160-687: Comédie-Italienne ( French pronunciation: [kɔmedi italjɛn] ) or Théâtre-Italien ( [teatʁ italjɛ̃] ) are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed by the French court under the Italian-born queens Catherine de' Medici and Marie de' Medici . These troupes also gave public performances in Paris at
320-466: A centralised state governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France; by compelling many members of the nobility to reside at his lavish Palace of Versailles , he succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many of whom had participated in the Fronde rebellions during his minority. He thus became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated
480-517: A Reims , was premiered by the company on 19 June 1825 but was not a success. He also produced the first opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer to be performed in Paris, Il crociato in Egitto , on 25 September 1825. On 12 November 1825 the company moved from the Salle Louvois to the refurbished first Salle Favart, where Rossini staged Semiramide (18 December 1825) and Zelmira (14 March 1826). Under Rossini
640-553: A captain and a servetta (serving maid)". Commedia often performed inside in court theatres or halls, and also as some fixed theatres such as Teatro Baldrucca in Florence. Flaminio Scala, who had been a minor performer in the Gelosi, published the scenarios of the commedia dell'arte around the start of the 17th century, really in an effort to legitimize the form—and ensure its legacy. These scenarios are highly structured and built around
800-479: A chief minister: "Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust the government of my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern them myself. You [secretaries and ministers] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one". Capitalizing on
960-510: A commedia dell'arte company in which the performers find their life situations reflecting events they depict on stage. Commedia characters also figure in Richard Strauss 's opera Ariadne auf Naxos . The piano piece Carnaval by Robert Schumann was conceived as a type of masked ball that combined characters from commedia dell'arte with real world characters, such as Chopin , Paganini , and Clara Schumann , as well as characters from
1120-529: A common diplomatic front against France, leading to the Triple Alliance , between England, the Dutch and Sweden . The threat of an escalation and a secret treaty to divide Spanish possessions with Emperor Leopold , the other major claimant to the throne of Spain, led Louis to relinquish many of his gains in the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . Louis placed little reliance on his agreement with Leopold and as it
1280-508: A counterweight against his domestic Orangist opponents. Louis provided support in the 1665-1667 Second Anglo-Dutch War but used the opportunity to launch the War of Devolution in 1667. This captured Franche-Comté and much of the Spanish Netherlands ; French expansion in this area was a direct threat to Dutch economic interests. The Dutch opened talks with Charles II of England on
1440-551: A debate about the relative superiorities of French and Italian musical traditions. In 1787, after the particular success of one troupe of Italian singers, came the idea of establishing a resident theatrical company for opera buffa . This initiative became reality in January 1789 with the founding of the Théâtre de Monsieur company, which was soon put under the auspices of the Count of Provence ,
1600-457: A favoured few. Financial officials were required to keep regular accounts, revising inventories and removing unauthorized exemptions: up to 1661 only 10 per cent of income from the royal domain reached the king. Reform had to overcome vested interests: the taille was collected by officers of the Crown who had purchased their post at a high price, and punishment of abuses necessarily lowered the value of
1760-508: A fresh range of expression and choreographic means. An example of a commedia dell'arte character in literature is the Pied Piper of Hamelin who is dressed as Harlequin . Music and dance were central to commedia dell'arte performance, and most performances had both instrumental and vocal music in them. Brighella was often depicted with a guitar, and many images of the commedia feature singing innamorati or dancing figures. In fact, it
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#17330860804281920-472: A high-class courtesan. Female characters in the masters group, while younger than their male counterparts, are nevertheless older than the amorosi . Some of the better known commedia dell'arte characters are Pierrot and Pierrette, Pantalone , Gianduja , il Dottore , Brighella , il Capitano , Colombina , the innamorati , Pedrolino , Pulcinella , Arlecchino , Sandrone , Scaramuccia (also known as Scaramouche), la Signora , and Tartaglia . In
2080-505: A joke or "something foolish or witty", usually well known to the performers and to some extent a scripted routine. Another characteristic of commedia is pantomime , which is mostly used by the character Arlecchino , now better known as Harlequin. The characters of the commedia usually represent fixed social types and stock characters , such as foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of false bravado . The characters are exaggerated "real characters", such as
2240-427: A know-it-all doctor called il Dottore , a greedy old man called Pantalone , or a perfect relationship like the innamorati . Many troupes were formed to perform commedia , including I Gelosi (which had actors such as Isabella Andreini and her husband Francesco Andreini ), Confidenti Troupe, Desioi Troupe, and Fedeli Troupe. Commedia was often performed outside on platforms or in popular areas such as
2400-400: A number of innamorati were skilled madrigalists , a song form that uses chromatics and close harmonies . Audiences came to see the performers, with plotlines becoming secondary to the performance. Among the great innamorate , Isabella Andreini was perhaps the most widely known, and a medallion dedicated to her reads "eternal fame". Tristano Martinelli achieved international fame as
2560-505: A number of playwrights have featured characters influenced by the commedia dell'arte and sometimes directly drawn from it. Prominent examples include The Tempest by William Shakespeare , Les Fourberies de Scapin by Molière , The Servant of Two Masters (1743) by Carlo Goldoni , the Figaro plays of Pierre Beaumarchais , and especially The Love for Three Oranges , Turandot and other fiabe by Carlo Gozzi . Influences appear in
2720-658: A partisan platform, Napoleon outlawed the commedia dell'arte. It was not reborn in Venice until 1979 because of this. Compagnie, or companies, were troupes of actors, each of whom had a specific function or role. Actors were versed in a plethora of skills, with many having joined troupes without a theatre background. Some were doctors, others priests, others soldiers, enticed by the excitement and prevalence of theatre in Italian society. Actors were known to switch from troupe to troupe "on loan", and companies would often collaborate if unified by
2880-609: A piazza ( town square ). The form of theatre originated in Italy, but travelled throughout Europe—sometimes to as far away as Moscow. The genesis of commedia may be related to Carnival in Venice , where the author and actor Andrea Calmo had created the character Il Magnifico, the precursor to the vecchio (meaning 'old one' or simply 'old') Pantalone, by 1570. In the Flaminio Scala scenario, for example, Il Magnifico persists and
3040-688: A powerful but war-weary kingdom, in major debt after the War of the Spanish Succession that had raged on since 1701. Some of his other notable achievements include the construction of the Canal du Midi , the patronage of artists , and the founding of the French Academy of Sciences . Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye , to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria . He
3200-562: A puppet version of Pulcinella resembling Punch and Judy . The characters created and portrayed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (most famously Ali G , Borat , and Bruno ) have been discussed in relation to their potential origins in commedia , as Baron Cohen was trained by French master clown Philippe Gaulier , whose other students have gone on to become teachers and performers of commedia . Louis XIV of France Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also known as Louis
3360-467: A result, commedia was reduced to formulaic and stylized acting; as far as possible from the purity of the improvisational genesis a century earlier. In France, during the reign of Louis XIV , the Comédie-Italienne created a repertoire and delineated new masks and characters, while deleting some of the Italian precursors, such as Pantalone. French playwrights, particularly Molière , gleaned from
