Francesco Gabrielli (1588–1636) was an Italian actor of the ''
commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...
''. He was particularly famous as a virtuoso musician, who was an accomplished player of a dozen musical instruments.
[Senelick 1995.] He is sometimes credited with the creation of
Scapino
{{Use dmy dates, date=January 2024
Scapino or Scapin is a Zanni character from the commedia dell'arte. His name is related to the Italian language, Italian word ''scappare'' ('to escape') and his name translates to 'little escape artist', in ref ...
, a musical ''
zanni
Zanni (), Zani or Zane is a character type of commedia dell'arte best known as an astute servant and a trickster. The Zanni comes from the countryside and is known to be a "dispossessed immigrant worker".Rudlin, John. ''Commedia dell'arte: An A ...
'' (servant) role, which he may actually have taken from
Niccolò Barbieri. Gabrielli first appears as a member of the troupe of the
Accesi in 1612, is later recorded as a member of the
Confidenti, and in 1624 was with the
Fedeli in Paris (under the direction of
Giovan Battista Andreini
Giambattista Andreini (9 February 1576 – 7 June 1654) was an Italian actor and the most important Italian playwright of the 17th century.
Life
Born in Florence to stage stars Isabella Andreini and Francesco Andreini, he had a great success a ...
), before rejoining the Accesi.
[Hartnoll 1983, p. 311.]
In 1627 Gabrielli learned that the
Duke of Mantua
During its Timeline of Mantua, history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.
From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of ...
was seeking a company of actors and wrote a letter from
Ferrara
Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...
to Antonio Costantini, the Duke's assistant, offering to bring his family and fellow players to perform in
Mantua
Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
. The letter reveals much concerning the difficulties of forming a balanced ensemble and the professional rivalries among actors, both within and between troupes.
Francesco Gabrielli was the son of the well known ''commedia dell'arte'' actor
Giovanni Gabrielli
Giovanni Gabrieli (/1557 – 12 August 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School (music), Venetian School, at the t ...
(known as Sivello). Francesco married Spinetta Locatelli, an actress who appeared with him,
[Katritzky 2006, pp. 244–245 and plate 294.] and they had several children who became actors,
[ including Giulia (seen in Paris as Diana in 1645).][ It is uncertain whether Girolamo Gabrielli (a famous ]Pantalone
Pantalone (), spelled Pantaloon in English, is one of the most important principal characters found in commedia dell'arte. With his exceptional greed and status at the top of the social order, Pantalone is "money" in the ''commedia'' world. His ...
) and Ippolita Gabrielli (a troupe manager in 1663) were his children.[
]
Notes
Bibliography
* Bergquist, Stephen A. (2014). "Scapino: A Portrait of Francesco Gabrielli", ''Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography'', vol. 39, nos. 1–2, pp. 98–101. .
* Hartnoll, Phyllis, editor (1983). ''The Oxford Companion to the Theatre'' (fourth edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* Katritzky, M. A. (2006). ''The Art of Commedia: A Study in the Commedia dell'Arte 1560-1620 with Special Reference to the Visual Records''. Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi. .
* Lea, Kathleen Marguerite (1934; reissued 1962). ''Italian popular comedy: a study in the Commedia dell'Arte, 1560-1620, with special reference to the English stage'', 2 volumes, paged continuously. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1934), . New York: Russell & Russell (1962), .
* Rasi, Luigi (1897–1905). ''I Comici Italiani: Biografia, bibliografia, iconografia'', 3 volumes. Florence: Fratelli Boca
Catalog record
at HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...
.
* Richards, Kenneth; Richards, Laura (1990). ''The Commedia Dell'Arte: A Documentary History''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. .
* Senelick, Laurence (1995). "Gabrielli family", p. 407 in ''The Cambridge Guide to the Theatre'', new edition, edited by Martin Banham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabrielli, Francesco
Commedia dell'arte actors
1588 births
1636 deaths
17th-century Italian male actors