His passion for theatre
The Tirsi represents Castiglione’s passion for the theatre, for acting and performing, of which there remain various testimonies. Still at the court of Urbino, on 6th February 1513, in fact, during the carnival festivities, Baldassarre supervised the first representation of the Calandria, the play written by his friend Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena mixing various classical styles. It was a very elegant work, sensual and mischievous, highly stylized, that explained and justified the inclusion of its author among the characters who were the protagonists of The Cortegiano, as master of gibes and facetiousness.
The organization and production of the performance, in which the architect and painter Gerolamo Genga also collaborated (an apprentice of Raffaello), charged by Castiglione himself he handled the scenery, are described meticulously by Baldassarre in a long and animated letter to Ludovico di Canossa, written on the 13th and 21st February. The text documents his deep passion for the theatre, which is also reflected later in The Cortegiano: his taste for gestures, for posture and attitude, for physical behaviour, as absolute tools for communication, by means of which every individual, adhering to, or irreverently violating, a code, affirms his own identity.
In his letter to Canossa, Castiglione said that, as well as the Calandria, two other plays had been put on. The performance took place in a hall of the ducal palace; the backdrop of the raised stage represented the houses and palaces of a beautiful city, with an octagonal temple and a triumphal arch decorated with stucco and stained glass. The highly select public sat behind a barrier on stepped benches. The success was huge, and Baldassarre’s satisfaction absolute. The fame of the performance started to circulate between Rome, Mantua and Venice.
In October 1519, during the celebrations for his own wedding with Ippolita Torelli, at the home in Mantua of Giovanni Gonzaga, Castiglione promoted and organized a performance of Gog e Magog, written by his friend Domizio Falcone, seen by Isabella d’Este and all the protagonists of the court.
