Luigi Riccoboni

Born Luigi Andrea Riccoboni[http://isni-url.oclc.nl/isni/0000000115857945 ISNI]; Senelick 1995b gives his middle name as Andreas. in Modena, he was the son of Antonio Riccoboni, who played Pantalone in London in 1678–1679.Senelick 1995b; Hartnoll 1983, p. 693. In 1699 Luigi Riccoboni established a commedia dell'arte troupe in the French style in northern Italy, since in his view the Italian tradition had become overly decadent.Senelick 1995b. He also translated some of the plays of Molière and Racine into Italian.

In the spring of 1716 the French Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, asked his cousin, the Duke of Parma, to send him a troupe of Italian actors to revive the Comédie-Italienne in Paris, which had been disbanded nearly twenty years previous. To avoid some of the difficulties of the earlier troupe, he specified that its leader should be a man of good character and manners. Riccoboni was chosen, and in a few weeks he assembled a group of ten actors, all of whom were devout Christians. The troupe was meant to perform in the Hôtel de Bourgogne, which had been vacant since 1697, but that theatre needed renovation, so they initially played at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on days when the Opéra was not performing. Even after moving to the Bourgogne, the troupe continued to perform at the Palais-Royal on Mondays and Saturdays until the death of the Regent in 1723.Brenner 1961, pp. 1–3.

File:Nouveau Théatre Italien par Riccoboni chez A.U. Coustelier en 1718.JPG

As a director, Riccoboni initially had difficulty retaining audiences with improvised plays in Italian. More and more he turned to written texts and a style of presentation that was tailored to local tastes, along with an ever increasing use of the French language.Hartnoll 1983. In February 1718 he successfully revived some of the old plays of Évariste Gherardi, the director of the Comédie-Italienne in the years prior to 1697.Brenner 1961, p. 4; Senelick 1995a. He himself wrote several plays, including L'Italien à Paris and L'Italien francisé in which Italian and French manners were juxtaposed. He also began to produce plays by French playwrights, such as Pierre Rémond de Sainte-Albine, whose scenario L'Amante difficile was performed in Italian. The first play entirely in French was Le Naufrage au Port à l'Anglais by Jacques Autreau. Riccoboni achieved his greatest acclaim for his expressive acting, particularly in the plays of Marivaux.

Riccoboni appeared in London in 1728–1729. He wrote several books on theatre in Italian and French. One was translated into English in 1741.

Riccoboni married twice, first to actress Gabriella Gardellini (stage name Argentina), and second to Elena Balletti (1686–1771; stage name Flaminia). His son Antoine-François Riccoboni (1707–1772) was an actor who used the stage name Lélio fils and in 1734 married Marie-Jeanne de La Boras.

• 1718: Hercule. Paris: Antoine-Urbain Coustelier. [https://books.google.com/books?id=47IGU4_0mJAC&pg=PP1 Copy] at Google Books.
• 1723: La surprise de l'amour, comédie (with Pierre Marivaux). Paris: Veuve Guillaume. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6504184p.r=.langEN Copy] at Gallica.
• 1726: Arcagambis tragedie en un acte (with Pierre-François Biancolelli and Antoine-François Riccoboni). Paris: Pissot; Flahault. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5734429m.r=.langEN Copy] at Gallica.
• 1728: Histoire du theatre italien. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7ydJGGKV-kC&pg=PP7 Copy] at Google Books.
• 1730–1731: Histoire du theatre italien, 2 volumes. Paris: André Cailleau. Vols. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KDAaAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP11 1] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=HTUaAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1 2] at Google Books.
• 1736: Observations sur la comédie et sur le génie de Molière. Paris: Pissot. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65346899.r=.langEN Copy] at Gallica.
• 1741: An Historical and Critical Account of the Theatres of Europe (as Lewis Riccoboni). London: R. Dodsley. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fZ8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP13 Copy] at Google Books.
• 1743: De la Réformation du Théâtre sans nom d'imprimeur. 337 pp. Copies [https://books.google.com/books?id=zS0zeaziPiMC&pg=PR3 1] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=fXFKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR3 2] at Google Books.
• 1761: Les caquets, comédie en trois actes en prose (with Antoine-François Riccoboni). Paris:Ballard. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58012992.r=.langEN Copy] at Gallica.

{{Reflist}}

• Banham, Martin, editor (1995). The Cambridge Guide to the Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9780521434379}}.
• Brenner, Clarence D. (1961). The Théâtre Italien: Its Repertory, 1716–1793. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{OCLC|2167834}}.
• Courville, Xavier de (1943–1958). Luigi Riccoboni dit Lélio (un apôtre de l'art du théâtre au XVIII^e siècle), 3 volumes. Paris: L’Arche.
• Forman, Edward (2010). Historical Dictionary of French Theater. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN|9780810849396}}.
• Hartnoll, Phyllis, editor (1983). The Oxford Companion to the Theatre (fourth edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|9780192115461}}.
• Heartz, Daniel (2004). From Garrick to Gluck: Essays on Opera in the Age of Enlightenment. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. {{ISBN|9781576470817}}.
• Riccoboni, Louis (1730). Histoire du Théâtre Italien, 2 volumes. Paris: André Cailleau. Vols. [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015050632432?urlappend=%3Bseq=11 1] & [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015050632440?urlappend=%3Bseq=11 2] at HathiTrust.
• Senelick, Laurence (1995a). "Gherardi family", in Banham 1995, p. 427.
• Senelick, Laurence (1995b). "Riccoboni, family", in Banham 1995, p. 918.
• Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. New York: Columbia University Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=48k6AAAAMAAJ&pg=PR3 Copy] at Google Books; 1964 reprint (with added illustrations): New York: Blom.

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Category:17th-century Italian male actors

Category:Commedia dell'arte

Category:1676 births

Category:1753 deaths

Category:18th-century Italian male actors

Category:Male actors from Emilia-Romagna