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Farinelli’s Dream: Theatrical Space, Audience and Political Function of Italian Court Opera
361
are very rich and, as we shall see, surprisingly precise in many aspects. Moreover, an
important number of these sources are easily accessible as they have been for a great
part thoroughly edited and studied in relation to the Spanish spoken theatre, mainly
by English and American scholars who followed the path-breaking studies of Norman
Shergold and John Varey in the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, these valuable studies
do not include the Madrid court theatres in the 18th century from the 1730s onwards,
coinciding with the crucial moment when opera performances largely displaced spoken
and musical Spanish plays at court.14 The result is that the modern edition of the main
documentary sources of the court theatre in Madrid is restricted to a chronology of
between 1586 and 1724, and consequently the rest of the 18th century is excluded.15 To
sum up, we can say that musicological research on Spanish court opera has not been
concerned with theatrical spaces and, conversely, practices and theatrical studies have
not considered the history of theatres from the moment in which opera performance
became the main activity of these institutions.16 The result has been, paradoxically, a
black hole at the heart of what has been considered one of the most brilliant cultural
episodes of 18th-century Spain.
Studied in all its complexity and documentary detail, the theatre history of the main
European capitals during the 17th and 18th centuries tend to chaos, as documented by
the different and contradictory interests, religious and political restrictions, ideological
and architectonical reforms, and multiple and diverse practices that shape theatrical
experience in a given urban context. Nevertheless, much is to be gained if we start by
tracing the basic traits of its main institutions as a sort of topographical frame in which
further research may unfold.
From its designation as capital city of the Spanish Empire in 1561 by Philipp II,
Madrid boasted a rich theatre life.17 “La villa y corte” (the town and court) developed a
complex web of spaces and practices dedicated to the spoken drama and music theatre
which supported the important cultural legacy known as the Teatro del siglo de oro of
the 17th century. Beside the theatrical spaces belonging to the court entertainments at
the different royal residences, such as the urban palaces of the Alcázar and the Buen
Retiro, the city of Madrid owned two theatres located in the city centre, the Teatro de la
Cruz and the Teatro del Príncipe, which were hired to two theatre companies each year
importance of the Buen Retiro Palace in the 17th century, see Brown and Elliott 2003. An important
catalogue of images and plans of the Buen Retiro can be found in Blasco 2001, pp. 135–203.
14 For a reconstruction of the repertory performed at the Buen Retiro during Farinelli’s managment years
(made mainly on the basis of the surviving libretti), see Cotarelo y Mori 1917, 101–190. The most de-
tailed (but far from complete) calendar of performances is to be found in Leza 2014, pp.
337–340.
15 See Greer / Varey 1997 and López Alemany /
Varey 2006.
16 Among the few studies on theatres not related to the spoken Spanish repertoire are López de José 2006;
Doménech Rico 2007.
17 For an overview see for instance Fernández Muñoz 1988 and Andura Varela 1992.
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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