Seite - 372 - in Musiktheater im höfischen Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa - Hof – Oper – Architektur

Juan José Carreras 372 Cardenal Patriarca, the religious head of the royal chapel. In addition to a División de Guardias (division of soldiers) in charge of security and order, who were deployed at the stalls,36 no fewer than seven boxes were reserved for army officers. Another group of four boxes of the first rank were kept for Camaristas, probably chamber servants of the queen.37 Two central tribunes belonged to the first and fifth rank, the former explicitly reserved for women (damas), as with the old cazuela discussed above and here possi- bly for female servants and ladies-in-waiting. The expression ‘Tertulia a disposición de la Camarera Mayor’ (Tertulia at the disposal of the First Lady-in-Waiting) indicating the central tribune on the top floor presents a somewhat more difficult interpretation, tertulia meaning in general a gathering of people who share a common interest. In the old commercial theatres, tertulia was a balcony situated at the top of the open yard, where mainly priests and friars gathered. But the fact that admittance to this tribune was under the jurisdiction of the First Lady-in-Waiting is a good argument to identify this space with the luneta alta of the 1708 seating-plan already discussed above, a space reserved also for female court servants of minor rank. A total of sixteen boxes appear at their disposal (a la orden), which perhaps means that they remained unoccupied for this specific performance. Individuals, identified not by their court appointments but by their names, also appear in the 1755 document as occupiers of single boxes. Such is the case of Farinelli himself (four boxes reserved for Carlo Broschi at the fourth and fifth floors), Andrés Gómez de la Vega (a quatermaster general and a key collaborator of Farinelli’s, on the first floor),38 Miguel de Borbón (the queen’s doctor),39 and Joseph Suñol, (the king’s doctor),40 both on the fourth floor. Other names refer to different court officials, such as 36 According to Farinelli’s Descripción, at opera performances at the Buen Retiro, a lieutenant, a sargent and 24 soldiers were regularly on duty, see Broschi 1991, p.  75. 37 Detailed lists of attendance of the Queen’s Ladies-in-Waiting and camaristas on board of the royal vessel at the Aranjuez water entertainments exist for the years 1754–1757, see Broschi 1991, pp.  309–375. 38 The navy officer Andrés Gómez de la Vega appears in Farinelli’s Descripción as his collaborator, “cuidando y siguiendo mis propios pensamientos como lo está practicando con entera satisfacción mía” (Broschi 1991, p.  53). According to Sacchi, Gómez de la Vega was responsible for the financial aspects of the opera productions, see Sacchi 1784, p.  32. On 30  November 1748, Gómez de la Vega is linked to Farinelli in a regulation about the distribution of refreshments at the Coliseo, as reported in Broschi 1991, p.  127. In 1750 he compiled and signed Farinelli’s dossier to be admitted as a knight of the Ca- latrava Order, see Barbier 1994, p.  167. Between 1754 and 1757 Gómez de la Vega was also acting as second pilot of the royal barge in the water entertainments in Aranjuez, see Broschi 1991, pp.  245 and 309–375. On his connection with the Marquis de la Ensenada, see his biography in Teijeiro de la Rosa 2011. 39 According to a letter of the Infanta María Antonia to the Queen mother Elisabeth Farnese dated 21  Jan- uary 1749 and quoted by Cotarelo y Mori 1917, p.  136, Dr. Borbón had always to be located near the queen: “Lo cierto es que el médico Borbón estará siempre, si es en la ópera, en la pieza de afuera de la luneta, y si es en la comedia, está en nuestro callejón.” It is certainly possible that Borbon’s box may have been reserved only for his guests. 40 On the political importance during Ferdinand VI’s reign of doctor Suñol as president of the Protomedi- cato, the High Medical Examining Board, see Campos Díez 1999, p.  317.