Performance of the Aminta

According to the tradition reiterated in detail by Solerti, the first performance of the Aminta took place at the end of July 1573, on the island of Belvedere, and was staged by Tasso himself. A second hypothesis was recently formulated by E. Graziosi (Aminta 1573-1580. Amore e matrimonio in casa d’Este, Pisa, Pacini, 2001). Based on Serassi’s observations, it places the first performance several months earlier, in March the same year. Besides such details is the fact that the pastoral drama was Tasso’s masterpiece reflecting the Este Court. The correspondences, discernible even today (Tirsi / Tasso, Elpino / Pigna, Batto / Guarini, Licori / Lucrezia Bendidio), provide a stylized pastoral image of the Ferrara Court, dominated by Alfonso II, to whom Tirsi alludes in his line: “Oh Dafne, I was made this idle by God” (Act II, sc.ii). Derived from Virgil, the passage paid homage to the prince who had recently appointed Tasso to his service, and who actively encouraged his work on the Goffredo. The episode can be seen as symbolizing the joyous high point of Tasso’s time at Ferrara. It was also the moment that preceded the legal wrangles over the revision and printing of his epic: together with Tasso’s growing distrust, these were to have a detrimental effect on his outlook. The bitter Mopso episode and his biting comments against the court were to throw everything into a new light. Moreover, a quarter of a century later, in 1592, the Este Court came under papal control, after Duke Alfonso had died without an heir.