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Torelli

Name: Giacomo Torelli

Achievements: Automated scene-changing on stage

Born: September 1, 1608; Fano, Papal States, Italy

Died: June 17, 1678; Fano, Papal States, Italy (Aged 69)

Field & Discipline: Engineering; Mechanics; Stage Designer; Inventor

Language: Italian

Father: Pandolfo Torelli

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: Antonio

Spouse: Mme. de Sue (in Italy, known as Francisca Suez) 

Children: Unknown

Education: Unknown

Major Work:

Sets and special effects for French dramatist Pierre Corneille's "Andromede"

Life & Times:

Torelli most likely got his first theatrical training during the 1630s at Pesaro and Ferrara, two theater centers, where stage designers Nicola Sabbatini and Francesco Guitti were working (both influenced by the great 16th-century Florentine stage designer and theater architect, [influenced by] Buontalenti*.)

By 1640, Torelli was employed in Venice as a naval engineer at the city arsenal (where innovative rope-and-pulley automated production systems were used)  and in his spare time, worked on designing, building, and providing the machinery for a new theater in Venice, the Teatro Novissimo.

He made his name for perfecting the "chariot and pole" system of scene shifting.  Up until this time, the wings of a theater had run separately on rails, or in grooves in the floor, and it took 16 men to complete an entire scene change.

Torelli's invention called for slots to be cut in the stage floor, through which upright poles were placed, on which flats were mounted.  The wings glided to and fro on trolleys (or "chariots") that ran in tracks (parallel to the front of the stage) beneath the stage and were connected by ropes to a single drum.  When the drum was turned by the release of a counterweight, the trolleys rolled towards the center of the stage, and all eight pairs of wings changed simultaneously.

Torelli's system was used in European theater until the end of the 19th century.  Torelli's invention greatly boosted the development of baroque drama and stage design.  Stage decor was now integrated with the drama, contributing both to plot development and atmosphere.  Scenes could changes within acts, not just at intervals, providing not only a more dynamic theatrical experience, but facilitating that magical, dramatic moment when the old set dissolves into a new concept, an effect that was to become one of the staples of the baroque stage.

Torelli's designs, which also included a revolving stage, were also used to great effect for the dramatic presentation of other-worldly characters and events.  Deities floated in and down from the skies. Venus arose from the waves.  The gods loosed winds from a cave.  Caverns filled with flames.  All these stunning inventions earned Torelli the title "il gran stregone” (“the great wizard").

For four years after the Teatro Novissimo opened in 1641, Torelli designed the sets for such plays "La Finta pazza", "Bellerofonte" and "Venere gelosa", then in 1645 left for Paris, urgently summoned by a group of Italian singers whose livelihood was being threatened  by [worked for] Mazarin*, First Minister of France.

The Italian-born Mazarin was determined to provide a major place for Italian opera in France and had brought in a group of Italian singers, ignoring the Italian singers who were already there (the ones who applied to Torelli for help and who had gone to Paris some time before to sing for Queen Anne of Austria.)  When Torelli got to Paris, he looked the situation over, decided Mazarin was right to ignore the singers who had called him in, and went to work for Mazarin instead.

Torelli put up his set-changing machinery in the Theatre du Petit-Bourbon, then run by  [worked for] Moliere*.  The first production using his equipment was "La Finta Pazza", which he had designed in Venice.  In 1646, Torelli was hired to install his chariot and pole system in the Palais Royal theater.

Torelli then designed the sets for [designed sets for] Corneille*'s "Andromede",  commissioned by Mazarin and performed at the Petit Bourbon in 1650.  This spectacular operatic production became one of his greatest triumphs, each act having an entirely different set, with many changes of scene and "special effects" within each act.

Torelli's fortunes in Paris began to falter in 1659, when Mazarin bypassed him and sent for another famous Italian theater designer, Gaspare Vigarani, famed for having built the Modena theater in 1654, to build a replica of this theater in the Tuileries.

After the death of Mazarin in 1661, Torelli lost favor almost completely and was ordered to leave France. He returned to Fano, where in 1665, he designed and elaboratel- equipped the Teatro della Fortuna. The interior of this magnificent theater was constructed of wood, with a gallery and four tiers containing 21 boxes.

The exquisite design of the theater would restore Torelli's good name.

Extra Connections: Diarist [influenced] Evelyn* saw some of Torelli's  set designs at the Teatro Novissimo in Venice. 

His work related to that of [work related to] Inigo Jones*

Assessment: Through his elaborate and ingenious stage machinery, played an important part in the development of baroque drama

Oneliner: Giacomo Torelli, stage design innovator

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