at the Jockey Club throughout his career, also teaching at other clubs in the city and eventually succeeding Pini as head fencing master there after the latter retired in the 1920s. At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics Bay accompanied Argentina's fencing team as a coach and saw them achieve an admirable 3rd place in the team foil event.¹⁰

Thrust to the chest or cut to the outside face — Position of the invitation, engagement or parry of third.

Although distinctly Radaellian in his cutting mechanics, Bay does not include all six of the traditional Radaellian molinelli, choosing to omit the molinello to the head from the right and the rising molinello to the abdomen, but adding in two exercises equivalent to the first and second preparatory exercises seen in Pecoraro and Pessina's sabre treatise.¹¹ He names these six exercises 'passages over the opposing weapon' and all together they constitute the 'exercise of conduction and domination of the sabre'.

Horizontal passage to the inside face or chest

Both Ferretto and Bay's lives and writings deserve a more in-depth treatment than anything I can currently provide, and I hope in future to be able to provide some more context around the publication of these books, such as determining whether one was published in response to the other or if them being published in the same year was merely a coincidence. As always, readers with more knowledge on this subject are highly encouraged to leave a comment or reach out to me.

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1 Masaniello Parise, Tratado de esgrima teórico-praticó, trans. Sócrates Pelanda Ponce (Buenos Aires: Julio Ghio, 1896).^↩
2 John Sportsman, "Accademia a Verona," Lo Sport Illustrato, 11 February 1888, 71; "Notiziario," Baiardo: periodico schermistico bimensile, 8 August 1891, 8.^↩
3 Alejo Levoratti and Diego Roldán, "Los batallones escolares de la patria. Estudio comparado de las representaciones sobre el cuerpo y el entrenamiento de los maestros de esgrima del centenario en la República Argentina," Revista História da Educação 23, no. 1 (2019): 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236-3459/88977.^↩
4 "Répertoire des Maîtres et Professeurs abonnés," L'Escrime et le Tir, December 1932, 4.^↩
5 "Los "gironi" del Club de Esgrima," Caras y Caretas, 2 November 1902, 26; "La morte del maestro Bay a Buenos Ayres," La Gazzetta dello Sport, 9 February 1903, 2; Juan José de Soiza Reilly, "Cien años de esgrima en la República Argentina: A través de los maestros y de los alumnos," Caras y Caretas, 29 October 1932.^↩
6 D'Artagnan, "Torneo di maestri a Buenos-Ayres," La Gazzetta dello Sport, 22 November 1901, 2; Jean Joseph-Renaud, "Chronique: Les Grandes Semaines. Les Escrimeurs Argentins à Amsterdam avec Juan Bay," L'Escrime et le Tir, July 1928, 9.^↩
7 Eugenio Pini, "Un défi a sensation," L'Auto-Vélo, 18 January 1902, 1.^↩
8 "Les assauts du Journal," L'Escrime Française, 1 February 1902, 7.^↩
9 "Pini-Barbasetti," Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung, 2 March 1902, 214.^↩
10 Pablo Javier Junco, "Los Camet: una historia olimpica," Fotos Viejas de Mar del Plata (blog), 1 December 2018, http://fotosviejasdemardelplata.blogspot.com/2018/12/los-camet-una-historia-olimpica.html.^↩
11 cf. Salvatore Pecoraro and Carlo Pessina, La Scherma di Sciabola (Tipografia G. Agnesotti: Viterbo, 1912), 31–2.^↩

Beppe Nadi and his method

The following is a translation of an article by Giuseppe 'Beppe' Nadi entitled 'How I teach fencing', published in the November 1928 issue of Lo Sport Fascista. In this article the legendary master gives an overview of his pedagogical method, which produced such champions as his sons Nedo and Aldo Nadi, as well as Olympic gold medallists Gustavo Marzi, Oreste Puliti, and Aldo Montano, to name a few.

