'influsso italiano nella drammaturgia maltese dell'eta barocca, visto attraverso il teatro di Carlo Magri

Abstract

This study deals with an analysis of Carlo Magri's life and works in the seventeenth century. It presents a comprehensive picture of Carlo Magri's early years of life and his literary works, some of which are still in manuscript form, as well as of various religious, social, cultural and linguistic aspects of late 1ih century Malta and Gozo. The study focuses not only on Carlo Magri, a very intelligent, astute and persuasive man, capable of solving in his favour all the problems with which he was faced on his arrival as parish priest in Goza, but also on his three-act play La regia e un Sogno ovvero la Costanza, the first play written by a Maltese ever to be published. Besides the transcription and annotation of Magri's play, written and published in 1672, the study compares and contrasts themes, settings and other aspects of Magri's play with those of Sicilian and Neapolitan dramatists. Even though Maltese theatrical works of the period have been influenced by Baroque Italian Theatre, particularly by the Neapolitan "Commedia dell'Arte" style of writing and representation, the study reveals how Carlo Magri succeeded in introducing in his play a number of innovations.. One of the most important is the elimination, as a result of his sensitivity to the public's wishes, of the use of vulgar language and of the prologue. This delineates him as a pioneer in the drive for change.