Tristano Martinelli
(ca. 1557-1630)
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Harlequin is a low-status servant, that is, a zanni, and not a very
intelligent one at that. Brighella is another zanni; and the two would
often play off against each other, each in turn the butt of the other's pranks.
If T.M. was the first great Harlequin, the last was Bertinazzi (1710-1783)
who went by the stage name of Carlin. He was also the last real Italian actor
to join the Théâtre Italien [Van Tieghem, p. 58], exclusively French thererafter.
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Tristano
and Drusiano (his brother)
Martinelli
There is some controversy over whether the first Harlequin ever
was Tristano Martinelli or Zan Ganassa (stage name for Alberto Naseli).
Tradition holds that T. M. stole the idea from Ganessa, but
circumstantial evidence supports T. M's. claim to be the first
[Rudlin&Crick, p. 12].
In any case, T. M. was a star performer in his time, so much so that
he was better known to his patrons than were his troupes:
the historian Katherine M. Lea (Italian Popular Comedy) speaks of
how T.M. aroused the jealousy of his fellow 'commedians' by his
lack of troupe loyalty [Rudlin&Crick, p. 43].--
T.M. is said to have replied to the suggestion, by a rival, that he go
to the 'Netherworld' by saying, "I did go down into Hell, but even there, I made
everyone laugh, even the devils" [Cairns, p. 249].
T.M. wrote the
Compositions de rhétorique de M. don Arlequin (1601) to please
his patron, Henri IV, wherein he claims to be Savoyard.
For someone who appears to have come out of nowhere, T. Martinelli
achieved a lot: the King and Queen of France* acted as godparents** to
one of his sons, and in 1612, while in Vienna, the Emperor Matthias***
granted him a certificate of nobility [Rudlin&Crick, p. 43].
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Drusiano Martinelli
( ? -1606/08; D.M's. wife
Angelica was active
from 1580-1594) seems to have been an understudy for Tristano's
Harlequin, accompanying his brother as a performing member ('ringer')
of T.M's. troupe, occasionally going solo, as when he took the
company to England, in 1578. There, he is thought to have performed
for Elizabeth I (Queen of England from 1558 to 1603)
[Nicoll, p.168; George, pp. 15-16].
* According to [Oxford: Italy, iv (masks), p.402],
France was a home away from home for T.M. and "to judge by
[T.M's] letters he could turn their Majesties of France round his little
finger."
** M.T. may have had many children, and as a mark of favor other
important persons acted as godparents at their baptismals --
or so T.M. bragged, saying that he had 'given away' his offspring
(little Martinellis) as one does a litter of kittens.
***This would be Mathias II, German Emperor from 1612 to 1619, King of
Hungary (1608) and of Bohemia (1611), son of Maximilian II.
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