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Benardo Buontalenti became a master Some knowledge of the social and
of them. He earned a handsome political context of the time is helpful
reputation (and fees) for his to understanding this absence of a
pyrotechnic displays. The costs were virile, dramatic stage. Italy was a mix
sometimes as extraordinary as the of petty states, either led by autocrats
performances. Usually staged by or for or presided over by Spain, France, the
stately persons rather than the public, Holy Roman Empire or the Papacy.
money was no object. The more Struggles between the states,
exorbitant the cost, the greater the favor sometimes involving mercenary armies
one might anticipate in return from an and open violence were not uncommon
honored nobleman. in the fourteenth and sixteenth
In time the Renaissance spectacle centuries.
found its most legitimate use in two Ercole D’Este and Francesco Sforza
new forms of entertainment - the did their best to promulgate the virtues
pastoral and the opera. Pastorals were of humanism. But most people only
poetic plays on a rustic subject. They witnessed the beauty of craftsmanship
featured shepherds, nymphs and fauns if they entered a church or palace and
rather than heroes and heroines. The came close to statues and paintings.
Torquato Tasso was a talented playright,
settings were often humble cottages and Cruelty and corruption went hand-in-
but neither he nor his contemporaries
clipped hedges. Pastorals were popular hand with culture.
could lift stage drama to greatness.
with the aristocracy, the ladies Perhaps the best explanation is that
sometimes playing the roles. Torquato no patriotic nation of citizens existed
Tasso’s Aminta (1573) is a fine How to explain this shortcoming who could embrace the permanent
example; a work translated into both amidst so much greatness? Three theatre. It was the rise of opera in the
French and English. possibilities: Perhaps theatre placed too second half of the seventeenth century
Opera, the marriage of music and much emphasis on the technical that made theatre accessible to the
drama is the pinnacle of stage capabilities and aesthetics of the stage, public rather than a pastime targeted to
performance. Some view opera as a by- rather than on subject matter. Another nobles, religious leaders and academics.
product of the pastoral and other argument is that the aspiration to Outside the great halls, salvation
spectacles of Italian Renaissance recreate classical drama was a false came to the makeshift stage in the
theatre. Others believe it to be the goal, that a new age needed a new Commedia dell’arte; a new breed of
accidental outcome of an attempt by voice. The insipid, rhetorical performers both adept and accessible. It
scholars and musicians in 1595 to interpretations of Seneca’s tragedies or gave Europe its first fully professional
perform Greek tragedy in poetic obscene imitations of Plautus and actors in organised companies.
dialogue, against a musical background. Terence were lamentable outcomes. References
Whatever its origin, Venice opened the Rejection of the mother tongue in A Concise History of the Theatre.
first public theatre for opera in 1637. the vain pursuit of Latin might have Phyllis Hartnoll
By 1700 there were twelve opera restricted the impact of the plays. Golden Ages of the Theater.
houses in the city and the triumph had However, those playrights who resisted K. Macgowan, W. Melnitz, G.
spread to Austria, Germany and France. the trend and wrote in Italian fared no Armstrong
Ballet also emanates from the better. Although Italian plays were The A to Z of Great Writers.
Italian Renaissance. Its origins more popular, they tended to be shallow Tom Payne
probably lie in the courtly forms of and vicious. Machiavelli’s bitter The Lives of the Great Composers.
Italian entertainment of the late 1400s, comedies and the incestuous aspects of Harold C. Schonberg
where professional dancers performed Tasso’s Torrismondo (1573) accentuate
between courses at a banquet, and this point. This is an occasional series on the
guests and performers mingled in a There were some successes. They development of theatre in the western
final dance. include Tasso’s Aminta, already tradition. Next: Commedia dell'arte.
Renaissance Plays mentioned, Ariosto’s comedies, based
Italy deserves its reputation as the on Latin originals, and the real-life
home of the Renaissance, but strangely, works of Aretino and La Calandria by
serious drama was the least important Cardinal Bibbiena (c.1506). Giordiano
part of it. Boccaccio, Petrarch and Bruno,who wrote Il Candelaio (1582),
Dante had provided an inspired was burnt at the stake as a heretic by
introduction by way of enlightened the Roman Inquisition in 1600. The
poetry and prose. Yet the playwrights play was banned and not performed in
did not come close to emulating the Italy until 1905. Bruno is sometimes
accomplishments of the architects, credited as an influence on
scene painters and stage designers, nor Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
of Monteverdi’s contributions to opera.

30 2009 CINEMARECORD