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Italian Renaissance Theatre
1400-1650
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Background
Growth of trade Merchant class grew in strength and
power Patronage system – wealthy financially
supported artists
Art changed Religious subjects treated secularly More realistic artwork
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Giotto’s Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (1310) Raphael’s Sistine Madonna (1513)
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More Background
Literature Humanism
Focused on people rather than gods
Theatre Acting Architecture and Scenic Design Dramatic Criticism
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Greek and Roman AGAIN! Revival of teaching Greek Transfer of surviving Greek and
Roman manuscripts to Italy after fall of Constantinople
Publication of all existing plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plautus, Terence, and Seneca
Writings of Aristotle and Horace
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Tragedies and Comedies
Continued to write religious dramas Sacra rappresentazioni
Few playwrights tried drama, but never equaled Greek and Roman originals
Written in Italian Based on classical models
Adaptations or mimicking of style
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Intermezzi
Short pieces depicting mythological tales
Presented between acts of full-length plays
Developed out of popular court entertainments
Spectacular scenic effects Disappeared in the 1600s
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Pastorals Similar to satyr plays At the end of a tragedy Not as bawdy and suggestive as Greek
satyr play Subject is romance
Characters are usually shepherds and mythological creatures
Dealt with lovers who are threatened and/or at odds with each other
Action is serious; ending is happy Example: Aminta (1573) by Torquato Tasso
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Opera Only theatrical form of Italian
Renaissance to survive Believed they were re-creating Greek
tragic style Fused music with drama
Libretto, or text, is considered secondary to music Operas identified by composers and not
librettists
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Elements of Opera Musical Sections
Aria – solo sung accompanied by orchestra
Duets – songs by two people
Trios – songs by three people
Quartets – songs by four people
Recitative – sung dialogue
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Great Composers and Operas Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Richard Wagner (1813-1883) George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935) Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler’s
Sweeney Todd (1978) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ
Superstar (1971) and Phantom of the Opera (1987)
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Commedia Dell’arte Means “play of
professional artists”
Usually staged comedies
Improvised presentations Scenarios written
as plot outline – no scripted text
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Teatro Olimpico (1584) Oldest surviving Italian Renaissance theater
Designed by Andrea Palladio and finished by Vincenzo Scamozzi
Designed as a miniature indoor Roman theater Elliptical benches connected to scaena Scaena frons designed to look like a street Five openings in the façade
Behind each opening was an alley or street that seemed to disappear into the distance
3-D buildings decreased in size as they were positioned farther from onstage opening
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Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy
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Teatro Farnese (1618)
Raised horseshoe seating Semicircular orchestra
Additional seating or flooded for aquatic scenes
First theater with a proscenium arch Hides stage mechanisms for scene
changes and special effects
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Teatro Farnese in Parma, Italy
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Scene Design
Periaktoi Three sided device – turn for new scene
change Flat wings
Series of individual wings on each side of the stage placed in progression from front to back
Used a groove system for scene changes
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Pole and Chariot System
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Dramatic Criticism
Aristotle and Horace first critiqued drama
Neoclassic Ideals Formulated by Italian critics Believed that they were forming rules
which would force dramatists to imitate the Greeks and Romans
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The Rules part 1
Decorum All dramatic characters should behave in
ways based on their age, profession, sex, rank, etc.
Verisimiltude All drama must be “true to life”
Ghosts, apparitions, and supernatural events are forbidden
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The Rules part 2
The Unities Unity of Time
Dramatic action in a play should not exceed 24 hours Audiences could not accept long passages of
time as “truthful”
Unity of Place Limits the action of a play to one locale
Unity of Action One central story – no subplots
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The Rules part 3
Defined genres very narrowly Tragedy dealt ONLY with royalty Comedy dealt ONLY with common people Tragedy MUST be resolved calamitously Comedy MUST be resolved happily NEVER mix Comedy and Tragedy All drama must teach a moral lesson