La finta pazza
La finta pazza (The feigned madwoman) is a 1641 opera by Giulio Strozzi (libretto) and Francesco Sacrati (music). Its premiere was the opening night for the Teatro Novissimo in Venice. It was one of the most popular operas of the seventeenth century.
On 30 May 1640, the decision was made to create a new opera house in Venice, to compete with the existing three opera houses, the Teatro San Cassiano, the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, and the Teatro San Moisè. The Teatro Novissimo marked the first time that a building was created specifically for opera.
Early in 1641, before the opera had been performed for the first time, the libretto was already printed. This was highly unusual and a first for Venice, but would become standard practice at the Teatro Novissimo. Giulio Strozzi was already a well-established libretto writer at the time, and had in 1627 collaborated with Claudio Monteverdi on La finta pazzi Licori, an aborted opera for which no libretto or music has survived.
Francesco Sacrati not only wrote the music but also arranged for the singers, with the role of Deidamia, the "madwoman" from the title, given to the young soprano Anna Renzi, who had only made her debut in Rome the previous year and would now perform in Venice for the first time.
The stage designs and visual effects were made by Giacomo Torelli and described in a 55-page booklet, the Cannocchiale per la finta pazza ("Telescope on the feigned madwoman") that appeared after the opera season.
La finta pazza, the tenth opera ever in Venice, premiered in the Carnival season, and partly due to the good publicity campaign it was a great success, with 12 performances in Venice in 17 days. The libretto was reprinted already the same month, and for the first time in Venice, the opera house reopened after Easter to produce more performances of the work.
The opera was produced in Piacenza in 1644, by the Accademici Febiarmonici; the libretto was printed (with some modifications, omitting the name of Strozzi and references to Venice) in Codogno. The same year, Strozzi again reprinted the libretto under his own name, in reaction to this. The Codogno version was reprinted in Bologna in 1647.
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