Description
Excerpt from Four Comedies
He had undertaken a big task. He had set himself to over throw a tough-rooted tradition. He was at war with the famous Commedia dell' Arte. For although she had little dramatic literature, all Italy buzzed with plays. An author devised a plot and pinned it somewhere in the wings of the theatre. The comedians perused it, learned the names by which they were to address each other, and then, supported by a few set speeches for given situations, walked on to the stage and improvised the dialogue. The persons in these plays had long ago solidified into types, and the actors presented them in conventional masks. Goldoni's theatre, like Moli'ere's, arose from this ancient tradition; and intermittently through out the long pageant of his dramatic works (they number about three hundred) its familiar figures recur - Harlequin now turning a toe, Pantaloon now wagging a beard. Some critics, indeed, consider that in 'the Fan (one of our plays) the old types attain their perfection. In cfi'ect, however, Goldoni - striving against violent and protracted opposition - hunted these puppets from the stage and replaced them with figures drawn from life.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
He had undertaken a big task. He had set himself to over throw a tough-rooted tradition. He was at war with the famous Commedia dell' Arte. For although she had little dramatic literature, all Italy buzzed with plays. An author devised a plot and pinned it somewhere in the wings of the theatre. The comedians perused it, learned the names by which they were to address each other, and then, supported by a few set speeches for given situations, walked on to the stage and improvised the dialogue. The persons in these plays had long ago solidified into types, and the actors presented them in conventional masks. Goldoni's theatre, like Moli'ere's, arose from this ancient tradition; and intermittently through out the long pageant of his dramatic works (they number about three hundred) its familiar figures recur - Harlequin now turning a toe, Pantaloon now wagging a beard. Some critics, indeed, consider that in 'the Fan (one of our plays) the old types attain their perfection. In cfi'ect, however, Goldoni - striving against violent and protracted opposition - hunted these puppets from the stage and replaced them with figures drawn from life.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Author(s) - Carlo Goldoni
Hardback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780331271669
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Page Count - 332
Paperback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9781330598665
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Page Count - 334
Payment & Security
Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.