Some points to note:

• Students are always taught foil first
• All foil parries are taught with the hand supinated, as was common by this time
• Students do lessons and conventional exercises for over a year before they can start bouting, initially only with the master
• The sabre is taught to be 'guided by the forearm and not the hand'
• Great importance is given to thrusts in sabre fencing
• Beppe cares very little for épée fencing, believing that the best épéeists come from competent foilists

With the addition of this article, we are in the fortunate and rare position of being able to follow the pedagogy of four generations of fencing masters through their own writings, starting with Eugenio Pini, then Beppe Nadi, Aldo Nadi, and finally William Gaugler.

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How I Teach Fencing

Advice and observations

by Beppe Nadi

Beppe Nadi, the great Livornian master

Fifty years of teaching, innumerable champions, two stars of international fencing—his sons Nedo and Aldo. Here, in brief, are the titles of Beppe Nadi, who here tells you simply, with the Maestro's frankness and competence, what methods he follows in his famous Livornian school. Advice and observations which equal the most voluminous treatise.

Here in my old age, after half a century with only the sword in hand, I reluctantly take up the pen to respond to the courtesy of Lo Sport Fascista, which asked me for an article on the only topic that I can discuss.

How fencing should be taught is, for many, easier said than done; for me it is instead the exact opposite.

What is needed to have good results is above all a spirit of sacrifice without limits.

It is not enough to live on fencing—living for fencing is necessary if you wish to create students. The method certainly has its importance, but all the methods are more or less good if you teach with passion. I now put forward, without going into too many technical specifics, what I make the student do when the student presented to me knows absolutely nothing about the art.

Whether they are a child or an adult, I place them on guard, paying close attention to the aesthetics, and as soon as I have managed to give them a harmonious position, I start making them do their first advances and retreats, continuing the movements for as long as necessary for their perfect execution.

When the student has already gained a certain confidence in the march, I teach them the lunge, which must be performed perfectly before beginning to study the hand positions. Experience has led me to remove everything that is useless, and the only parries that I teach (in foil, of course, since it is foil, the foundation of all fencing, which I am discussing) are: third, fourth, half-circle, and second. And all with the nails up, without ever turning the hand. From the four positions I begin to make the student perform the glides, ensuring the perfect angulation, then following with the disengagements, then the counter-disengagements, the counter-disengagements with a feint, and the counter-disengagements on alternating lines. The progression is very slow, and my general rule is to not teach the student anything new if they do not perform what has been taught previously with sufficient precision.

The two masterpieces of Beppe Nadi, father and master: Nedo and Aldo.

The students of Beppe Nadi
At the school of Beppe Nadi great champions have arisen who have carried the superiority of Italian fencing around the world. Here are a few of these students: left: Bino Bini, winner of the tournaments in Prague and Ostend, Olympian in Paris and classified third (1st of the Italians) in Amsterdam; top: Gustavo Marzi, winner of the Offenbach tournament and classified fourth in Amsterdam; right: Dino Turio, winner of the junior sabre tournament in Cremona (1927); bottom: Leo Nunes, champion of the United States of America in all three weapons.

When the student starts performing all these actions with a certain speed, I take care to teach them the marching attack, and as soon as I manage to achieve the correct advance and lunge I add to this the most elementary actions, such as, for example, the direct feint and disengagement from all four lines. Progressively, all the offensive actions of fencing will be developed and repeated stationary and marching, paying the utmost attention to aesthetics and precise execution even at the cost of having to repeat the same movement a hundred times.

All this requires eight or ten months of conscientious lessons. In the meantime, the student has already assimilated the counters which he normally practises in the lesson, until the master believes they are the point to do the exercises in front of another more advanced student. The basis of these exercises is the counters. However, I believe it is essential that the master is always present, as the slightest defect must be immediately corrected, and in general the correction is so much more costly when the defect is less recent.

The foil team which won first place at the Antwerp Olympics. From left to right: Abelardo Olivier, Nedo Nadi, Aldo Nadi, and Oreste Puliti, the latter also an excellent product of Beppe Nadi's school.

