Pulcinella, the Neapolitan mask

Pulcinella

Maurice Sand, PulcinellaIndice

1 The origins

1.1 The Atellanes

1.2 the name

1.3 The Comedy of the art

2 Pollichinelles and Punch

3 famous Pulcinellas

The origins

The Atellanes

Some critics make to go up again this mask to "Maccus" character of the Roman popular farces in language osca, a dialect they live, you call Fabulae Atellanae because the tradition wants her been born in the IV century in the ancient Atella, a Roman city in the territory of Aversa and Capua, to north in Naples.

The Atellanes were a typology of very popular show in the ancient Rome, we could compare her to the today's vernacular or dialect theater appreciated above all by a public of low class. Maccus represented the typology of the servant with a long nose and does her/it pimply, a real ancestor of Pulcinella, wide and white shirt, Maccus brings a half mask as those some comedians of the art, it had the prominent abdomen and it recited with clucking voice.

The name

Puccio of Aniello was the name of a farmer of Acerra made famous by a presumed portrait of Annibale Carracci, from does her/it darkened by the sun of country and the long nose, that it gave life to the theatrical character of Pulcinella. Pulcinella has embodied and continuous to embody the Italian type, still today to the foreign countries, the character that conscious of the problems in which it is found he/she always succeeds in going out with a smile of it, game of the powerful persons publicly taking himself/herself/itself disclosing all the backstages.

Joseph Bonito Disguised with Pulcinella

The Comedy of the art

To deepen, sees the voice Comedy of the art.

Pulcinella as character of the theater of the comedy of the art it is officially born with comedian Silvio Fiorillo's comedy: The constant Lucilla with the ridiculous challenges and braveries of Policinella, written in 1609 but published only in 1632 after the death of the author.

Silvio Fiorillo, that was already famous with the character of Capitan Matamoros, with Pulcinella it probably resuscitates an already present character in the tradition of the Neapolitan theater. The same Fiorillo inherits this mask from a preceding actor Neapolitan Andrew Calcese of whom few is known if not the fact to have served as teacher to Fiorillo.

Pollichinelle and Punch

French Polichinelle with double gobbaIl name of Pulcinella is changed during the years, anciently it was Policinella, as he/she is seen by the title of the comedy of Fiorillo or Pollicinella. Departed from Naples together with other characters as Coviello, Pascariello and a long line of vainglorious captains as Matamoros and Rodomonte that spoke a frank language to half between the Neapolitan and the Spaniard, Pulcinella with Silvio Fiorillo it landed in the great comic companies of the north and it constituted a Neapolitan version of Clown, the foolish servant, gullible person and always hungry of that atavistic hunger of the poor devils.

Received Pulcinella a lot of success especially in France with the name of Polichinelle and in England as Punch where it had a repertoire really unhooked by the Italian comedy. Also in the aspect Pulcinella is changed during the centuries, its mask has been clear or dark according to the periods, the Venetian painter Giandomenico Tiepolo paints him/it in both the ways, but we are already in the XVIII century. In 1621 in the harvest of incisions entitled The Dances of Sfessania, French Jacques Callot represents his/her Polliciniello with the white mask, the prominent abdomen of Maccus it becomes a hump, rather often a double hump, as in the French version, other times the hump disappears as in the sketches of the Roman painter of the '700 Pier Leo Ghezzi where you/he/she is represented with the black mask.

However the most important harvest of jokes pulcinelleschi will remain that of the seventeenth-century Father Placido Adriani (elegant Lucca sec. XVII -? after 1736). To Naples, to the beginning of the Seven hundred one, the fortune of the character of Pulcinella needs a proper space, for this a theater will on purpose be built for the comedies in dialect: St. Carlino where they will work famous Pulcinella as Petito and Altavilla.

Perhaps the aspect of the Pulcinella that we know today is that of the sketches of Ghezzi, filtered through the custom that wore the more longevos and prolific actor of farces pulcinellesche for years: Anthony Petito.

G.D. Tiepolo Pulcinelli acrobats

Famous Pulcinella

Other famous Pulcinelli, over Fiorillo and Calcese, they were:

Michelangelo Fracanzani that in 1685 it invented, to use and consumption of the Parisian scenes the character of Polichinelle. Fracanzani was nephew of the painter Salvator Rosa that also him desultorily as dilettante exhibited him in the theaters of the art with a character from him invented, a zany Neapolitan named Ant.

Phillip Cammarano (1764-1842), the greatest Pulcinella of the Seven hundred one. Vincent's child a Sicilian actor that wore the mask of Pulcinella and then to the beginning of the century passed her/it to his/her/their child, Phillip Cammarano you/he/she distinguished him for his/her very popular interpretation and you/he/she liked both to the Neapolitans and to the court of the Borbonis, you/he/she was beniamino of King Ferdinando that Cammarano didn't hesitate to denominate "King nasone", its relationships with the court were similar to that of the minstrels of the medieval courts.

Easter Altavilla (1806-1872) actor and author of the 800 he/she worked close to Savior Petito leaving numerous comedies pulcinellesche, some of which are represented today still.

Anthony Petito (1822-1876) was the most famous 800 Pulcinella, to him numerous farces pulcinellesches are owed, Savior's child Petito, other great Pulcinella, Anthony was almost illiterate but he left the most numerous "corpus" of comedies pulcinellesche that they were often inspired to themes of actuality of the Neapolitan society of his/her time.

Eduardo De Phillip (1900-1984) often dressed the cloths of Pulcinella, above all to the beginning of career. In the September 1958 in Milan to inaugurate the season of the Small Theater it put in scene a happy adaptation of the comedy of Pasquale Altavilla Pulcinella looking for his/her fortune for Naples.

Maximum Troisi (1953-1994) was also him a good Pulcinella, to the beginning of career with the theatrical group her "Grimace." With the film of Ettore Scola The trip of Capitan Fracassa of the 1990 Troisi brought its version of the Neapolitan mask on the great screen.