Grilletta e Porsugnacco
(by Johann Adolph Hasse)
Co-production of the Zarzuela Theater of Madrid and the Juan March Foundation
Premiere September 22, 2023
Grilleta e Porsugnacco is a baroque intermezzo. This theatrical genre, which had its main epicenters in Naples and Venice, served as burlesque entertainment during the intermissions of serious opera.
Grilletta e Porsugnacco, a work by the famous Johann Adolph Hasse based on a libretto by Molière, participates in the conventions of commedia dell'arte to narrate the goings-on of a young maid interested in marrying a wealthy bourgeois. The work premiered in Naples in 1727, and would be taken to the court of Madrid at the request of the singer Farinelli, around two decades later.
The manuscript preserved in the Royal Library of Madrid serves as the basis for this first interpretation in modern times.
Fotografías: Dolores Iglesias / Archivo Fundación Juan March