Quattrocento

Music, dance and theatre at the Aragonese court during the Neapolitan Quattrocento.

With the arrival in 1443 of Alfonso V of Aragón, “el Magnánimo” (1396-1458), as the king of the Two Sicilies, Naples became the nerve centre of the Mediterranean and the Aragonese court its most powerful dominating force. Moreover, Sicily intra pharum – or Southern Italy – commanded greater power compared to that controlled by the island of Sicily today (i.e. ultra pharum), since all administrative and governmental activity took place in Naples, leaving the bordering area in a subordinate position. Little agreement was achieved among the Neapolitan barons by this separation between centre and periphery in the kingdom of Naples, thus highlighting even further the division that existed between those in control and those under their control. Nonetheless, the humanist Aragonese court was notable for fostering a highly sophisticated artistic style. Whilst maintaining its own identity it valued local customs and usages, and adapted itself to them. After the conquest of Naples, “el Magnánimo” never returned to Spain and left rule of Aragón to his wife María de Castilla (1401-1458).

The knowledge of the ‘rebirth’ or rediscovery of ancient theatre during the course of the fteenth century is well established. It was carried out by the humanist culture, with an aim to be able to combine the new experiments in performance with the rules governing rhetoric, gesture and diction coming from classical culture. One example of this humanist scene of aesthetic experimentation could be found in the cultural life in Naples which was circulating around gures such as Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530), Benet Gareth – better known as Il Chariteo (1450-1514) – and Sera no Aquilano (1466-1500). Both Il Chariteo and Sannazaro appear in the Neapolitan court chronicles as being enthusiastic participants on a variety of occasions in stagings of farse, eclogues and gliommeri. Additionally, in his pastoral romance, Arcadia, Sannazaro allots the Catalonian poet the character of Barcinio – a reference to Barcino, the old name for Barcelona and the city where Il Chariteo was born. An indispensable role in this was played by music – together with stage and costume design – not only in terms of accompanying dancing, but also as a means of introducing the allegorical

characters and introducing them onto the raised platform where they were to declaim their texts. Although the sources conveying the musical works written by Italian composers and poets which were created for these theatrical performances are rather insubstantial in extent, this compositional practice would be taken up at the end of the Quattrocento by the frottola. Naples (but also other Italian courts as well) offered a notable example of this ‘private’ form of musical entertainment, and Aquilano and Il Chariteo were two of the most renowned improvisers of music and poetry in Neapolitan theatre from that time.