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#17330860804283520-412: A result, and Anne was forced, under intense pressure, to free Broussel. Moreover, on the night of 9–10 February 1651, when Louis was twelve, a mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and demanded to see their king. Led into the royal bed-chamber, they gazed upon Louis, who was feigning sleep, were appeased, and then quietly departed. The threat to the royal family prompted Anne to flee Paris with
3680-573: A secret marriage to Queen Anne. However, Louis's coming-of-age and subsequent coronation deprived them of the Frondeurs ' pretext for revolt. The Fronde thus gradually lost steam and ended in 1653, when Mazarin returned triumphantly from exile. From that time until his death, Mazarin was in charge of foreign and financial policy without the daily supervision of Anne, who was no longer regent. During this period, Louis fell in love with Mazarin's niece Marie Mancini , but Anne and Mazarin ended
3840-566: A single patron or performing in the same general location. Members would also splinter off to form their own troupes, such was the case with the Ganassa and the Gelosi. These compagnie travelled throughout Europe from the early period, beginning with the Soldati, then, the Ganassa, who travelled to Spain, and were famous for playing the guitar and singing—never to be heard from again—and the famous troupes of
4000-484: A strong position and on the Spanish marriage. Additionally, Mazarin's relations with Marie Mancini were not good, and he did not trust her to support his position. All of Louis's tears and his supplications to his mother did not make her change her mind. The Spanish marriage would be very important both for its role in ending the war between France and Spain, because many of the claims and objectives of Louis's foreign policy for
4160-744: A system of absolute monarchy in France that endured until the French Revolution . Louis also enforced uniformity of religion under the Catholic Church . His revocation of the Edict of Nantes abolished the rights of the Huguenot Protestant minority and subjected them to a wave of dragonnades , effectively forcing Huguenots to emigrate or convert, virtually destroying the French Protestant community. During Louis's long reign, France emerged as
4320-448: A threat and began to consider refusing the troupe their annual pension. In 1697, a single event caused the King to finalize his decision. The actors had just announced upcoming performances of the play La fausse prude , or The False Hypocrite , a play that directly ridiculed King Louis XIV of France 's wife, Madame de Maintenon . There is a debate among scholars as to whether or not the play
4480-473: A type of baton known as a slapstick . These characters included the forebears of the modern clown , namely Harlequin and the Zanni. Harlequin, in particular, was allowed to comment on current events in his entertainment. The classic, traditional plot is that the innamorati are in love and wish to be married, but one elder ( vecchio ) or several elders ( vecchi ) are preventing this from happening, leading
4640-464: A type of characteristic representative of some particular Italian district or town" (archetypes). The character's persona included the specific dialect of the region or town represented. Meaning that on stage, each character was performed in its own dialect. Characters would often be passed down from generation to generation, and characters married onstage were often married in real life as well, seen most famously with Francesco and Isabella Andreini. This
4800-432: Is a colorful representation of commedia -inspired characters. Picasso also designed the original costumes for Stravinsky 's Pulcinella (1920), a ballet depicting commedia characters and situations. Commedia iconography is evident in porcelain figurines many selling for thousands of dollars at auction. The expressive theatre influenced Molière 's comedy and subsequently ballet d'action , thus lending
4960-437: Is called Prima Donna and can be one of the lovers. There is also a female character known as The Courtisane who can also have a servant. Female servants wore bonnets. Their character was played with a malicious wit or gossipy gaiety. The amorosi are often children of a male character in the masters group, but not of any female character in the masters group, which may represent younger women who have e.g. married an old man, or
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5120-562: Is centred in Florence , Mantua , and Venice, where the major companies came under the protection of the various dukes . Concomitantly, a Neapolitan tradition emerged in the south and featured the prominent stage figure Pulcinella , which has been long associated with Naples and derived into various types elsewhere—most famously as the puppet character Punch (of the eponymous Punch and Judy shows) in England. Although commedia dell'arte flourished in
5280-491: Is interchangeable with Pantalone into the 17th century. While Calmo's characters (which also included the Spanish Capitano and a il Dottore type) were not masked, it is uncertain at what point the characters donned the mask. However, the connection to Carnival (the period between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday ) would suggest that masking was a convention of Carnival and was applied at some point. The tradition in northern Italy
5440-533: Is more probable that the comici used contemporary novella or traditional sources, and drew from current events and local news of the day. Not all scenarios were comic, there were some mixed forms and even tragedies. Shakespeare's The Tempest is drawn from a popular scenario in the Scala collection, his Polonius ( Hamlet ) is drawn from Pantalone, and his clowns bear homage to the Zanni. Comici performed written comedies at court. Song and dance were widely used, and
5600-639: The Battle of Lens , Mazarin, on Queen Anne's insistence, arrested certain members in a show of force. The most important arrest, from Anne's point of view, concerned Pierre Broussel , one of the most important leaders in the Parlement de Paris . People in France were complaining about the expansion of royal authority, the high rate of taxation, and the reduction of the authority of the Parlement de Paris and other regional representative entities. Paris erupted in rioting as
5760-480: The Duchess of Longueville ; dukes of legitimised royal descent, such as Henri, Duke of Longueville , and François, Duke of Beaufort ; so-called " foreign princes " such as Frédéric Maurice, Duke of Bouillon , his brother Marshal Turenne , and Marie de Rohan , Duchess of Chevreuse; and scions of France's oldest families, such as François de La Rochefoucauld . Queen Anne played the most important role in defeating
5920-608: The Duke of Beaufort and Marie de Rohan , who conspired against him in 1643. The best example of Anne's loyalty to France was her treatment of one of Richelieu's men, the Chancellor Pierre Séguier . Séguier had brusquely interrogated Anne in 1637 (like a "common criminal", as she recalled) following the discovery that she was giving military secrets to her father in Spain, and Anne was virtually under house arrest for years. By keeping
6080-597: The Electorate of Cologne . Rapid French advance led to a coup that toppled De Witt and brought William III to power. Leopold viewed French expansion into the Rhineland as an increasing threat, especially after they seized the strategic Duchy of Lorraine in 1670. The prospect of Dutch defeat led Leopold to an alliance with Brandenburg-Prussia on 23 June, followed by another with the Republic on 25th. Although Brandenburg
6240-524: The Gelosi performing Tasso 's Aminta , for example, and much was done at court rather than in the street. By the mid-16th century, specific troupes of commedia performers began to coalesce, and by 1568 the Gelosi became a distinct company. In keeping with the tradition of the Italian Academies, the Gelosi adopted as their impress (or coat of arms) the two-faced Roman god Janus . Janus symbolized both
6400-556: The Italian theatre during the Mannerist period, there has been a long-standing tradition of trying to establish historical antecedents in antiquity. While it is possible to detect formal similarities between the commedia dell'arte and earlier theatrical traditions, there is no way to establish certainty of origin. Some date the origins to the period of the Roman middle republic ( Plautine types ) or
6560-926: The Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years' War . Its terms ensured Dutch independence from Spain , awarded some autonomy to the various German princes of the Holy Roman Empire , and granted Sweden seats on the Imperial Diet and territories controlling the mouths of the Oder , Elbe , and Weser Rivers . France, however, profited most from the settlement. Austria, ruled by the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III , ceded all Habsburg lands and claims in Alsace to France and acknowledged her de facto sovereignty over
