Abstract

The analysis of early Cinquecento plays, written in an age in which classically based theatre developed its own modes of expression and concepts of drama, must combine textual philology with the history of performance, specifically analysing the material context of how texts were produced and circulated. By examining the crucial role of dedicatees, who were learning to ‘recognize’ and share the novel experience of spectatorship (at court, in the academy, or in groups of pleasure-seekers), we can decode the evolution of performing and music in compositions that still retain elements of orality. These often became ‘comedies’ through their realization on stage, in large part because early vernacular printers created so-called ‘saddlebag leaflets’ that recorded performances for an emerging and lucrative entertainment market.