After about a year of work I normally begin what I would call the second phase of teaching, and that is the 'tempo' and 'controtempo', aiming to give the student simple and clear ideas on the topic, not so much with words as with example and practise.

As the student progresses in the execution of all the movements and in their fencing reasoning, I aim to bring them up to the level of the bout almost without making them realise its novelty. At first it is a few brief phrases of a silent lesson, then a surprise when performing any action, then the freedom of choice of an action, then the true and proper spratico.

Spratico is an old word which means the bout between the master and the beginner. In fact the master must always, in my opinion, be the first to fence with the student, and not once but for three months at least, until the new combatant is moulded in their position and has reached a technical level which allows them to cross blades with another opponent. In choosing this opponent, the master must once more intervene, always giving the beginner over to a strong and correct fencer. As the student progresses, the opponent will change. By now the novice is on the right path. Without neglecting the lessons and by continuing to bout they will gradually reach that fencing strength which all those willing can aspire to. Beyond this limit is virtuosity. Tenacity and talent open doors to the chosen.

THE STUDENTS OF BEPPE NADI
The students of Beppe Nadi are uncountable; dozens of masters produced by his school are spread across the world and an imposing group of amateurs have been triumphant on all the pistes in Europe.
Here are a few of these victors. Left: Giorgio Chiavacci, mayor of Cecina, European champion, Olympian in Paris and Amsterdam. Right: Carlo Anselmi, winner of the Grand Prize in Ostende and the Karlsbad tournament. Bottom: Baldo Baldi, in the winning Olympic sabre team in Antwerp.

So far I have spoken about foil, but I will also mention the sabre, even though the lessons are at first almost perfectly identical. The important thing in all weapons is to give the student a foundation, and only when they have achieved that can they begin specialised study in the discipline they prefer.

The sabre parries which I normally teach are: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. The student must perform the thrust from all these positions. The cut is instinctive; everyone can perform it well more or less. What is infinitely more difficult, and also more profitable, is the thrust, which must be given particular attention from the student's very first lunges.

Nadi and the European sabre champion Sandor Gombos after their match in Budapest, won by the Italian 14 to 7.

The greatest difficulty in placing the thrust on target is not on the attack, but rather on the riposte. Thus the necessity of insisting on the thrust before moving on to the cuts, which the student will perform with greater precision the better they have learnt to give thrusts.

The carriage of the sabre is a thing which is not taught with words; example alone gives the student a precise idea of how the sabre must be wielded, with lightness and vigour, guided by the forearm and not the hand.

When this blade carriage has been sufficiently achieved, after the student has carried out all the offensive and defensive actions in the lesson, stationary and marching, in tempo and controtempo, in both sabre and foil, only then can they be placed in front of another student who will proceed at the same rate in the lessons. This is not yet bouting, but conventional exercises which are rather difficult and which serve brilliantly to develop the attack, strengthen the parry, and give the beginners a precise concept of what sabre fencing is.

18-year-old Nedo Nadi crowned winner of the fencing Olympiad (1912) by King Gustaf of Sweden.

For these exercises I advise placing one of the two students at the end of the piste with their left elbow in contact with the wall, the other in front of them. The latter will attack in the simplest and fastest way possible, the other will try to parry without losing their composure, and then riposte while standing firm. Naturally the students will change places often and then change exercises, always in the presence of the master, who must be continually and relentlessly strict in correcting the two students, one of whom will initially have the inevitable defect of starting out of tempo and the other will have the equally inevitable defect of parrying much wider than necessary. Through this system, with time and patience, the two beginners will soon make progress.

King Albert of Belgium awarding a prize to
Nedo Nadi, winner of the fencing Olympiad
in Antwerp (1920).

In sabre fencing, as in foil fencing, I believe in being able to give great importance to attacking speed, and therefore I cannot stress enough the importance of making the student try to achieve as much acceleration as possible at normal measure and even at a slightly extended measure. Also in sabre the procedure of leading the novice to the bout is the same as said previously for the foil: silent lesson, surprise, spratico with the master, first bouts with stronger fencers, and finally the real thing.