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6720-614: The Regent , was particularly desirous of restoring pleasure and amusement to the capital. He and his friends fondly remembered the Théâtre-Italien from twenty years previous. The main options for theatre in Paris at the time were the highly refined productions of the Comédie-Française or the "crude and tasteless" performances of the fair theatres . There was a need for theatrical comedy somewhere in between, with greater popular appeal than
6880-645: The Secretary of War , helped maintain large field armies that could be mobilised much more quickly, allowing them to mount offensives in early spring before their opponents were ready. The French were nevertheless forced to retreat from most of the Dutch Republic, which deeply shocked Louis; he retreated to St Germain for a time, where no one, except a few intimates, was allowed to disturb him. French military advantages allowed them however to hold their ground in Alsace and
7040-589: The Three Bishoprics of Metz , Verdun , and Toul . Moreover, many petty German states sought French protection, eager to emancipate themselves from Habsburg domination. This anticipated the formation of the 1658 League of the Rhine , which further diminished Imperial power. As the Thirty Years' War came to an end, a civil war known as the Fronde erupted in France. It effectively checked France's ability to exploit
7200-454: The theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne , probably the earliest public theatre to be built in France. The first official use of the name Comédie-Italienne was in 1680, when it was given to the commedia dell'arte troupe at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, to distinguish it from the French troupe, the Comédie-Française , which was founded that year, and just as the name Théâtre-Français was commonly applied to
7360-523: The troupe of Molière . It was during this period that Tiberio Fiorillo , who was to have a strong influence on Molière , was the head of the Italian company. Both troupes, evicted from the Palais-Royal by Lully's Académie royale de Musique in 1673, moved to the Théâtre Guénégaud , where they continued to perform in alternation until the establishment of the Comédie-Française in 1680, at which time
7520-475: The 17th century, as commedia became popular in France, the characters of Pierrot, Columbine and Harlequin were refined and became essentially Parisian, according to Green. Each character in commedia dell'arte has a distinct costume that helps the audience understand who the character is. Harlequin originally wore a tight fitting long jacket with matching trousers that both had numerous odd shaped patches, usually green, yellow, red, and brown. Usually, there
7680-568: The Comédie-Française, but higher production values than those of the theatres at the fairs. In the spring of 1716 Philippe asked his cousin, the Duke of Parma , to send him a troupe of Italian actors to revive the Comédie-Italienne in Paris, which had been disbanded nearly twenty years previous. To avoid some of the difficulties of the earlier troupe, he specified that its leader should be a man of good character and manners. Luigi Riccoboni
7840-691: The French Parliament. The term vagabondi was used in reference to the comici , and remains a derogatory term to this day ( vagabond ). This was in reference to the nomadic nature of the troupes, often instigated by persecution from the Church, civil authorities, and rival theatre organisations that forced the companies to move from place to place. A troupe often consisted of ten performers of familiar masked and unmasked types, and included women. The companies would employ carpenters, props masters, servants, nurses, and prompters, all of whom would travel with
8000-443: The French crown and nobility: the king might raise taxes on the nation without consent if only he exempted the nobility. Only the "unprivileged" classes paid direct taxes, which came to mean the peasants only, as most bourgeois finagled exemptions in one way or another. The system laid the whole burden of state expenses on the backs of the poor and powerless. After 1700, with the support of Louis's pious secret wife Madame de Maintenon ,
8160-525: The French, who mostly did not understand Italian. Italian opera was abandoned in favour of French opera , not long after Louis XIV assumed power, as witnessed by the creation of the Académie d'Opéra in 1669. Despite this, over the course of the 18th century, Italian musical performers came to Paris. In particular, in 1752, performances of the opera buffa La serva padrona led to the Querelle des Bouffons ,
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#17330860804288320-485: The Fronde because she wanted to transfer absolute authority to her son. In addition, most of the princes refused to deal with Mazarin, who went into exile for a number of years. The Frondeurs claimed to act on Louis's behalf, and in his real interest, against his mother and Mazarin. Queen Anne had a very close relationship with the Cardinal, and many observers believed that Mazarin became Louis XIV's stepfather by
8480-465: The Golden Age (1580–1605): Gelosi, Confidenti, Accessi. These names which signified daring and enterprise were appropriated from the names of the academies—in a sense, to lend legitimacy. However, each troupe had its impresse (like a coat of arms) which symbolized its nature. The Gelosi, for example, used the two-headed face of the Roman god Janus , to signify its comings and goings and relationship to
8640-869: The Great ( Louis le Grand ) or the Sun King ( le Roi Soleil ), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign . An emblematic character of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV's legacy is widely characterized by French colonial expansion , the conclusion of Eighty Years' War involving the Habsburgs , and his architectural bequest , marked by commissioned works of art and buildings. His pageantry, opulent lifestyle and ornate cultivated image earned him enduring admiration. Louis XIV raised France to be
8800-414: The Italian stage. The Italian scholar Ferdinando Taviani has collated a number of church documents opposing the advent of the actress as a type of courtesan, whose scanty attire and promiscuous lifestyle corrupted young men, or at least infused them with carnal desires. Taviani's term negativa poetica describes this and other practices offensive to the church, while giving us an idea of the phenomenon of
8960-800: The Italians, now officially the Comédie-Italienne, returned to the Hôtel de Bourgogne, where they performed until the company was disbanded in 1697. The historical Comédie-Italienne presented to the French-speaking public spectacles performed by professional Italian actors. At first, these actors performed commedia dell'arte in their native Italian. Commedia dell'arte is an improvisational type of theatre; there were no scripts. They had multiple scenarios that they would pick from to perform, but inside that scenario they really did not have anything else planned out. They did however have specific character types, called "stock characters", that became famous and loved by
9120-463: The King's authority, in a manner that was much more radical than the one proposed by Mazarin. The Cardinal depended totally on Anne's support and had to use all his influence on the Queen to temper some of her radical actions. Anne imprisoned any aristocrat or member of parliament who challenged her will; her main aim was to transfer to her son an absolute authority in the matters of finance and justice. One of
9280-511: The King's plans. The actors therefore stayed a little longer at the Théâtre de l'Impératrice. Upon the restoration of King Louis XVIII to power, Madame Catalani joined the troupe. However, she soon went on a tour across Europe, leaving control of the theatre to Paër, who presented the first Rossini opera to be performed in Paris, L'Italiana in Algeri on 1 February 1817 in the first Salle Favart, although
9440-510: The Peace of Westphalia. Anne and Mazarin had largely pursued the policies of Cardinal Richelieu, augmenting the Crown's power at the expense of the nobility and the Parlements . Anne was more concerned with internal policy than foreign affairs; she was a very proud queen who insisted on the divine rights of the King of France. All this led her to advocate a forceful policy in all matters relating to
9600-479: The Reunions . Warfare defined Louis's foreign policy, impelled by his personal ambition for glory and power: "a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique". His wars strained France's resources to the utmost, while in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats that their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military. Upon his death in 1715, Louis XIV left his great-grandson and successor, Louis XV ,
9760-448: The Spanish Netherlands while retaking Franche-Comté. By 1678, mutual exhaustion led to the Treaty of Nijmegen , which was generally settled in France's favour and allowed Louis to intervene in the Scanian War . Despite the military defeat, his ally Sweden regained much of what it had lost under the 1679 treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , Fontainebleau and Lund imposed on Denmark–Norway and Brandenburg. Yet Louis's two primary goals,
