been in immediate touch with the nidus of Italian scenic art at Ferrara, for when Henri and Catherine visited Lyons it was Cardinal Hippolyte d'Este who provided entertainment for them with a magnificent performance of Bibbiena's famous Calandra. This was 'nella gran sala di San Gianni' and was certainly staged in the full Italian manner, with perspective by Andrea Nannoccio and a range of terra-cotta statues by one Zanobi.[1] Henceforward it is possible to trace the existence of a Court drama in France. The Italian influence persisted. It is not, indeed, until 1571 that we find regular companies of Italian actors settling in Paris, and these, when they came, probably played, mainly if not entirely, commedie dell' arte.[2] But Court performances in 1555 and 1556 of the Lucidi of Firenzuola and the Flora of Luigi Alamanni show that the commedia sostenuta was already established in favour at a much earlier date.[3] More important, however, is the outcrop of vernacular tragedy and comedy, on classical and Italian models, which was one of the literary activities of the Pléiade. The pioneer in both genres was Étienne Jodelle, whose tragedy of Cléopâtre Captive was produced before Henri II by the author and his friends at the Hôtel de Reims early in 1553, and subsequently repeated at the Collège de Boncour, where it was accompanied by his comedy of La Rencontre, probably identical with the extant Eugène, which is believed to date from 1552. Jodelle had several successors: in tragedy, Mellin de Saint-Gelais, Jacques and Jean de la Taille, Jacques Grévin, Robert Garnier, Antoine de Montchrestien; and in comedy, Rémy Belleau, Jean de Baïf, Jean de la Taille, Jacques Grévin, and Pierre Larivey. So far as tragedy was concerned, the Court representations soon came to an end. Catherine de' Medici, always superstitious, believed that the Sophonisbe of Mellin de Saint-Gelais in 1556 had brought ill luck, and would have no more.[4] The academies may have continued to find hospitality for a few, but the best critical opinion appears to be that most of the tragedies of Garnier and his fellows were for the printing-press only, and that their scenic indica-*
- ↑ Baschet, 6; D'Ancona, ii. 456; H. Prunières, L'Opéra Italien en France (1913), xx; A. Solerti, La rappresentazione della Calandra a Lione nel 1548 (1901, Raccolta di Studii Critici ded. ad A. d' Ancona), from La Magnifica et Triumphale Entrata del Christianissimo Re di Francia Henrico Secundo (1549).
- ↑ Cf. ch. xiv (Italians).
- ↑ D'Ancona, ii. 457.
- ↑ Brantôme, Recueil des Dames, i. 2 (Œuvres, ed. 1890, x. 47), 'Elle eut opinion qu'elle avoit porté malheur aux affaires du royaume, ainsi qu'il succéda; elle n'en fit plus jouer'. Ingegneri says of tragedies, 'Alcuni oltra dicio le stimano di triste augurio'.
