by Maestro William Gaugler
Masters Program, San Jose State University, CA Maestro di Scherma,
Accademia Nazionale di Scherma, Naples, Italy (photo of Dr. Gaugler from the
backcover of THE HISTORY OF FENCING, Laureate Press, 1998)
Epic Encounters Between Italian and French Fencing Masters 1881-1911
century and early years of the 20th century were among the most popular
and well-attended sports events of the time. They ranged from conventional
matches with foil, sabre and epee to spectacles resembling circus
performances. For instance, in 1893 over 20,000 people saw an international
fencing tournament fought with sabres on horseback in New York's Madison
Square Garden. Most tournaments, however, were conducted in the
traditional manner, on a fencing piste. The encounters that attracted the
most attention were generally between leading Italian and French
professionals -- for example, in 1903, in Buenos Aires, more than 4000
spectators gathered in the largest theater in Argentina to see the famous
Sicilian master, Agesilao Greco fence the French epee champion, Jean
Joseph-Renaud.
Beside the competitions held in theaters and music halls, encounters were
also arranged in ballrooms and in private fencing salles. French masters
visited Italy, and Italian masters France, in the hope of fencing as many local
masters as possible. Fencing teachers arranged tournaments open to the
paying public in their salles. Camille Prevost in Escimeurs et Duellistes (Paris
1937), described the procedure in Franco-Italian fencing matches during the
final decades of the 19th century. Juries consisted of three Italians and three
Frenchmen. Each judge, without saying a word, noted the hits he believed
valid, and at the conclusion of the match withdrew with his colleagues to a
room near the fencing hall to arrive at a consensus in the scoring; meanwhile
the competitors and spectators waited anxiously to learn who the winner was.
National pride seems to have been a significant factor in assigning hits: for
instance, after a team match in 1895 an Italian judge claimed that the Italian
fencers at won 540 to 36.
Pairse, in his publication, Trattato teorico-practico della di spada e sciabola
(Rome 1910), observed that fencing was a science and an art. Skilled
fencers were designated artists; and good form was deemed as important as
the ability to score hits. The fencer who adopted an unorthodox stance, and
delivered thrusts with a bent arm, or deliberately engaged in close combat,
was generally regarded with contempt.
In retrospect, it seems probable that the adulation of professional fencers
during this era was a result of romanticism. Indeed, the theatrical behavior of
the great swordsmen, and their mania for duels is perfectly consonant with
the age of Gabriele D'Annuzio, Eleonora Duse, Edmond Rostand and Sarah
Bernhardt. Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac was, after all, one of the great
theatrical successes of its time.
Many stories have survived concerning the casual manner in which duels
occurred. Cravache, for instance, in his book I trent'anni di Agesilao Greco
(Rome 1926) , recounts how Greco, while seated in the Ristorante Caracciolo
in Naples, overheard a Roman nobleman at a nearby table speaking
disrespectfully of a lady Greco knew; the Sicilian fencing master turned to the
offender, insulted him, and immediately arranged for a duel. Joseph-Renaud,
in his treatise on epee, L'Escrime (Paris 1911), remarked that Greco
challenged virtually everyone in sight, and that he expected his own turn
would come soon - and it did. A misunderstanding following statements to the
press led to a challenge.
Epic Encounters PART II
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