The Teatro Farnese is vast. Designed to impress, and built by order of Ranuccio I inside the unfinished Palazzo della Pilotta, the theatre is on the same gigantic scale as the palace, more medieval castle than harmonious Renaissance palace.
Ranuccio, the son of warriors, turned his palace into an immense mass that would frighten the nobility of Parma, who were in conflict with his power. The idea of building a theatre occurred to Ranuccio after visiting Florence in 1604 at the invitation of the Grand Duke Cosimo II. It was then that he attended a performance of great scenographic effect, with which the Medici wanted to surprise and impress their guests, asserting their greatness. Ranuccio returned to Parma wishing to surpass them. The origin of the theatre was therefore political. The aim was to show the Medici that the dukes of Parma were worthy enough in wealth and culture to be related to them.
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In November 1617, in a hurry, Ranuccio called a large group of artists and craftsmen from neighbouring Ferrara, led by Giovanni Battista Aleotti, who had designed the Teatro degli Intrepidi, to rapidly build a theatre to put on a great show for the Grand Duke. The result was the gargantuan Teatro Farnese: 87 metres long, 32 metres wide and 22 metres high (Q7847). At the same time, Alfonso Pozzo wrote La Difesa della Bellezza, assisted by Antonio Goretti for the music; six intermissions were interspersed between the acts. The work was fanciful, full of mythological references that were the pretext for an extensive display of scenographic tricks, including the flooding of the stalls.
But the rush was to no avail. The Grand Duke, seriously ill in Florence, never came, and Ranuccio died in 1622 without seeing the theatre inaugurated. It was finally opened on 21 December 1628 for the wedding of Odoardo Farnese to Cosimo II's daughter, Margerida de’ Medici. Ten years later than planned, the theatre served its intended purpose, able to host 3000 people.
The inaugural performance was worthy of the space built: no effort was spared. Thus, Claudio Monteverdi, the greatest composer of the time, was called upon to put music and song to the Torneo Regale Mercurio e Marte. When the curtain rose ‘the Aurora appeared, sitting on a triumphant chariot pulled by a fierce horse’, and four quadrilles of knights performed. The spectacle ended with the appearance of Neptune in his chariot, accompanied by the sound of the water flowing from both sides of the proscenium. Aleotti’s old idea for the show in honour of Cosimo II had finally been realised: a naumachia – a staged naval battle - closed the performance. Because of the high cost of this type of courtly production, the theatre was only performed in a total of nine times until 1732. The theatre was almost destroyed by an Allied air raid during World War II (1944). It was rebuilt and reopened in 1962 not only as venue but also as an extraordinary entrance hall to the National Gallery of Parma.
The Teatro Farnese is not only larger than earlier Renaissance theatres (such as the Olympic Theatre of Vicenza, (Q650) and the Teatro all'Antica of Sabbioneta, (Q653)), but it is also more suitable for hosting various types of shows. Versatility is necessary to satisfy the varied tastes of the public, in which the charm of the surprise box of the Italian theatre coexists with the violence of medieval tournaments. Different shows require different scenic spaces: one is secluded, enclosed in a box equipped with machinery capable of creating any world; the other, expansive, occupying the entire hall.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Italian-style theatre was in conflict with two types of spectacle: classical and medieval theatre. The stage opening recalls the classical scenae frons of Roman theatres, and between it and the tiered seating there are traces of Roman versurae and Greek parodos. At the same time, as the first performance showed, it is not free from medieval tradition either. Some claim the Teatro Farnese as the first permanent theatre with a proscenium arch, and the proscenium arch underlines the division between the two types of spectacle. The unity of the classical theatre, organised around the circle, has been lost. The stage space, though, is no longer a bas-relief background, but has become a magic box.