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357
FARINELLI’S DREAM: THEATRICAL SPACE, AUDIENCE
AND POLITICAL FUNCTION OF ITALIAN COURT OPERA
IN 18TH-CENTURY MADRID*1
Juan José Carreras
Not long ago, the Portuguese fado-singer Mariza remembered an intriguing concert.
Announced in the Kingdom of Bahrein, the concert was quickly sold out and the artist
expected a full house. To her great surprise, as she entered the stage, she confronted
what seemed a completely empty theatre. Fortunately, she was relieved as she care-
fully examined the house and noticed that, in fact, there was an audience, but confined
exclusively to the upper floors: only the stalls were completely deserted. Later on, it
was explained to her that the stall seats were regularly reserved for the Royal Family
and its guests, who on this occasion were not attending the performance. In any case,
it seemed completely inappropriate to the theatre direction to fill the empty seats with
other members of the audience who did not belong to the Royal Family and its entou-
rage.2
This striking anecdote should remind us what court studies have shown us during
recent decades over and over again: the distance and difference of the court experience
from our own contemporary democratic views. This difference may be obvious to the
historian, but it is still missing in much of the literature about Farinelli in Spain, where
the singer seems to act in a space resembling much more to a sort of idealized Wagne-
rian Bayreuth than to an 18th-century court.3 If we want to understand the influence
and meaning of Farinelli’s musical and theatrical practice in Spain it is therefore vital
* This article was written with the support of the Spanish research project HAR2014–53143-P (Ministerio
de Economía y Competitividad). My thanks to the principal investigator of this project, Miguel Ángel
Marín for his assistance, and to Lorenzo Bianconi, Andrea Bombi, José María Domínguez, José-Máximo
Leza and Andrea Sommer-Mathis for critical comment. I would also like to express my gratitude to Tess
Knighton, who offered invaluable help with the final English version of this paper.
2 “El fútbol y la música se parecen porque juegan con las emociones,” interview with Mariza, Guía del
Ocio (Madrid) from 22 of July 2016, p. 98.
3 I allude here to some fundamental methodological approaches to the modern court such as suggested
in Elias 1983; Evans 1991; Bertelli, 2006; and Vázquez Gestal 2013 (with further bibliography). On
court theatre and the importance of audiovisual entertainments from a cultural perspective, see Daniel
1995. For the Spanish court in the 18th century much new research (including literature, arts and mu-
sic) can be found in Martínez Millán / Lourenço 2008; Martínez Millán / Rivero Rodríguez 2010;
Martínez Millán / Camarero Bullón / Luzzi Traficante 2013, although many contributions are
merely descriptive and critical surveys are still lacking. On visual arts and architecture at the Spanish
court, Bottineau 1986a and 1986b are still very useful and include references to Farinelli. On the social
history of 18th-century court musicians in Spain, see Morales 2007 (pp. 238–247 consider Farinelli’s
embedding in the existing court institutions).
Veröffentlicht in: Margret Scharrer, Heiko Laß, Matthias Müller: Musiktheater im höfischen
Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2019.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.469
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book Musiktheater im höfischen Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa - Hof – Oper – Architektur"
Musiktheater im höfischen Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa
Hof – Oper – Architektur
- Title
- Musiktheater im höfischen Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa
- Subtitle
- Hof – Oper – Architektur
- Authors
- Margret Scharrer
- Heiko Laß
- Editor
- Matthias Müller
- Publisher
- Heidelberg University Publishing
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- German
- License
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-947732-36-4
- Size
- 19.3 x 26.0 cm
- Pages
- 618
- Keywords
- Kunstgeschichte, Architektur, Oper, art history, architecture, opera
- Category
- Kunst und Kultur