Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Goldoni was light-hearted but by no means a lightweight; his comic genius and deft
wordplay would permanently change Italian theatre. His Pamela (1750) was the first play
to dispense with masks altogether, and his characters didn't fall into good or evil arche-
types: everyone was flawed, often hilariously so. Some of his most winsome roles were
reserved for women and castrati (male soprano countertenors), from his early 1735 adapt-
ation of Apostolo Zeno's Griselda (based on Bocaccio's Decameron, with a score by
Vivaldi) to his celebrated 1763 Le Donne Vendicate (Revenge of the Women). Princess
Cecilia Mahony Giustiniani commissioned this latter work, in which two women show a
preening chauvinist the error of his ways with light swordplay and lethal wordplay.
But one Venetian dramatist was not amused. Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806) believed that
Goldoni's comedies of middle-class manners were prosaic, and staged a searing 1761 par-
ody of Goldoni - driving Goldoni to France in disgust, never to return to Venice. Gozzi
went on to minor success with his fairy-tale scenarios, one of which would inspire the
Puccini opera Turandot . But Gozzi's fantasias had little staying power, and eventually he
turned to…comedy.
Meanwhile, Goldoni fell on hard times in France, after a pension granted to him by
King Louis XVI was revoked by the Revolution. He died impoverished, though at his
French colleagues' insistence, the French state granted his pension to his widow. But Gol-
doni got the last laugh: while Gozzi's works are rarely staged, Goldoni regularly gets top
billing along with Shakespeare at the city's main theatre, Teatro Goldoni.
While the Venice Biennale and International Film Festival are now major draws for international celebrit-
ies, spring and autumn theatre programs hosted by the Venice Biennale remain experimental, drawing on
Venice's 400-year tradition of risk-taking theatre.
Contemporary Performing Arts
The modern performing-arts scene is not all Goldoni and Shakespeare reruns. Avant-garde
troupes and experimental theatres such as Teatro Junghans, Teatro Fondamenta Nuove and
Laboratorio Occupato Morion bring new plays, performance art and choreography to
Venetian stages. Elements of c ommedia dell'arte ballet periodically enjoy revivals on the
contemporary dance scene, and contemporary dance is highlighted at Fondazione Giorgio
Cini and during the Biennale International Festival of Contemporary Dance in June.
 
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