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#17330860804289920-465: The Théâtre-Italien first presented opera buffa by Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Paisiello , later adding those by Ferdinando Paër and Simone Mayr . The theatre commissioned Valentino Fioravanti ’s I virtuosi ambulanti , first presented on 26 September 1807. Several of Mozart's operas were first presented in Italian in Paris by the company, including Figaro (23 December 1807), Così (28 January 1809), and Don Giovanni (2 September 1811),
10080-449: The aristocracy, this rebellion represented a protest for the reversal of their political demotion from vassals to courtiers . It was headed by the highest-ranking French nobles, among them Louis's uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans and first cousin Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier , known as la Grande Mademoiselle ; Princes of the Blood such as Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti , and their sister
10240-491: The autonomy of each establishment. Paër again served as director from 1819 to 1824 and 1826 to 1827. From 1819 to 1825 the company performed at the Salle Louvois, which only accommodated 1100 spectators. Several Paris premieres of Rossini operas were given there: Il barbiere di Siviglia (26 October 1819), Torvaldo e Dorliska (21 November 1820), Otello (5 June 1821), and Tancredi (23 April 1822). His operas were so popular, that some of his Paris premieres were given at
10400-438: The boundaries of his kingdom. Contemporary treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Louis established the Chambers of Reunion to determine the full extent of his rights and obligations under those treaties. Cities and territories, such as Luxembourg and Casale , were prized for their strategic positions on the frontier and access to important waterways. Louis also sought Strasbourg , an important strategic crossing on
10560-479: The capital and the larger strategic picture, with the old military aristocracy ( noblesse d'épée , nobility of the sword) monopolizing senior military positions and the higher ranks. Louvois modernized the army and reorganised it into a professional, disciplined, well-trained force. He was devoted to the soldiers' material well-being and morale, and even tried to direct campaigns. Louis's legal reforms were enacted in his numerous Great Ordinances . Prior to that, France
10720-400: The character. In other words, the characteristics of the character and the characteristics of the mask are the same. In time however, the word maschere came to refer to all of the characters of the commedia dell'arte whether masked or not. Female characters (including female servants) are most often not masked (female amorose are never masked). The female character in the masters group
10880-415: The comings and goings of this travelling troupe and the dual nature of the actor who impersonates the "other". The Gelosi performed in northern Italy and France, where they received protection and patronage from the King of France. Despite fluctuations, the Gelosi maintained stability for performances with the "usual ten": "two vecchi , four innamorati (two male and two female lovers), two Zanni ,
11040-493: The commedia dell'arte performance. By the early 17th century, the Zanni comedies were moving from pure improvisational street performances to specified and clearly delineated acts and characters. Three books written during the 17th century— Cecchini's [ it ] Fruti della moderne commedia (1628), Niccolò Barbieri 's La supplica (1634) and Perrucci's Dell'arte rapresentativa (1699)—"made firm recommendations concerning performing practice". Katritzky argues that, as
11200-419: The company merged with the Opéra-Comique of the Théâtre de la Foire . The combined company opened at the Bourgogne on 3 February 1762 and continued to perform in the theatre until 4 April 1783, after which they moved to the new Salle Favart. By this time all the Italian players had either retired or returned to Italy, and the traditional Comédie-Italienne had in effect ceased to exist. The name Comédie-Italienne
11360-411: The company was merged with the Théâtre Feydeau . From 1801 to 1878, Théâtre-Italien was used for a succession of Parisian opera companies performing Italian opera in Italian. In 1980 the name La Comédie-Italienne was used for a theatre in the Montparnasse district of Paris, which presents Italian commedia dell'arte plays in French translation. In the 17th century, the historical Comédie-Italienne
11520-472: The company. They would travel in large carts laden with supplies necessary for their nomadic style of performance, enabling them to move from place to place without having to worry about the difficulties of relocation. This nomadic nature, although influenced by persecution, was also largely due in part to the troupes requiring new (and paying) audiences. They would take advantage of public fairs and celebrations, most often in wealthier towns where financial success
11680-730: The composer's inner world. Movements of the piece reflect the names of many characters of the commedia , including Pierrot , Harlequin, Pantalone , and Columbine. Stock characters and situations also appear in ballet. Igor Stravinsky 's Petrushka and Pulcinella allude directly to the tradition. Commedia dell'arte is performed seasonally in Denmark on the Peacock Stage of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, and north of Copenhagen at Dyrehavsbakken . Tivoli has regular performances, while Bakken has daily performances for children by Pierrot and
11840-414: The creation of a coalition headed mainly by Marie de Rohan and the duchess of Longueville. This aristocratic coalition was strong enough to liberate the princes, exile Mazarin, and impose a condition of virtual house arrest on Queen Anne. All these events were witnessed by Louis and largely explained his later distrust of Paris and the higher aristocracy. "In one sense, Louis's childhood came to an end with
12000-436: The crown and lost the appellation "Royal". Paër was replaced as director by Émile Laurent on 2 October. Rossini continued to help the Théâtre-Italien to recruit singers, including Maria Malibran , Henriette Sontag , Benedetta Rosmunda Pisaroni , Filippo Galli , Luigi Lablache , Antonio Tamburini , Giovanni Battista Rubini and Giulia Grisi , and to commission operas, including Bellini's I puritani (25 January 1835 at
12160-627: The destruction of the Dutch Republic and the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands, had failed. Louis was at the height of his power, but at the cost of uniting his opponents; this increased as he continued his expansion. In 1679, he dismissed his foreign minister Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne , because he was seen as having compromised too much with the allies. Louis maintained the strength of his army, but in his next series of territorial claims avoided using military force alone. Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment
12320-543: The diamond shaped lozenges took shape. The jacket became shorter and his hat changed from a soft cap to a double pointed hat. Il Dottore's costume was a play on the academic dress of the Bolognese scholars. Il Dottore is almost always clothed entirely in black. He wore a long black gown or jacket that went below the knees. Over the gown, he would have a long black robe that went down to his heels, and he would have on black shoes, stockings, and breeches. In 1653, his costume
12480-417: The direction of religious policy strongly in hand until her son's majority in 1661. She appointed Cardinal Mazarin as chief minister, giving him the daily administration of policy. She continued the policies of her late husband and Cardinal Richelieu , despite their persecution of her, in order to win absolute authority in France and victory abroad for her son. Anne protected Mazarin by exiling her followers
12640-423: The dispatch of the Italian comedians from France in 1697, the form transmogrified in the 18th century as genres such as comédie larmoyante gained in attraction in France, particularly through the plays of Marivaux . Marivaux softened the commedia considerably by bringing in true emotion to the stage. Harlequin achieved more prominence during this period. It is possible that this type of improvised acting
12800-421: The early republic ( Atellan Farces ). The Atellan Farces of the early Roman republic featured crude "types" wearing masks with grossly exaggerated features and an improvised plot. Some historians argue that Atellan stock characters, Pappus, Maccus+Buccus, and Manducus, are the primitive versions of the commedia characters Pantalone , Pulcinella , and il Capitano . More recent accounts establish links to
