![SAND Maurice Masques et bouffons 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/SAND_Maurice_Masques_et_bouffons_03.jpg)
Columbina (in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
Colombina, meaning "little
dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
"; in
French and English Colombine) is a
stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
in the ''
commedia dell'arte
(; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
''.
She is
Harlequin
Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...
's mistress,
a comic servant playing the
tricky slave
The tricky slave is a stock character. He is a clever, Social_class#Lower_class, lower-class person who brings about the happy ending of a comedy for the Lovers (character), lovers. He is more clever than the upper class, upper-class people about ...
type, and wife of
Pierrot
Pierrot ( , , ) is a stock character of pantomime and '' commedia dell'arte'', whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a diminutive of ''P ...
. Rudlin and Crick use the Italian spelling Colombina in ''Commedia dell'arte: A Handbook for Troupes''.
History
The role of the female servant was originally that of an entr'acte dancer. Women were not allowed to be part of the story that was being played out on stage, but they were allowed to have a dance in-between the action. Eventually these women became the busom and gossipy servants of characters that were already allowed on stage, and then, later, the counterparts to the
Zanni
Zanni (), Zani or Zane is a character type of commedia dell'arte best known as an astute servant and a trickster. The Zanni comes from the countryside and is known to be a "dispossessed immigrant worker".Rudlin, John. ''Commedia dell'arte: An Act ...
characters. She was very down to earth and could always see the situation for what it actually was. She was also sometimes portrayed as a prostitute. She was very infrequently without something to say to or about someone.
She is dressed in a very short ragged and patched dress, appropriate to a master of the arts. These characters were usually played unmasked, but with bonnets and metal chokers. She was also known to wear heavy makeup around her eyes and carry a tambourine, which she could use to fend off the amorous advances of
Pantalone
Pantalone , spelled Pantaloon in English, is one of the most important principal characters found in . With his exceptional greed and status at the top of the social order, Pantalone is "money" in the commedia world. His full name, including fam ...
. Columbina was sometimes chased after by Arlecchino (also known as Harlequin) or was close friends with him. There is record of Columbine using numerous disguises to trick or seduce Harlequin. Where most other characters are content with one disguise, Gheraldi's Colombine has several different disguises to confuse Harlequin and to keep the audience on their toes.
She was often the only functional intellect on the stage. Columbine aided her mistress, the ''
innamorata'', to gain the affections of her one true love. She is sometimes the lover of Harlequin, but not always. They sometimes engage in sexual activity, but not always. She may be a flirtatious and impudent character, indeed a
soubrette
A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy".
Theatre
In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...
.
In the
verismo
In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.
''Verismo'' as an ...
opera ''
Pagliacci
''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who m ...
'' by
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo ( , , ; 23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera '' Pagliacci'' (1892) that remained hi ...
, the head of the troupe's wife, Nedda, playing as Colombine, cheats on her husband, Canio, playing as
Pagliaccio, both onstage with
Harlequin
Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...
and offstage with Silvio.
Although Colombine is one name associated with the female servant prostitute character archetype, other names under which the same character is played in ''Commedia dell'arte'' performances include Franceschina, Smeraldina, Oliva, Nespola, Spinetta Ricciolina, and Corallina Diamantina. Colombina became the most common name used to describe the ''sobretta'' character, especially as Colombine in France and in England.
One of the actresses who made this character famous was Silvia Roncagli, the first woman recorded doing a seretta role named Francheschina in about 1570. One of the first women to play the role named Colombina was Italian actress Isabella Franchini Biancolelli.
Her granddaughter,
Caterina Biancolelli
Caterina Biancolelli (1665–1716) was an Italian actress in the ''commedia dell'arte'' style of theater. She was one of the earliest actresses to play the role of Columbina, Colombina, and one of the most famous.
Biancolelli was the daughter of ...
, was one of the most famous serettas whose name was Colombina. She played the part about 1683.
There is record of the French playwright
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
having attended many performances of the comédie italienne, or ''commedia dell'arte''. He is even referenced in a performance by Angelo Costantini of his show ''Une Vie de Scaramouche'', which refers to the writer and poet. This might suggest that the servant character in many of Molière's plays, such as Dorine in his play ''Tartuffe'', might be based on this particular character archetype from the ''commedia dell'arte''.
Gallery
File:Harlekin Columbine Tivoli Denmark.jpg , Harlequin
Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...
dancing with Columbine
File:Pierre-Antoine Quillard - A Commedia dell’Arte scene with Columbina, Harlequin and Pierrot,.jpg , Pierrot, Columbine and Harlequin (painting by Pierre-Antoine Quillard
Pierre-Antoine Quillard, (; c. 1700 – 25 November 1733) was a French portrait painter and engraver who worked in Portugal.
Biography
Quillard's father was a woodworker. He began to study art at a very early age, possibly with Antoine Watte ...
, c. 1733)
File:Röpke lapok (1915-1-1).jpg, The cover of the newspaper Röpke Lapok by Richard Geiger
Richard Geiger (29 June 1870 – 9 February 1945) was an Austrian painter.
Initially he worked for a Hungarian weekly magazine. By the 1920s, he worked illustrating books, bookplates and posters. His paintings included portraits, nudes, genre p ...
featuring Pierrot and Columbine
See also
*
Pierrot
Pierrot ( , , ) is a stock character of pantomime and '' commedia dell'arte'', whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a diminutive of ''P ...
*
Harlequinade
''Harlequinade'' is a British comic theatrical genre, defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th cent ...
*
Caterina Biancolelli
Caterina Biancolelli (1665–1716) was an Italian actress in the ''commedia dell'arte'' style of theater. She was one of the earliest actresses to play the role of Columbina, Colombina, and one of the most famous.
Biancolelli was the daughter of ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Female stock characters
Fictional tricksters
Commedia dell'arte female characters
Fictional servants