Il Mattaccino: music and dance of the matachin and its role in Italian comedy

Abstract

Il Mattaccino takes his name from the Italian word matto, meaning ‘mad’ or ‘crazy’. Choreographies called Il Mattaccino and La Mattaccinata, named after this performer, have been called the dances par excellence of the professional improvised comedy that came to be known as the commedia dell’arte. Called ‘matachins’ in English, these masked dancers performed acrobatic feats and moresque dances with high leaps, wearing bells on their legs to accentuate their rhythmic motions. Mattaccini did not originate in the comedy—they antedate the commedia. Their grotesque gestures were similar to street entertainers and saltimbanques, and their moresque choreography had been part of mascherate and sacre rappresentationi. They participated in a variety of comic Italian theatrical genres, including works that had a written script as well as those whose action and dialogue were improvised (commedia all’ improvviso)—known today as commedia dell’arte. Although there is a paucity of explicit references to mattaccini in surviving commedia scenarios, Giovanni Battista Doni described how matachins’ dances could be interpolated in the commedia. Matachins appeared with the touring company of comedian Zan Ganassa and in the written plays of Giovanni Battista Andreini. Iconography reflects the staging of the dance, which was at times depicted with an accompaniment of lute, chitarrone, guitar or cittern. It is in intabulations for these instruments that this dance music is most often encountered in musical sources. Plucked-string instruments were especially suited to the stage, and many notable actors of the commedia performed on such instruments. If the matachin’s choreography may now be considered the dance par excellence of the commedia, it is because of the mad character of the dancers and their similarity to the zanni who were precursors of the early commedia dell’arte, rather than the frequency of references to mattaccini in surviving scenarios. There are indications of their appearance in written comedy, and if Doni’s description reflects actual practice, their crazy antics and leaping moresque choreography could at times have been interpolated in improvised comedy.