Introduction
It was Carnival of the year 1687, in a small town in Northern Italy, 40 kilometres away from Milan but, at the time, under the governance of the Serenissima, the Republic of Venice, when the first opera was represented in the only one “teatro impresariale” that was ever built in that city. It was the Teatro Secco Suardo, in Bergamo.
In 1686, two brothers of the important family of the Secco Suardo, inherited by their father some properties, and decided to create a theatre in a big palace in the upper part of the city, the “Città Alta”. The palace is still there, in the street named Sant’ Agata, but the theatre itself lasted only nine years.
Not so long after the beginning of the works to open the theatre, the institution based near to it tried to stop the two brothers to build their project. This institution, with a lawsuit, tried to obstruct the activities of the theatre until the final pronouncement of the Venice Senate, in September 1687.
The idea of writing a play generated from my passion for literature and for writing, and for combining them with music. I strongly believe in creating performances of music that are different than a standard concert, where often is easy to lack attention and entertainment from the public. I think that having a story to tell is much more effective on a public of nowadays, especially for the ones that are not music educated.
So, I thought about writing a play about the story of the Teatro Secco Suardo, which I find very fascinating for many reasons.
One is that the story itself is suitable for storytelling, it has a purpose of the protagonists and an obstacle they have to pass.
The other one is that I felt that we, as musicians and artists, can reflect ourselves a lot in this story: it is not something uncommon that people with power try to obstacle art and culture, because they think it is pointless, or dangerous.
And last, the theme of the small cities. For my experience, in cities like Bergamo there is often a part of the citizens that tries to innovate, to cultivate cultural life, to bring entertainment and interesting initiatives for the city. But often they find difficult to proceed, because they are far away from cultural centres, they are more closed on themselves than big cities, they lack founds, or there is a part of the population that fears the novelty. And this happens now, as back then. So, with this play I would like both to appropriate and share a story belonging properly to my city, and to contribute to its own cultural life.
Research question: How can I create a play about the story of the Teatro Secco Suardo of Bergamo that mixes historical narration and music from the operas that were performed in the theatre?
