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Farinelli’s Dream: Theatrical Space, Audience and Political Function of Italian Court Opera 365 volving an important cast of singers specially hired for the celebrations, which included the Neapolitan castrato Gaetano Majorano, detto Caffarelli, the contralto Vittoria Tesi and the soprano Anna Maria Peruzzi.23 The involvement of the Spanish Queen Elisabeth Farnese in the introduction of Italian opera was considerable. It was she, for instance, who chose the libretto, which had to be put in music by Corselli, a musician, like the queen, from the Duchy of Parma. She also insisted that the performance should not exceed the length of two and a half hours (about half the time of the performance of Achille in Sciro in Naples when her son Charles inaugurated the Teatro di San Carlo). Farinelli saw these first opera pro- ductions with marked distance. In November 1739, he wrote to his friend, the count of Pepoli: “It goes without saying that I took care not to get involved in any way with the singers in the composition of the music nor in their usual wrong ideas.”24 On his behalf, the marquis Annibale Scotti, right hand to Queen Elisabeth Farnese who coor- dinated the whole opera, wrote in July 1739 to the mayor of Madrid, the marquis Mon- tealto, that, in this production, Farinelli “should have no more say than to give advice when he is asked.”25 This situation changed completely as the new king Ferdinand VI ascended the throne. The main source which documents the theatrical activities under the direction of Farinelli is a lavish manuscript from 1758 with the title Descripción del estado actual del Real Theatro del Buen Retiro, on the first page, which was made on the singer’s command. It appears that three copies were made, of which two are still extant: one in Bologna at the library of the Collegio di Spagna, an historical institution linked to the Spanish nobility, and the other in Madrid at the Royal Palace.26 The Descripción is divided in two parts: the first documents in minutely detail the opera performances at the Buen Retiro and the second the luxurious boating activities on the Tajo river at the 23 On Alessandro see Carreras 2000b; on Farnace see Strohm 1997, pp.  97–117; and Carreras 2002, pp.  214–215. 24 “Lascio con dire ch’io ho havuto molto giudizio non inserirmi in cosa alcuna col ceto canoro, sì per la composizione della musica siccome non entrare nelle loro perpetue guaste idee.” (Broschi 2000, p.  159). On Farinelli’s limited involvement in the 1739 court production of Farnace, see Carreras 2002, p.  217. 25 “no debe tener más parte que decir su parecer cuando se le pida,” letter from 18th August 1739, see Car- reras 2002, p.  224. 26 See Cappelletto 1995, p.  104, who states that “nel testamento, il Broschi parla di tre copie del volume, la prima lasciata a Madrid  [.  .  .], le altre portate con sé al ritorno in Italia.” The generally well informed biography by Giovenale Sacchi, published in 1784, differs from this, as he affirms the existence of “un ampio volume manoscrito, e nobilmente legato in marrocchino, che il Broschi portò seco di Spagna, avendone lasciate altre due simile copie, l’una appresso del Re, l’altra appresso al direttore del Te- atro” (Sacchi 1784, p.  23). On the bindings of Farinelli’s music collection, see Erro  /  Domínguez 2008, pp.  51–52. Contrary to Cappelletto, who speaks of a “recente ritrovamento,” the Italian source was known from the end of the 19th century onwards through transcriptions made in Bologna by Leandro Fernández Moratín in 1793 and published in the 19th century, see Fernández Moratín 1867, pp.  55–71. For a complete facsimile edition of the Madrid source, see Broschi 1991. References of this unfoliated manuscript are given according to the pages of this edition. On this manuscript, see also Morales Borrero 1987.