12960-522: The effective Séguier in his post, Anne sacrificed her own feelings for the interests of France and her son Louis. The Queen sought a lasting peace between Catholic nations, but only after a French victory over her native Spain. She also gave a partial Catholic orientation to French foreign policy. This was felt by the Netherlands, France's Protestant ally, which negotiated a separate peace with Spain in 1648. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin successfully negotiated
13120-428: The exemplar nation-state of the early modern period , and established a cultural prestige which lasted through the subsequent centuries until today. Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister Cardinal Mazarin , when the King famously declared that he would take over the job himself. An adherent of the divine right of kings , Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating
13280-464: The first Salle Favart), Donizetti's Marino Faliero (12 March 1835 at the first Salle Favart), and Saverio Mercadante 's I briganti (22 March 1836). The Théâtre-Italien settled permanently in the Salle Ventadour in 1841. It saw the premiere of Rossini's Stabat Mater there in 1842. The Théâtre-Italien also produced popular works by Gaetano Donizetti and Giuseppe Verdi , but the theatre
13440-444: The first knots which tied me to my mother. But attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood." It was his mother who gave Louis his belief in the absolute and divine power of his monarchical rule. During his childhood, he was taken care of by the governesses Françoise de Lansac and Marie-Catherine de Senecey . In 1646, Nicolas V de Villeroy became
13600-686: The first of the great Harlequins, and was honoured by the Medici and the Queen of France. Performers made use of well-rehearsed jokes and stock physical gags, known as lazzi and concetti , as well as on-the-spot improvised and interpolated episodes and routines, called burle ( sg. : burla , Italian for 'joke'), usually involving a practical joke. Since the productions were improvised, dialogue and action could easily be changed to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, while still using old jokes and punchlines. Characters were identified by costumes, masks, and props , such as
13760-439: The first primadonnas and the first well-documented actresses in Italy (and Europe). In the 1570s, English theatre critics generally denigrated the troupes with their female actors (some decades later, Ben Jonson referred to one female performer of the commedia as a "tumbling whore"). By the end of the 1570s, Italian prelates attempted to ban female performers; however, by the end of the 16th century, actresses were standard on
13920-522: The form to its liking. For example, pantomime , which flourished in the 18th century, owes its genesis to the character types of the commedia , particularly Harlequin . The Punch and Judy puppet shows, popular to this day in England, owe their basis to the Pulcinella mask that emerged in Neapolitan versions of the form. In Italy, commedia masks and plots found their way into the opera buffa , and
14080-480: The grandson of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa. The War of Devolution did not focus on the payment of the dowry; rather, the lack of payment was what Louis XIV used as a pretext for nullifying Maria Theresa's renunciation of her claims, allowing the land to "devolve" to him. In Brabant (the location of the land in dispute), children of first marriages traditionally were not disadvantaged by their parents' remarriages and still inherited property. Louis's wife
14240-446: The king and his courtiers. Shortly thereafter, the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia allowed Condé's army to return to aid Louis and his court. Condé's family was close to Anne at that time, and he agreed to help her attempt to restore the king's authority. The queen's army, headed by Condé, attacked the rebels in Paris; the rebels were under the political control of Anne's old friend Marie de Rohan . Beaufort, who had escaped from
14400-520: The king at the opulent château of Vaux-le-Vicomte , flaunting a wealth which could hardly have accumulated except through embezzlement of government funds. Fouquet appeared eager to succeed Mazarin and Richelieu in power, and he indiscreetly purchased and privately fortified the remote island of Belle Île . These acts sealed his doom. Fouquet was charged with embezzlement; the Parlement found him guilty and sentenced him to exile; and finally Louis altered
14560-421: The king was persuaded to change his fiscal policy. Though willing enough to tax the nobles, Louis feared the political concessions which they would demand in return. Only towards the close of his reign under the extreme exigency of war, was he able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy. This was a step toward equality before the law and toward sound public finance, though it
14720-539: The king's brother, known at court as Monsieur. They first performed at the Tuileries Palace theatre, before moving to the Théâtre Feydeau . However, in 1792, the Italian troupe departed due to the upheaval of the French Revolution , but the theatre continued presenting French plays and opéra-comique. A new Théâtre-Italien, performing Italian opera in Italian, was formed by Mademoiselle Montansier in 1801, when it
14880-496: The king's infatuation by sending Mancini away from court to be married in Italy. While Mazarin might have been tempted for a short time to marry his niece to the King of France, Queen Anne was absolutely against this; she wanted to marry her son to the daughter of her brother, Philip IV of Spain , for both dynastic and political reasons. Mazarin soon supported the Queen's position because he knew that her support for his power and his foreign policy depended on making peace with Spain from
15040-501: The larger Salle Le Peletier , including La gazza ladra (18 September 1821), Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (10 March 1822), Mosè in Egitto (20 October 1822), and La donna del lago (7 September 1824, produced under Rossini's supervision). Rossini himself had come to Paris by 1 August 1824 and became director of the Théâtre-Italien on 1 December 1824. He revived eight of his earlier works, including Il barbiere di Siviglia and Tancredi . His last Italian opera, Il viaggio
15200-466: The last under Gaspare Spontini , who served as director from 1810 to 1812. Spontini also added opera serie by Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli and others. At the time of the Bourbon Restoration , King Louis XVIII wanted to entrust the theatre to the soprano Angelica Catalani . Almost everything was set for the transfer, when the return of Napoleon and his reign of a Hundred Days disrupted
15360-507: The latter, Théâtre-Italien was used for the Italians. Over time French phrases, songs, whole scenes, and eventually entire plays were incorporated into the Comédie-Italienne's performances. By 1762 the company was merged with the Opéra-Comique , but the names Comédie-Italienne and Théâtre-Italien continued to be used, even though the repertory soon became almost exclusively French opéra comique . The names were dropped completely in 1801, when
15520-478: The leaders of the Parlement of Paris, whom she had jailed, died in prison. The Frondeurs , political heirs of the disaffected feudal aristocracy, sought to protect their traditional feudal privileges from the increasingly centralized royal government. Furthermore, they believed their traditional influence and authority was being usurped by the recently ennobled bureaucrats (the Noblesse de Robe , or "nobility of
15680-515: The leading European power and regularly made war. A conflict with Spain marked his entire childhood, while during his personal rule, Louis fought three major continental conflicts, each against powerful foreign alliances: the Franco-Dutch War , the Nine Years' War , and the War of the Spanish Succession . In addition, France contested shorter wars such as the War of Devolution and the War of
15840-465: The left bank of the Rhine and theretofore a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire , annexing it and other territories in 1681. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg-ruled Alsace and was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia. Following these annexations, Spain declared war, precipitating the War of the Reunions . However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because
16000-895: The lodgers in Steven Berkoff 's adaptation of Franz Kafka 's The Metamorphosis . Through their association with spoken theatre and playwrights commedia figures have provided opera with many of its stock characters. Mozart 's Don Giovanni sets a puppet show story and comic servants such as Leporello and Figaro have commedia precedents. Soubrette characters such as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro , Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Despina in Così fan tutte recall Columbine and related characters. The comic operas of Gaetano Donizetti , such as L'elisir d'amore , draw readily upon commedia stock types. Leoncavallo 's tragic melodrama Pagliacci depicts
