La Calandria (play)
Template:New unreviewed article La Calandria is a comedy of the Italian Renaissance in five acts written by Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena in 1513. It premiered at the court of Urbino.
Characters
- Fessenio - servant to Lidio. Rescued Lidio as a child when their city was sacked by the Turks.
- Polinico - a tutor to Lidio. Appears in the first scene of the play.
- Lidio - an adolescent. 18 years old. Separated from his twin sister, Santilla, at age 6. In love with Fulvia, a married woman.
- Calandro - Husband to Fulvia. Often described by other characters in the play as stupid.
- Samia - handmaiden to Fulivia. She acts as the messenger for all of Fulvia's wishes.
- Ruffo - a necromancer
- Santilla- Disguised as a boy ever since she was 6 years old. Twin sister to Lidio whose identity she has taken.
- Fannio - servant to Santilla. Rescued Santilla as a child when their city was sacked by the Turks.
- Fulvia - the wife of Calandro. Desperately in love with Lidio.
- A whore
- A porter
- A customs officer
Prologues
La Calandria consists of two prologues and a argumento.
The first prologue was written by Castiglione and introduces this new comedy, the audience is about to be performed. The speaker states that it will be performed in prose not verse. The title of the play is named after Calandro, a great fool we are soon to meet. The explanation for the prose instead of verse is that the play deals with common every day issues. The subject matter is material the audience would be familiar with so the language used should be the language the audience uses on a daily basis. Furthermore, the speaker assures that the play will not be performed in Latin since it must be played for large and numerous audiences who are not all equally educated and the author would like to please the most amount of people.
The second prologue was written by Bibbiena. The speaker describes being woken from a dream by Ser Giuliano. He begins to describe the dream to his audience in which he had found a magical ring that if he held it in his mouth he became invisible. When deciding what he could do with his invisibility he entertains the thought of sneaking into the coffers of rich men and rob them until they were left with nothing. However, he decides to travel through Florence and spy on the women as they wake and prepare for the evening’s festivities. He tells the story of different houses he visits. Throughout the speech he makes the majority of them are husband and wife scenes/ He observes the trickery of husbands sneaking off to have affairs, of mistresses deceiving their husbands. Every scene is domestic in nature and deals with deceit in some manner.
The argumento is a summary of the play that the audience is about to witness. Demetrius, a citizen of Modon, has a set of twins/ A boy named Lidio and a girl named Santilla. When they are six their father is killed when the Turks invade Modon. The twins are separated. The servant, Fannio, to protect the girl Satilla, disguises her as her brother. They are taken prisoner, and sold to a man named Perillo who resides in Florence. A servant, Fessenio, rescue the boy Lidio and they travel to Tuscany. As Lidio grows older and begins to search for his missing twin sister, his travels take him to Florence where he falls in love with a married woman named Fulvia. To get closer to her without detection Lidio takes on his sister’s identity and sneaks into Fulvia’s home as Santilla. Meanwhile, Fannio and Santilla (still disguised as a boy) become part of Perillo’s household so fully that Perillo decides to arrange a marriage between his own daughter and Santilla. The argumento assures the audience after several misunderstands the twins will recognize one another. It introduces the setting as Rome and the play begins. [1]
About the author
Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena was a cardinal and comedy writer. Following an education in Tuscany Dovizi traveled to Medici Court in Florence. Here he became a close companion to Giovanni Dei Medici. He would later champion for the Medici family and take part in a plot to bring them back to Florence during their exile. He was a nobleman described as having a quick wit, pleasant and sharp. Dovici died in Rome on November 9, 1520 presumably poisoned.[2]
La Calandria and the Court
At the time La Calandria was written the court held the majority of political power in society. So for theater this meant that it only existed in a space secured by the court. The courts designated the space set aside for these pleasures and entertainments that theatre provided. Presenting La Calandria, the prince gained even more political power through public entertainments sponsored by him. [3]
Staging
We have detailed information on the staging of La Calandria within the court of Urbino because of a letter written by Baldassare Castiglione (who served as the organizer of the entertainment) to Ludovico Canossa.
In the letter the area that the audience occupied was referred to as a moat in front of walls and towers. Beyond this area, was the front of the stage, an open space (which would act as the street in the play), which stood before houses of the city. The perspectival stage set would create an illusion of a city with streets, palaces, churches and towers. It was to be an idealized Rome. In his letter Castiglione refers to two walls which were to simulate embankments that traversed the hall. One wall is identified as the stage front and acted the city wall. The two flanking towers held the musicians.
Designers in Urbino, to create a wall that had to be seen through by the audience, the wall was turned into a frame that opened up to reveal the city beyond. [3]
Performance history
La Calandria was first performed on February 6, 1513 in Urbino during carnival. This was also two weeks before death of Pope Julius II and the ascent of the Medici's to power on the papal throne. It was presented in the Urbino throne room and prepared by Castiglione, the duke of Novellara. Castiglione is also responsible for the prologue of the script. Scenes were created by a student of Raphael (a close friend of Dovizi), Girolamo Genga. The play proved to be a success and would be continued to be performed on several occasions. The Vatican produced it in December 1514 and January 1515; in Mantua in 1520 and in 1532; in Venice in 1521 and 1522; in Lyon in 1548; and in Munich in 1569.[4]
References
- ^ Dovizi da Bibbiena, Bernardo (2013). The Calandria. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1489583270.
- ^ Morrone, Gaetana; Puppa, Paolo. Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781579583903.
- ^ a b D'Amico, Jack (1991-01-01). "Drama and the Court in "La Calandria"". Theatre Journal. 43 (1): 93–106. doi:10.2307/3207952.
- ^ Morrone, Gaetana; Puppa, Paolo. Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781579583903.