Il teatro delle favole rappresentative, overo la ricreatione comica, boscareccia, e tragica: divisa in cinquanta giornate

THE SCENARIOS OF THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE

4to (220x158 mm). [8], 160 leaves. Collation: a-b⁴ A-Rr⁴. On title page engraved arms of the dedicatee Count Ferdinando Riario, Marquis of Castiglione di Val d'Orcia. Contemporary flexible vellum, inked title along the spine (slightly soiled, small portion of the front panel repaired). On title page ownership inscription “del Prencipe di Castellaneta”. Occasionally slightly browned, lack of paper to the lower outer corner of l. 53 not affecting the text, repaired worm track to the lower blank margin of a few leaves with no loss of text, otherwise a good, genuine copy.

First edition of this capital work for the knowledge of the Commedia dell'Arte. It is, in fact, the richest printed collection of theatrical scenarios which, conceived for the acting a “soggetto”, formed the script on which the actors performed their improvisations and acting variations.

The work is divided into fifty days, each of which contains a theatrical text. The fifty texts were all written and performed by the author during his long and successful career: they are mostly comedies, but also include a tragedy, a heroic and a pastoral play.

The Teatro delle favole rappresentative has long been used as a source text to draw on for theatrical themes to be re-proposed and reworked. It is the only collection of its kind printed by an actor. Scala offers a comprehensive view of the plays, describing the masks, plots, jokes and characters.

Although he never explicitly names his colleagues, since these scenarios were performed by the most famous actors of the time, it is easy to deduce from the roles the names of the great comedians who usually played them: Capitan Spavento is Francesco Andreini, Harlequin is Tristano Martinelli, Pedrolino is the famous Zanni Giovanni Pellesini, and so on (cf. F. Marotti, Introduzione, in: F. Scala, “Il teatro delle favole rappresentative”, Milan, 1976, I, pp. XIII-LXIII; see also F. Taviani-M. Schino, Il segreto della Commedia dell'Arte, Florence, 1992, ad indicem).

“Nel 1611, sotto la protezione di Vincenzo I Gonzaga, vide la luce Il teatro delle favole rappresentative, prima e unica raccolta di scenari edita da un comico dell'Arte la cui premessa portava la firma di Francesco Andreini (Capitan Spavento da Vall'Inferna). Conducendo il lettore dentro l'officina creativa dei comici italiani i cinquanta scenari, suddivisi in altrettante giornate in riferimento alla tradizione novellistica, offrivano in lettura fabulae ricche di informazioni circa le azioni, i lazzi, gli effetti scenotecnici, le ‘robbe' di scena. Momento più alto di un'operazione ideologica improntata alla ricerca dei valori specifici della commedia all'improvviso, la pubblicazione del Teatro delle favole rappresentative –opera destinata da Scala a una doppia fruizione, dotta e tecnico-pratica– stabilì l'inizio di una nuova tradizione drammaturgica d'attore, autonoma da quella letteraria, e, ‘tracciando la linea di demarcazione fra due culture, quella del teatro da leggere e quella del teatro da recitare, assegnava alla seconda il compito di trasmettere il sapere degli attori come valore autonomo' (S. Ferrone, La Commedia dell'Arte. Attrici e attori italiani in Europa (XVI-XVIII sec.), Torino 2014, p. 97). Completata da una dedicatoria al conte Ferdinando Riario, da una nota dell'autore, da nove sonetti di vari personaggi, la raccolta gettava inoltre le basi per la costruzione del mito dell'Improvvisa e delle grandi compagnie: come in un immaginario all stars show riuniva infatti sulla carta i migliori interpreti delle prime due generazioni dell'Arte, da Francesco e Isabella Andreini a Giovanni Pellesini (Pedrolino) fino all'Arlecchino Martinelli, di cui gli scenari, suddivisi tra commedie – ben quaranta –, favole pastorali, opere regie e tragedie, attestavano l'ampiezza del repertorio e alludevano ai pezzi di bravura” (L. Spinelli, Scala, Flaminio, in: “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani”, vol. 91, 2018, s.v.).

Flaminio Scala, called Flavio and Claudione, was a man of letters and a comic actor. He acted mainly under the name of Flavio in the role of a lover. A friend of Isabella and Francesco Andreini of the Compagnia dei Gelosi, he also worked with the Compagnia dei Desiosi (1597) and the Compagnia degli Accesi (1600-1601), first in Lyon and then in Paris for the wedding celebrations of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV. During his stay in Lyon, he made his publishing debut with the comedy Il Postumio (Lyon, 1601). In 1606, he performed at the court of Mantua. In 1610 he was banned from the theatres of the duchy of Modena at the express request of the cardinal legate of Romagna, Bonifacio Caetani. In 1611 he took over the direction of the Compagnia dei Confidenti at the service of Don Giovanni de' Medici, of which he became chief comedian in 1614. As an actor, Scala performed on and off for the Confidenti, specialising in the role of Claudione, an innkeeper and confectioner with a French accent. During these years, Scala was also the owner of a well-established perfume shop in the Venetian district of Rialto, the management of which was entrusted to young apprentices during tours. It was precisely the security of a parallel activity that allowed Scala to enjoy a certain autonomy in his choices as an actor. In 1618 he published the comedy Il Finto Marito. Around 1620 he worked mainly in Venice, Padua, Mantua, Milan and Bologna. The death of Giovanni de' Medici in 1621 put an end to the Confidenti and Scala's theatrical fortunes. In 1624 he was called to Mantua to work as a perfumer under the protection of the ducal authority. He died in Mantua on 9 December 1624.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\BVEE\024820; H.F. Salerno, ed., Flaminio Scala's il teatro delle favole rappresentative: scenarios of the commedia dell'arte, with a foreword by K. McKee, New York-London, 1967; Rasi, 509; Vinciana, 3991.

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