16160-409: The lovers to ask one or more Zanni (eccentric servants) for help. Typically the story ends happily, with the marriage of the innamorati and forgiveness for any wrongdoings. While generally personally unscripted, the performances often were based on scenarios that gave some semblance of a plot to the largely improvised format. The Flaminio Scala scenarios, published in the early 17th century, are
16320-633: The masked types), and excessive borrowing as opposed to originality was typical of all the arts in the late Italian Renaissance . Theatre historian Martin Green points to the extravagance of emotion during the period of commedia 's emergence as the reason for representational moods, or characters, that define the art. In commedia , each character embodies a mood: mockery, sadness, gaiety, confusion, and so forth. According to 18th-century London theatre critic Baretti , commedia dell'arte incorporates specific roles and characters that were "originally intended as
16480-552: The medieval jongleurs, and prototypes from medieval moralities, such as Hellequin (as the source of Harlequin, for example). The first recorded commedia dell'arte performances came from Rome as early as 1551. Commedia dell'arte was performed outdoors in temporary venues by professional actors who were costumed and masked, as opposed to commedia erudita ( lit. ' learned comedy ' ), which were written comedies, presented indoors by untrained and unmasked actors. This view may be somewhat romanticized since records describe
16640-508: The most influential painters, Lodewyk Toeput, for example, became Ludovico Pozzoserrato and was a celebrated painter in the Veneto region of Italy. The pittore vago can be attributed with establishing commedia dell'arte as a genre of painting that would persist for centuries. While the iconography gives evidence of the performance style (see Fossard collection), many of the images and engravings were not depictions from real life, but concocted in
16800-408: The most widely known collection and representative of its most esteemed compagnia , I Gelosi . The iconography of the commedia dell'arte represents an entire field of study that has been examined by commedia scholars such as Erenstein, Castagno, Katritzky, Molinari, and others. In the early period, representative works by painters at Fontainebleau were notable for their erotic depictions of
16960-433: The net outflow of precious metals from France. Louis instituted reforms in military administration through Michel le Tellier and his son François-Michel le Tellier , successive Marquis de Louvois. They helped to curb the independent spirit of the nobility, imposing order on them at court and in the army. Gone were the days when generals protracted war at the frontiers while bickering over precedence and ignoring orders from
17120-452: The new company was also forced to begin performing more and more plays in French. Between 1720 and 1740 the company presented around 20 plays of Marivaux with great success. The actress Silvia Balletti was particularly famous for her portrayals of Marivaux's heroines. As the competition from the fair theatres increased, the company began presenting similar fare, including French comédies-en-vaudevilles and opéras-comiques . In 1762,
17280-511: The next 50 years would be based upon this marriage, and because it was through this marriage that the Spanish throne would ultimately be delivered to the House of Bourbon. Louis XIV was declared to have reached the age of majority on the 7th of September 1651. On the death of Mazarin, in March 1661, Louis personally took the reins of government and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without
17440-461: The outbreak of the Fronde. It was not only that life became insecure and unpleasant – a fate meted out to many children in all ages – but that Louis had to be taken into the confidence of his mother and Mazarin on political and military matters of which he could have no deep understanding". "The family home became at times a near-prison when Paris had to be abandoned, not in carefree outings to other chateaux but in humiliating flights". The royal family
17600-455: The period the Capitano is from. Pantalone has one of the most iconic costumes of commedia dell'arte. Typically, he would wear a tight-fitting jacket with a matching pair of trousers. He usually pairs these two with a big black coat called a zimarra . Women, who usually played servants or lovers, wore less stylized costumes than the men in commedia . The innamorati would wear what
17760-410: The plots and masks in creating an indigenous treatment. Indeed, Molière shared the stage with the Comédie-Italienne at Petit-Bourbon , and some of his forms, e.g. the tirade , are derivative from the commedia ( tirata ). Commedia dell'arte moved outside the city limits to the théâtre de la foire , or fair theatres, in the early 17th century as it evolved toward a more pantomimed style. With
17920-511: The plots of Rossini , Verdi , and Puccini . During the Napoleonic occupation of Italy, instigators of reform and critics of French Imperial rule (such as Giacomo Casanova ) used the Carnival masks to hide their identities while fueling political agendas, challenging social rule and hurling blatant insults and criticisms at the regime. In 1797, in order to destroy the impromptu style of Carnival as
18080-404: The practice by prohibiting the separation of families. Additionally, in the colonies, only Roman Catholics could own slaves, and these had to be baptised. Louis ruled through a number of councils: The death of Louis's maternal uncle King Philip IV of Spain in 1665 precipitated the War of Devolution . In 1660, Louis had married Philip IV's eldest daughter, Maria Theresa , as one of
18240-437: The prison where Anne had incarcerated him five years before, was the military leader in Paris, under the nominal control of Conti. After a few battles, a political compromise was reached; the Peace of Rueil was signed, and the court returned to Paris. Unfortunately for Anne, her partial victory depended on Condé, who wanted to control the queen and destroy Mazarin's influence. It was Condé's sister who pushed him to turn against
18400-596: The production was so inferior, he was accused of "attempting to sabotage Rossini's reception in Paris". In 1818, Madame Catalani's privilège , or royal permission to perform, was revoked, and the theatre shut down. It was then decided to hand over administration of the theatre, now known as the Théâtre Royal Italien, to the Academie Royale de Musique (as the Paris Opéra was known at that time), while maintaining
18560-466: The profession ' ) was an early form of professional theatre , originating from Italian theatre , that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as commedia alla maschera , commedia improvviso , and commedia dell'arte all'improvviso . Characterized by masked "types", commedia was responsible for
18720-613: The provisions of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees . The marriage treaty specified that Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to Spanish territory for herself and all her descendants. Mazarin and Lionne , however, made the renunciation conditional on the full payment of a Spanish dowry of 500,000 écus . The dowry was never paid and would later play a part persuading his maternal first cousin Charles ;II of Spain to leave his empire to Philip, Duke of Anjou (later Philip V of Spain ),
18880-485: The purchase. Nevertheless, Colbert achieved excellent results, with the deficit of 1661 turning into a surplus by 1666, with interest on the debt decreasing from 52 million to 24 million livres. The taille was reduced to 42 million in 1661 and 35 million in 1665, while revenue from indirect taxation progressed from 26 million to 55 million. The revenues of the royal domain were raised from 80,000 livres in 1661 to 5.5 million in 1671. In 1661,
19040-411: The queen. After striking a deal with her old friend Marie de Rohan, who was able to impose the nomination of Charles de l'Aubespine, marquis de Châteauneuf as minister of justice, Anne arrested Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti , and the husband of their sister Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, duchess of Longueville . This situation did not last long, and Mazarin's unpopularity led to
19200-402: The receipts were equivalent to 26 million British pounds, of which 10 million reached the treasury. The expenditure was around 18 million pounds, leaving a deficit of 8 million. In 1667, the net receipts had risen to 20 million pounds sterling , while expenditure had fallen to 11 million, leaving a surplus of 9 million pounds. Money was the essential support of
19360-489: The reorganized and enlarged army, the panoply of Versailles, and the growing civil administration. Finance had always been the weakness of the French monarchy: tax collection was costly and inefficient; direct taxes dwindled as they passed through the hands of many intermediate officials; and indirect taxes were collected by private contractors called tax farmers who made a handsome profit. The state coffers leaked at every joint. The main weakness arose from an old bargain between