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I cannot and do not wish to talk about the duelling sword [épée], because it is better if I say straight away that I do not know exactly what it is. Very rarely I have seen it done well, but unfortunately the fencers on the piste were in this case two foilists; many other times I have seen it done very poorly, and then they have told me that they were the so-called pure épéeists. If this is an evolution of fencing, I confess that I have been left behind and I hope nobody will blame me.

Instead of speaking of what I do not know (but what does it say that I count among my students more than one exceptional épéeist?), it would be better if I now give a small self-examination.

As a fencing master it would be ridiculous if I were to act modest because of my results, but if I direct this praise on myself it is also right if I tell you that on the piste I am the strictest, the most annoying, the most fastidious, the most short-tempered of teachers. I have been blamed for this and I acknowledge my fault, but if there is anyone today who appreciates my uninterrupted work for over 50 years, including Christmas day and Easter, I must also be forgiven for my bad temper, which I acknowledge and am the first to deplore. However, without this trait, Italy—I say for the first time with a certain pride—would certainly have had fewer fencers.

Fencing has given me as much deep satisfaction as an art can give to an artist. In this city of Livorno, which I have been in love with since my childhood, every drop of my sweat has made a fencer blossom. My students have spread throughout the world and now that I am old, but thanks to God still strong and thriving, I continue always without even thinking that one day, alas, I will inevitably be interrupted.

This thought is sad enough to hold back my pen, but even when I will be forced to abandon the piste, the memories will give my mind the same joy which my industrious life has given. And my masterpieces—Nedo and Aldo—will even smile at my fatal passing.

BEPPE NADI

Translation - Lezioni collettive di spada e sciabola by Eugenio Pini

Eugenio Pini is one of the most famous names in modern Italian fencing history, perhaps second only to Aldo Nadi. He was undoubtedly the first modern Italian fencing celebrity, with his name being known across Europe thanks to his high-profile fencing exhibitions, duels, feuds, and not least his renowned fencing club in Livorno, which produced many champions, the most prominent of whom being Giuseppe 'Beppe' Nadi, father of Aldo and Nedo Nadi.

Before he was quite so famous, while employed at the Royal Naval Academy in Livorno, Pini wrote a short book detailing his method of group instruction for fencing, according to the regulation method of the time (see Parise's 1884 treatise Trattato teorico-pratico della scherma di spada e sciabola). It is this valuable and interesting work which I wish to share with you all today, which is entitled Lezioni collettive di spada e sciabola ('Group sword and sabre lessons'), published in 1891 in Milan.

Translation | Transcription | Scans

With very little in the way of technical notes, this booklet is more of a pedagogical guide for trained fencing instructors. Although individual lessons were the more popular method at the time for imparting technical skills (at least in the initial phases of learning), Pini's text provides a valuable insight into how skilled fencing masters would impart lessons to groups without compromising the quality of their teaching in doing so.

With reference to Parise's regulation treatise, Pini divides his curriculum into 5 years (the same length as an officer's course at the Royal Naval Academy), with the first four years of which being devoted almost entirely to sword fencing. Here is a summary of each year of the curriculum:

1st year

Instruction begins with sword fencing only. Students learn basic footwork, simple attacks, simple parries, circular parries, disengagements and counter-disengagements, and feints.

2nd year

The instructor transitions to doing individual lessons with the students, who practise among themselves when not taking a lesson.

3rd year

The instructor continues in the same manner as in the second year, but also begins slowly transitioning only the most capable students into bouting, which they will be allowed to do in the last months of the year.

4th year

The instructor will continue perfecting the students' fencing individually, still only allowing the best students to bout between themselves and with the instructor. In the last months of the year, students will begin learning the fundamentals of sabre fencing through group exercises

5th year

Students will receive individual sabre lessons, whilst the rest practise among themselves through exercises and bouting. All the while, the instructor will keep a watchful eye on the students, correcting and guiding them to becoming skilled and courteous fencers.