Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Abstract:
The theatre tradition of the Habsburg Empire has its roots in a past rich in festive events and very different types of performances. Already at the beginning of the 16th century and increasingly so during the 17th century, especially under the reign of Emperor Leopold I, the Viennese court engaged architects, artists, composers, musicians and writers to create – following the example of the Italian princely courts – an impressive spectacular culture devoted to great dynamism. With the spread of musical opera at the beginning of the 17th century also in Habsburg territory, the monarchs began to commission the construction of new theatres, which were true jewels of engineering and stage technology. It is at this point that, in the history of the Empire, mention should be made of the contribution of Giovanni and Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini. The Burnacini were illustrious ‘theatre engineers’ and certainly –together with Giacomo Torelli, who had been invited by Louis XIV to Paris – among the most important of those who emigrated beyond the Alps. A theatre engineer took care of most aspects of festivals and theatre productions, from conception to realisation, giving a decisive imprint to the whole aesthetics of the event. The aim of the article is to illustrate the researches carried out in recent years and to show how the Burnacini family, thanks to cultured men of letters who acted as intermediaries, were invited to Vienna to live there permanently, proposing types of spectacles that became fundamental for the history of theatre and almost a synonymous of Baroque culture.