La copia differente. Due riscritture di Luigi Riccoboni

Abstract

This article focuses on Tito Manlio and Sofonisba, two plays by Luigi Riccoboni, the eighteenth-century head of a commedia dell’arte troupe. Until now, what little critical attention these texts have received has been entirely based on the monumental work of Xavier de Courville, Riccoboni’s most important biographer. The French scholar defines Tito Manlio as a rewriting of the eponymous opera by Matteo Noris, published a few years before, whereas Sofonisba should be considered an autonomous creative work drawing upon Trissino’s dramatic model. This article aims to reassess the intertextual relationships between the two dramas and their supposed antecedents through an accurate comparative analysis aimed at evaluating the extent of Riccoboni’s originality.

Keywords

• literature
• theatre
• Italy
• 18th century