Influence in Performance Art
The expressive theatre influenced Molière's comedy and subsequently ballet d'action, thus lending a fresh range of expression and choreographic means. An example of a commedia dell'arte character in literature is the Pied Piper of Hamelin who is dressed as Harlequin.
Music and dance were central to commedia dell'arte performance. Brighella was often depicted with a guitar, and many images of the commedia feature singing innamorata or dancing figures, particularly innamorate. In fact, it was considered part of the innamorati function to be able to sing and have the popular repertoire under their belt. Accounts of the early commedia, as far back as Calmo in the 1570s and the buffoni of Venice, note the ability of comici to sing madrigali precisely and beautifully. The danzatrice probably accompanied the troupes, and may have been in addition to the general cast of characters. For examples of strange instruments of various grotesque formations see articles by Tom Heck, who has documented this area.
The works of a number of playwrights have featured characters influenced by the Commedia dell'arte and sometimes directly drawn from it. Prominent examples include The Tempest written by William Shakespeare, Servant of Two Masters (1743) by Carlo Goldoni, Les Fourberies de Scapin by Molière, and the Figaro plays of Pierre Beaumarchais. Influences appear in the lodgers in Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
Through their association with spoken theatre and playwrights Commedia figures have provided opera with many of its stock characters. Mozart's Don Giovanni sets a puppet show story and comic servants like Leporello and Figaro have commedia precedents. Soubrette characters like Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Despina in Cosi fan tutte recall Columbina and related characters. The comic operas of Gaetano Donizetti, such as Elisir d'amore, draw readily upon commedia stock types. Leoncavallo's tragic melodrama Pagliacci depicts a commedia dell'arte company in which the performers find their life situations reflecting events they depict on stage.
Stock characters and situations also appear in ballet. Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka and Pulcinella allude directly to the tradition.
Read more about this topic: Commedia Dell'arte
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