Tristano Martinelli

Tristano Martinelli (c. 1556 – 1630), called Dominus Arlecchinorum, the "Master of Harlequins", was an Italian actor in the commedia dell'arte tradition. He is probably the first actor to use the name 'Harlequin' for the secondo zanni role.

Martinelli was active in France in 1584 to 1585, where he presumably first acted in his Arlequin role. There is no mention of the Arlequin, Arlecchino, or Harlequin character prior to Martinelli's time in Paris. Arlecchino first clearly appears in Martinelli's 1601 publication Compositions de Rhetorique, yet Tristano Martinelli would follow his name in 1590s signatures with "'detto Arlechino comico,' or 'alias Arlechino'." For the carnival of 1584, he picked a name taken from French folklore, the devil Herlequin, for his performance to a Parisian audience. His character wore a linen costume of colourful patches, and a hare-tail on his cap to indicate cowardice, a black leather half-mask, a moustache and a pointed beard. It is also plausible that Martinelli used a tail or plume to imitate the style of the Bergamask people native to the region where Arlecchino is typically depicted as being from. He chose the name Harlequin (Arlequin) after the name of the popular French devil character it resembled. The name Herlequin likely came from Helle-kin, an Old French derivative of the Germanic Erlkönig (Elf-King), or from Schar der Hölle (Host of Hell), which became Höllen-Kind (Child of Hell).

Martinelli became attached to the Mantuan court of Duke Ferdinando I Gonzaga, with a regular stipend, about 1596–97. Within a few years he was overseeing all the professional acting troupes in the Gonzaga territories. Martinelli, in service of the Duke, acted as both police and a tax collector for the actors and other street performers and merchants. A decree from the Duke mandated that Arlecchino and Martinelli were superior to all other performers and street vendors, and that all were required to have a license from Tristano in order to perform, lest they be heavily fined. It was also declared that Arlecchino would act as a supervisor for public events as the Duke's personal representative.

Martinelli's personality and the appeal of his character created tension with other players, particularly the Andreini, who felt that he was usurping the Innamorati's traditional position at the top of the hierarchy. Virginia Ramponi, a renowned actress in her own right, wrote to a Cardinal in 1611 to demand that Martinelli not be granted a license to create his own theatrical company, as she believed it would be purely self-serving.

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