MTU Cork Library Catalogue

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Performance and literature in the commedia dell'arte / Robert Henke.

By: Henke, Robert, 1955-.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002Description: xiv, 263 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.ISBN: 9780521172387.Subject(s): Commedia dell'arte -- History and criticism | Improvisation (Acting) | Theater -- Italy -- History -- 16th centuryDDC classification: 852.4
Contents:
Introduction -- Improvisation and characters -- Residual orality in early modern Italy and the commedia dell'arte -- Venetian buffoni -- Early male actors -- Early actresses -- Zanni texts, 1576-1588 -- Conclusions and caprices: early texts of the Dottore and Pantalone -- Tristano Martinelli: A company buffone -- Theatrical and literary "compositions" in Francesco Andreini and Flaminio Scala -- The generation of Cecchini: technical, moral and dramaturgical publications.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
General Lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 852.4 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00175560
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This 2002 book explores the commedia dell'arte: the Italian professional theatre in Shakespeare's time. The actors of this theatre usually did not perform from scripted drama but improvised their performances from a shared plot and thorough knowledge of individual character roles. Robert Henke closely considers commedia dell'arte texts to demonstrate how the spoken word and written literature were fruitfully combined in performance. Henke examines a number of primary sources including performance accounts, actors' contracts, letters, popular poems, memorials of deceased actors, scenarios, and printed plays, among other documents. Henke analyzes the character system in the commedia dell'arte, individual roles, Venetian buffoni, and provides detailed case studies of early actors and actresses. While previous studies have concentrated on either the oral or the literary aspects of commedia dell'arte, this was the first book to consider how these two elements might have worked together to create this rich and fascinating theatre.

Bibliography: p. 248-259. Includes index.

Introduction -- Improvisation and characters -- Residual orality in early modern Italy and the commedia dell'arte -- Venetian buffoni -- Early male actors -- Early actresses -- Zanni texts, 1576-1588 -- Conclusions and caprices: early texts of the Dottore and Pantalone -- Tristano Martinelli: A company buffone -- Theatrical and literary "compositions" in Francesco Andreini and Flaminio Scala -- The generation of Cecchini: technical, moral and dramaturgical publications.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • List of figures (p. x)
  • Acknowledgments (p. xiii)
  • 1 Introduction (p. 1)
  • Plan of study (p. 2)
  • Definitions and scope (p. 5)
  • The business of playing (p. 6)
  • 2 Improvisation and characters (p. 12)
  • Improvisation (p. 12)
  • Character system: structure and fluidity (p. 15)
  • Individual roles (p. 19)
  • Dual exchange (p. 24)
  • 3 Residual orality in early modern Italy and the commedia dell'arte (p. 31)
  • Medium and mode (p. 31)
  • Capturing orality (p. 37)
  • Rhetoric and the commedia dell'arte (p. 41)
  • Topical organization and generici (p. 43)
  • The uses of literature (p. 45)
  • 4 Venetian buffoni (p. 50)
  • Buffoni performance style and relevance to the commedia dell'arte (p. 50)
  • Social range (p. 55)
  • Four scenes of the Venetian buffoni (p. 56)
  • Print and oral tradition (p. 63)
  • Orality and dramaturgy (p. 67)
  • 5 Early male actors (p. 69)
  • The company of Ser Maphio, 1545-1553 (p. 69)
  • The 1550s (p. 74)
  • Male actors in the piazza and the banquet hall (p. 79)
  • 6 Early actresses (p. 85)
  • Mantua, 1566-1568 (p. 85)
  • Valerini's oration (p. 94)
  • Scala's innamorata and the "Pazzia" of Isabella (p. 100)
  • 7 Zanni texts, 1576-1588 (p. 106)
  • The Lacrimoso lamento (p. 106)
  • Zanni texts: description and context of publication (p. 114)
  • The relationship of zanni texts to performance (p. 117)
  • The genres of the zanni (p. 120)
  • Genealogies and testamenti (p. 121)
  • Utopian fantasies and the vanto (p. 126)
  • The sogno (p. 127)
  • "Doctrinal" poems (p. 129)
  • Contrasti and dialoghi (p. 130)
  • 8 Conclusions and caprices: early texts of the Dottore and Pantalone (p. 137)
  • De'Bianchi's conclusioni (p. 137)
  • Epistolary riddles (p. 141)
  • The Dottore and Pantalone (p. 146)
  • The Capricci: a repertoire for Pantalone (p. 147)
  • 9 Tristano Martinelli: A company buffone (p. 153)
  • Harlequin in Paris, 1584-1585 (p. 153)
  • Lord of the charlatans (p. 158)
  • The 1600-1601 French tournée and the Compositions de rhetorique (p. 160)
  • The letter as performance (p. 168)
  • Conclusion (p. 172)
  • 10 Theatrical and literary "composition" in Francesco Andreini and Flaminio Scala (p. 175)
  • Andreini's Bravure (p. 175)
  • Flaminio Scala: a long career (p. 181)
  • The perfumer and the underworld (p. 183)
  • Assessing the Teatro delle favole rappresentative (p. 185)
  • What the scenarios reveal (p. 188)
  • The Prologues to Il finto marito (p. 192)
  • 11 The generation of Cecchini: Technical, moral, and dramaturgical publications (p. 197)
  • Cecchini: life and business practices (p. 198)
  • Cecchini's works (p. 201)
  • Nicolò Barbieri (p. 207)
  • Domenico Bruni (p. 208)
  • Giovan Battista Andreini (p. 210)
  • Twilight and renewal (p. 215)
  • Notes (p. 217)
  • Bibliography (p. 248)
  • Index (p. 260)

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