19520-413: The rise of actresses such as Isabella Andreini and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. A commedia , such as The Tooth Puller , contains both scripted and improvised portions; key plot points and characters' entrances and exits are scripted, but the actors may otherwise be expected to improvise new gags on stage. A special characteristic of commedia is the lazzo ,
19680-417: The robe"), who administered the kingdom and on whom the monarchy increasingly began to rely. This belief intensified the nobles' resentment. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin attempted to tax members of the Parlement de Paris . The members refused to comply and ordered all of the king's earlier financial edicts burned. Buoyed by the victory of Louis, duc d'Enghien (later known as le Grand Condé ) at
19840-544: The season of Carnival , which took place in January. Janus also signified the duality of the actor, who is playing a character or mask, while still remaining oneself. Magistrates and clergy were not always receptive to the travelling compagnie, particularly during periods of plague, and because of their itinerant nature. Actors, both male and female, were known to strip nearly naked, and storylines typically descended into crude situations with overt sexuality, considered to teach nothing but "lewdness and adultery...of both sexes" by
20000-402: The sentence to life imprisonment. Fouquet's downfall gave Colbert a free hand to reduce the national debt through more efficient taxation. The principal taxes included the aides and douanes (both customs duties ), the gabelle (salt tax), and the taille (land tax). The taille was reduced at first, and certain tax-collection contracts were auctioned instead of being sold privately to
20160-511: The sole regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his son's behalf, with Anne at its head. Louis XIII died on 14 May 1643. On 18 May Queen Anne had her husband's will annulled by the Parlement de Paris , a judicial body of nobles and high clergymen, and she became sole regent. She exiled her husband's ministers Chavigny and Bouthilier and appointed the Count of Brienne as her minister of foreign affairs. Anne kept
20320-623: The state's registers, not the church's, and it strictly regulated the right of the Parlements to remonstrate. The Code Louis later became the basis for the Napoleonic code , which in turn inspired many modern legal codes. One of Louis's more infamous decrees was the Grande Ordonnance sur les Colonies of 1685, the Code Noir (black code). Although it sanctioned slavery, it attempted to humanise
20480-581: The studio. The Callot etchings of the Balli di Sfessania (1611) are most widely considered capricci rather than actual depictions of a commedia dance form, or typical masks. While these are often reproduced in large formats, the actual prints measured about 2×3 inches. In the 18th century, Watteau 's painting of commedia figures intermingling with the aristocracy were often set in sumptuous garden or pastoral settings and were representative of that genre. Pablo Picasso 's 1921 painting Three Musicians
20640-475: The symmetry of the various types in duet: two Zanni, vecchi , innamorate and innamorati , etc. In commedia dell'arte, female roles were played by women, documented as early as the 1560s, making them the first known professional actresses in Europe since antiquity. Lucrezia Di Siena , whose name is on a contract of actors from 10 October 1564, has been referred to as the first Italian actress known by name, with Vincenza Armani and Barbara Flaminia as
20800-477: The theatre goers. After moving to the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1680 the troupe began presenting scripted plays by dramatists such as Regnard , Dufresny , and Palaprat . Around the same time the troupe became widely popular, King Louis XIV gave the newly formed national theatre of France, the Comedie Francaise, a monopoly on spoken French drama. The royalty saw the troupe's cooperation with French playwrights as
20960-477: The thinly veiled innamorata , or the bare-breasted courtesan/actress. The Flemish influence is widely documented as commedia figures entered the world of the vanitas genre, depicting the dangers of lust, drinking, and the hedonistic lifestyle. Castagno describes the Flemish pittore vago ('wandering painter') who assimilated themselves within Italian workshops and even assumed Italian surnames: one of
21120-447: The time. Contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is highly likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis's journal entries, such as: "Nature was responsible for
21280-411: The treasury verged on bankruptcy. To rectify the situation, Louis chose Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Controller-General of Finances in 1665. However, Louis first had to neutralize Nicolas Fouquet , the powerful Superintendent of Finances . Although Fouquet's financial indiscretions were not very different from Mazarin's before him or Colbert's after him, his ambition worried Louis. He lavishly entertained
21440-437: The troupe ever return. Prices were dependent on the troupe's decision, which could vary depending on the wealth of the location, the length of stay, and the regulations governments had in place for dramatic performances. Generally, the actors playing were diverse in background in terms of class and religion, and performed anywhere they could. Castagno posits that the aesthetic of exaggeration, distortion, anti-humanism (as in
21600-534: The troupe's singers included Giuditta Pasta , Laure Cinti-Damoreau , Ester Mombelli , Nicolas Levasseur , Carlo Zucchelli , Domenico Donzelli , Felice Pellegrini , and Vincenzo Graziani . Paer resumed the directorship in November 1826, and Rossini's attention turned to creating French operas at the Opéra. The Théâtre-Italien's association with the Opéra only lasted until October 1827, when it regained its independence from
21760-453: The widespread public yearning for peace and order after decades of foreign and civil strife, the young king consolidated central political authority and at the expense of the feudal aristocracy. Praising his ability to choose and encourage men of talent, the historian Chateaubriand noted: "it is the voice of genius of all kinds which sounds from the tomb of Louis". Louis began his personal reign with administrative and fiscal reforms. In 1661,
21920-496: The young king's tutor. Louis XIV became friends with Villeroy's young children, particularly François de Villeroy , and divided his time between the Palais-Royal and the nearby Hotel de Villeroy. Sensing imminent death in the spring of 1643, King Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order for his four-year-old son Louis XIV. Not trusting the judgement of his Spanish wife Queen Anne, who would normally have become
22080-606: Was Philip IV's daughter by his first marriage, while the new king of Spain, Charles II, was his son by a subsequent marriage. Thus, Brabant allegedly "devolved" to Maria Theresa, justifying France to attack the Spanish Netherlands . During the Eighty Years' War with Spain , France supported the Dutch Republic as part of a general policy of opposing Habsburg power. Johan de Witt , Dutch Grand Pensionary from 1653 to 1672, viewed this as crucial for Dutch security and
22240-401: Was a bat and a wallet that would hang from his belt. His hat, which was a soft cap, was modeled after Charles IX or after Henri II, and almost always had a tail of a rabbit, hare or a fox with the occasional tuft of feathers. During the 17th century, the patches turned into blue, red, and green triangles arranged in a symmetrical pattern. The 18th century is when the iconic Harlequin look with
22400-501: Was a patchwork of legal systems, with as many traditional legal regimes as there were provinces, and two co-existing legal systems— customary law in the north and Roman civil law in the south. The Grande Ordonnance de Procédure Civile of 1667, the Code Louis , was a comprehensive legal code imposing a uniform regulation of civil procedure throughout the kingdom. Among other things, it prescribed baptismal, marriage and death records in
22560-420: Was actually performed or if the play was simply advertised and the King learned of its existence. Regardless, upon his knowledge of the play's existence, the king had the actors sent away and the theatre shut down. After the period of mourning following the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the oppressive atmosphere of religious devotion characteristic of the latter part of his reign began to lift. Philippe d'Orléans ,
22720-457: Was believed to make performances more natural, as well as strengthening the bonds within the troupe, who emphasized complete unity between every member. Additionally, each character has a singular costume and mask that is representative of the character's role. Commedia dell'arte has four stock character groups: Masked characters are often referred to as "masks" (Italian: maschere ), which, according to John Rudlin, cannot be separated from
