soggetti/spettacolo/Glasgow 1990/6
 

     The Barberini were a merry crew: the only remotely respectable one in this period seems to have been the elder Cardinal Antonio, brother of Pope Urban VIII. He was a Capuchin friar, and is buried in the Capuchin church under a plain stone and a pious inscription (hic jacet pulvis cinis et nihil: here lies dust, ashes, and nothing) that for once appears to have been sincerely meant. However, it's all downhill from there. They said at the election of Urban VIII: 'we have elected a piece of a pope', so unlikely a candidate was he, but this did not prevent him from ruling absolutely for ten years, and raising his family to the highest offices. His nephews were hauled out of the schools on his accession, and made Cardinals, first Francesco (1623) then Antonio (1627).
     At first Francesco was put under the governorship of Cardinal Filomarini, but soon found that this cramped his style; Filomarini was dismissed as soon as possible and Francesco declared himself Cardinal Patrone, an audacious act even in an age of acknowledged nepotism. He was sent pretty soon to Spain as legate (accompanied by Rospigliosi), but returned quite frequently to Rome.

He offended everybody, from the highest to the lowest, and took no care for his dependents: he gave bread to his soldiers which had been adulterated with chalk, which fretted out the soldiers guts, and made them die like dogs. He made show of being a wonderous honest man, and under colour thereof hath deceived I know not how many women. I think now the world will confess there never was any Cardinal that so much tyrannized over the Church, and Christendom, & hoc sufficit.

     Don Antonio his brother, the crookback, was rather differently thought of, mostly because he had a very free hand with money and favours.

La Checa Bussona was his mistress, who was later whipped without ceremony through the city for flaunting herself in the carnival; he got with child the daughter of the Marquis of Couré, who subsequently died by poison, it was thought; to a Neapolitan Curtezan he gave for the first time a thousand crowns; to a pedant which had the charge of a very fair boy he gave a Bishopric... etc.

     He was also implicated in the poisoning of a nunnery in Bologna. Both brothers were patrons of the arts, and supported numbers of artists, architects, musicians and scholars. Urban VIII said to Bernini: 'It is a piece of luck for you, Cavaliere, to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini Pope, but far greater is our good fortune that the lifetime of Cavaliere Bernini should fall into our pontificate.' He caused the baldacchino to be raised above the high altar in St. Peter's: it was made from the bronze beams from the portico of the Pantheon, thus inspiring the pasquinade 'quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini'. The Barberini bees swarm all over Rome.
     The first theatre in the Quattro Fontane was little more than a (very) large room with a dais, but this was quickly improved to an installation capable of sophisticated effects, including adjustable lighting and real flowing water. The Barberini also gave entertainments in the Cancelleria, where Francesco lived, though this theatre had no machinery.
     With the accession of Innocent X Pamphili in 1644, the Barberini and their adherents fled Rome. However, reconciliation was effected in 1653 by the marriage of Prince Maffeo Barberini to Donna Olimpia Giustiniani, a member of the Pamphili family, and they all poured back. Innocent died in 1655 and was succeeded by Alexander VII Chigi, a relatively strict and moral pope, tolerant of the theatre, though female singers were only allowed to perform in private (when the private theatres held thousands of people one wonders how this helped). He certainly supported Christina of Sweden's artistic endeavours, though perhaps not as wholeheartedly as his successor.
     This was Clement IX, who as Monsignor then Cardinal Rospigliosi had been a pillar of the Barberini establishment and a personal friend of Christina's. He composed the libretti for eleven operas, most of them performed during the reign of Urban VIII, though one - 'La Baldassara, or the Conversion of an Actress' - was performed in his own pontificate. He had spent much time in Spain in the entourage of Francesco, and was familiar with Lope de Vega and Calderon: many of his pieces show strong Spanish influence. The texts include one remarkable for being the first opera libretto to include characters from the Commedia dell'Arte in its sub-plot (Chi soffre speri: John Milton wrote a letter describing it in 1639). Of the others, a couple are the usual Ariosto romps, but mostly they are rappresentazione spirituale, distinguished however from the run of such pieces by the roundness of their characters: even the allegorical figures are recognisably human. While Pope, he authorised the building of the first public theatre in Rome, the Teatro Tor di Nona (a project of Christina's), and commissioned Bernini to embellish the Ponte Sant'Angelo with its spectacular angels. He also reduced taxes, founded an academy for the study of Church history, and abolished certain abuses against the jews, notably a barbaric custom of chasing them naked through the streets.
     He was followed by Clement X Altieri: during his time the Tordinona flourished under Christina's patronage, and several operas by Cavalli, dedicated to her, were performed there. Unfortunately the next Pope, Innocent XI Odescalchi, was much less tolerant, and on his accession in 1676 he forbade women to perform on stage, heralding the age of the superstar castrato. Christina was soon in conflict with him over this, protecting her establishment which flourished and included notably Alessandro Scarlatti and Corelli. Both Christina and Innocent XI died in 1689: the Ottoboni Pope that followed (Alexander VIII) was a member of a family highly sympathetic to the arts: the next generation's Cardinal was Handel's chief patron in Rome. However, with his death in 1691 comes also the end of an era in Roman theatre. Innocent XII Pignatelli closed all the public theatres, and in 1696 had them all demolished.

Kate Brown       

                    

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