Kenley, McDowell E.

Il Mattaccino music and dance of the matachin and its role in Italian comedy / E. Kenley, McDowell .-- London; Oxford : Oxford University Press, , 2012:

Early Music -- Vol. 40, núm. 4,Nov. 2012, p. 659


RESUMEN: Il Mattaccino takes his names from the Italian word matto, meaning "mad" or "crazy". Choreographies called Il Mattaccino and La Mattaccinata, named after this performer, have been called the dances par excellence of the professional improvised comedy that came to be known as the commedia dell´arte. Called "matachins" in English, these masked dancers performed acrobatic feats and moresque dances with high leaps, wearing bells on their legs to accentuate their rhythmic motions. Mattaccini did not originate in the comedy- they antedate the commedia. Their grotesque gestures were similar to street entertainers and saltimbanques, and their moresque choreography had been part of mascherate and sacre rappresentationi. Thay participated in a veriety of comic Italian theatrical genres, including works that had a written script as well as those whose action and dialogue were improvised (commedia all´ improvviso)- known today as commedia dell´arte. Although there is a paucity of explicit reference to mattaccini in surviving commedia scenarios, Giovanni Battista Doni described how matachins´ dances could be interpolated in the commedia. Matachins´ dances could be interpolated in the commedia. Matachins appeared with the touring company of comedian Zan Ganassa and in the written plays of Giovanni Battista Andreini. Iconography reflects tha staging of tha dance, which was at times depicted with an accompaniment of lute, chitarrone, guitar or cittern. It is in intabulations for these instruments that this dance music is most often encountered in musical sources. Pluked- string instruments were specially suited to the stage, and many notable actors of the commedia performed on such instruments. If the matachin´s choreography many now be considered tha dance par excellence of the commedia, it is because of tha mad character of the dancers and their similarity to the zanni who were precusirs of the early commedia dell´arte. tather than the frequency of references to mattaccini in surviving scenarios. There are indications of their appearance in written comedy, and if Doni´s description reflects actual practice, thair crazy antics and leaping moresque choreography could at time have been interpolated in improvised comedy. Keywords: Mattaccino, matachin, moresco, commedia dell´arte, Renaissance dance, Italian comedy