Page - 357 - in Musiktheater im höfischen Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa - Hof – Oper – Architektur

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