Vicende di teatro nelle carte dei notai reali napoletani del Settecento

Abstract

The notaries’ documents preserved in the archive of the Neapolitan Regia Corte (Royal Court) contain considerable information about the theatrical life of the Southern capital: they shed light into the complex organizational mechanisms governed by the Royal Palace, often the principal ‘actor’ in the culture of the performing arts. The numerous functionaries were not only engaged in all those matters concerning the Royal family, but also had to deal with many issued in which all the singer, musicians, composers – who took part in the court life – were involved. This was a privilege aimed to protect all the “servants” who were represented and defended by the same officers who served the Crown. The documents are precious, since they keep memory of decisions which could be reconstructed only by comparing different texts, and are connected to several extant sources, often lacking in details or in passages capable to shed light into the entire process of a given procedure.