22880-453: Was changed by Augustin Lolli who was a very popular il Dottore actor. He added an enormous black hat, changed the robe to a jacket cut similarly to Louis XIV, and added a flat ruff to the neck. Il Capitano's costume is similar to il Dottore's in the fact that it is also a satire on military wear of the time. This costume would therefore change depending on where the Capitano character is from, and
23040-426: Was chosen, and in a few weeks he assembled a group of ten actors, all of whom were devout Christians. Riccoboni's troupe performed at the Palais-Royal from 18 May 1716 until the Hôtel de Bourgogne had been renovated. Their first performance in the renovated Bourgogne theatre was on 1 June, when they performed La Folle supposée ( La Finta Pazza ) in Italian. After an initial period of success, audiences dwindled, and
23200-565: Was considered part of the innamorati function to be able to sing and have the popular repertoire under their belt. Accounts of the early commedia , as far back as Calmo in the 1570s and the buffoni of Venice, note the ability of comici to sing madrigali precisely and beautifully. The danzatrice probably accompanied the troupes and may have been in addition to the general cast of characters. For examples of strange instruments of various grotesque formations, see articles by Tom Heck, who has documented this area. The works of
23360-414: Was considered to be the fashion of the time period. They would normally not wear masks but would be heavily makeuped. Conventional plot lines were written on themes of sex , jealousy , love , and old age . Many of the basic plot elements can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence , some of which were themselves translations of lost Greek comedies of the 4th century BC. However, it
23520-649: Was driven out of Paris twice in this manner, and at one point Louis XIV and Anne were held under virtual arrest in the royal palace in Paris. The Fronde years planted in Louis a hatred of Paris and a consequent determination to move out of the ancient capital as soon as possible, never to return. Just as the first Fronde (the Fronde parlementaire of 1648–1649) ended, a second one (the Fronde des princes of 1650–1653) began. Unlike that which preceded it, tales of sordid intrigue and half-hearted warfare characterized this second phase of upper-class insurrection. To
23680-784: Was forced out of the war by the June 1673 Treaty of Vossem , in August an anti-French alliance was formed by the Dutch, Spain , Emperor Leopold and the Duke of Lorraine . The French alliance was deeply unpopular in England, and only more so after the disappointing battles against Michiel de Ruyter 's fleet. Charles II of England made peace with the Dutch in the February 1674 Treaty of Westminster . However, French armies held significant advantages over their opponents; an undivided command, talented generals like Turenne , Condé and Luxembourg and vastly superior logistics. Reforms introduced by Louvois ,
23840-502: Was given at the Palais-Royal on 13 February 1646. A new Italian opera, Orfeo , with music composed by Luigi Rossi, premiered at the Palais-Royal on 2 March 1647. During the Fronde , Mazarin was in exile and no Italian works were performed, but after his return to Paris, Carlo Caproli 's Le nozze di Peleo e di Theti was produced at the Petit-Bourbon on 14 April 1654. Cavalli's Xerse
24000-658: Was given in the Salle du Louvre on 22 November 1660, and his Ercole amante premiered at the new Salle des Machines in the Tuileries Palace on 7 February 1662. These early Paris productions of Italian operas were usually tailored to French taste. Ballets with music by French composers were often interpolated between acts. They were also highly elaborate visual spectacles, several with numerous set changes and scenic effects accomplished with stage machinery designed by Giacomo Torelli . The visual spectacle enhanced their popularity with
24160-782: Was later forced to close in 1878. Despite the closing of the Théâtre-Italien, operas continued to be performed in Italian in Paris, sometimes at the Théâtre de la Gaîté or the Théâtre du Châtelet , but especially at the Opéra . The present-day theatre is La Comédie Italienne , situated on the rue de la Gaîté [ fr ] , where it was established in 1980 by the director Attilio Maggiulli. Commedia dell%27arte Commedia dell'arte ( / k ɒ ˈ m eɪ d i ə d ɛ l ˈ ɑːr t eɪ , k ə -, - ˈ m ɛ d i ə , - ˈ ɑːr t iː / kom- AY -dee-ə del- AR -tay, kəm-, - ED -ee-ə, - AR -tee , Italian: [komˈmɛːdja delˈlarte] ; lit. ' comedy of
24320-538: Was more probable. Companies would also find themselves summoned by high-ranking officials, who would offer patronage in return for performing in their land for a certain amount of time. Companies in fact preferred to not stay in any one place too long, mostly out of a fear of the act becoming "stale". They would move on to the next location while their popularity was still active, ensuring the towns and people were sad to see them leave, and would be more probably to either invite them back or pay to watch performances again should
24480-473: Was named Louis Dieudonné (Louis the God-given) and bore the traditional title of French heirs apparent : Dauphin . At the time of his birth, his parents had been married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631. Leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Louis's relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for
24640-510: Was now clear French and Dutch aims were in direct conflict, he decided to first defeat the Republic , then seize the Spanish Netherlands. This required breaking up the Triple Alliance; he paid Sweden to remain neutral and signed the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover with Charles, an Anglo-French alliance against the Dutch Republic. In May 1672, France invaded the Republic , supported by Münster and
24800-748: Was officially known as the Opera Buffa, but more familiarly as the Bouffons. The company first performed at the Théâtre Olympique on the rue de la Victoire, but moved to the Salle Favart on 17 January 1802. Montansier retired on 21 March 1803. From 9 July 1804 the company performed at the Théâtre Louvois , and from 16 June 1808, at the Théâtre de l'Odéon , at that time called the "Théâtre de l'Impératrice". They stayed there until 1815. During this early period
24960-534: Was passed down the Italian generations until the 17th century, when it was revived as a professional theatrical technique. However, as currently used, the term commedia dell'arte was coined in the mid-18th century. Commedia dell'arte was equally if not more popular in France, where it continued its popularity throughout the 17th century (until 1697), and it was in France that commedia developed its established repertoire. Commedia evolved into various configurations across Europe, and each country acculturated
25120-702: Was predictably diminished by concessions and exemptions won by the insistent efforts of nobles and bourgeois. Louis and Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to grow French commerce and trade. Colbert's mercantilist administration established new industries and encouraged manufacturers and inventors, such as the Lyon silk manufacturers and the Gobelins tapestry manufactory . He invited manufacturers and artisans from all over Europe to France, such as Murano glassmakers, Swedish ironworkers, and Dutch shipbuilders. He aimed to decrease imports while increasing French exports, hence reducing
25280-489: Was presented at Cardinal Richelieu 's theatre, the Salle du Palais-Royal , on 28 February 1645. Francesco Sacrati's opera La finta pazza was presented at the Salle du Petit-Bourbon on 14 December 1645, and Egisto (previously thought to be a version of Egisto with music by Francesco Cavalli, but now believed to be the 1639 comic opera Egisto ovvero Chi soffre speri , with music by Virgilio Mazzocchi and Marco Marazzoli)
25440-489: Was supported by the king. At that time, a distinction was made between so-called legitimate theatre, which could be performed in royally-sanctioned theatres, and the more lowbrow street theatre, which did not undergo the scrutiny of royal censors. Italian troupes performed in the Hôtel de Bourgogne up to 1645, at which time they moved to Petit Bourbon . In 1660 they moved to the Palais-Royal , where they performed in alternation with
25600-528: Was used less and less and was completely abandoned in 1801, when the company merged with the Théâtre Feydeau . The first operas shown in Paris were Italian and were given in the mid-17th century (1645–1662) by Italian singers invited to France by the regent Anne d'Autriche and her Italian-born first minister, Cardinal Mazarin . The first was really a play with music, a comédie italienne , which may have been Marco Marazzoli 's Il giudito della ragione tra la Beltà e l'Affetto , although this has been disputed. It
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