Editing Carlo Goldoni (section)

== Biography ==

=== Memoirs ===
There is an abundance of autobiographical information on Goldoni, most of which comes from the introductions to his plays and from his ''Memoirs''. However, these memoirs are known to contain many errors of fact, especially about his earlier years.

In these memoirs, he paints himself as a born comedian, careless, light-hearted and with a happy temperament, proof against all strokes of fate, yet thoroughly respectable and honourable.

=== Early life and studies ===
[[File:Palazzo Centani e Rio San Toma.jpg|thumb|''Palazzo Centani'' birthplace of Goldoni in Venice]]
Goldoni was born in [[Venice]] in 1707, the son of Margherita Salvioni (or Saioni) and Giulio Goldoni. In his memoirs, Goldoni describes his father as a [[physician]], and claims that he was introduced to theatre by his grandfather Carlo Alessandro Goldoni. In reality, it seems that Giulio was an [[apothecary]]; as for the grandfather, he had died four years before Carlo's birth. In any case, Goldoni was deeply interested in theatre from his earliest years, and all attempts to direct his activity into other channels were of no avail; his toys were puppets, and his books were plays.

His father placed him under the care of the philosopher Caldini at [[Rimini]] but the youth soon ran away with a company of strolling players and returned to Venice. In 1723 his father matriculated him into the stern [[Collegio Ghislieri]] in [[Pavia]], which imposed the [[tonsure]] and [[monk|monastic habits]] on its students. However, he relates in his ''Memoirs'' that a considerable part of his time was spent reading Greek and [[Latin]] comedies. He had already begun writing at this time and, in his third year, he composed a [[libel]]lous poem (''Il colosso'') in which he ridiculed the daughters of certain Pavian families. As a result of that incident (and/or of a visit with some schoolmates to a local brothel), he was expelled from the school and had to leave the city (1725). He studied law at [[Udine]], and eventually took his degree at [[University of Modena]]. He was employed as a law clerk at [[Chioggia]] and [[Feltre]], after which he returned to his native city and began practising.
[[File:Monument to Carlo Goldoni (Venice).jpg|thumb|Monument to Goldoni in [[Venice]] (sculpted by Antonio Dal Zotto)]]
Educated as a lawyer, and holding lucrative positions as secretary and counsellor, he seemed, indeed, at one time to have settled down to the practice of law, but following an unexpected summons to Venice, after an absence of several years, he changed his career, and thenceforth he devoted himself to writing plays and managing theatres. His father died in 1731. In 1732, to avoid an unwanted marriage, he left the town for [[Milan]] and then for [[Verona]] where the theatre manager Giuseppe Imer helped him on his way to becoming a comical poet as well as introducing him to his future wife, Nicoletta Conio. Goldoni returned with her to Venice, where he stayed until 1743.

=== Theatrical career ===
[[Image:Statua di Carlo Goldoni (Firenze).JPG|thumb|Monument to Goldoni in [[Florence]] (sculpted by [[Ulisse Cambi]])]]

Goldoni entered the Italian theatre scene with a [[tragedy]], ''[[Amalasunta]]'', produced in Milan. The play was a critical and financial failure.

Submitting it to Count Prata, director of the opera, he was told that his piece "was composed with due regard for the rules of [[Aristotle]] and [[Horace]], but not according to those laid down for the Italian drama." "In France", continued the count, "you can try to please the public, but here in Italy it is the actors and actresses whom you must consult, as well as the composer of the music and the stage decorators. Everything must be done according to a certain form which I will explain to you."

Goldoni thanked his critic, went back to his inn and ordered a fire, into which he threw the manuscript of his ''Amalasunta''.

His next play, ''Belisario'', written in 1734, was more successful, though of its success he afterwards professed himself ashamed.

During this period he also wrote [[librettos]] for [[opera seria]] and served for a time as literary director of the [[Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo|San Giovanni Grisostomo]], Venice's most distinguished [[opera house]].<ref name="cgt">Banham (1998, 433).</ref>

He wrote other tragedies for a time, but he was not long in discovering that his bent was for [[comedy]]. He had come to realize that the Italian stage needed reforming; adopting [[Molière]] as his model, he went to work in earnest and in 1738 produced his first real comedy, ''L'uomo di mondo'' ("The Man of the World"). During his many wanderings and adventures in Italy, he was constantly at work and when, at [[Livorno]], he became acquainted with the manager Medebac, he determined to pursue the profession of playwriting in order to make a living. He was employed by Medebac to write plays for his theatre in Venice. He worked for other managers and produced during his stay in that city some of his most characteristic works. He also wrote ''Momolo Cortesan'' in 1738. By 1743, he had perfected his hybrid style of playwriting (combining the model of [[Molière]] with the strengths of ''[[Commedia dell'arte]]'' and his own wit and sincerity). This style was typified in ''La Donna di garbo'', the first Italian comedy of its kind.

After 1748, Goldoni collaborated with the composer [[Baldassare Galuppi]], making significant contributions to the new form of '[[opera buffa]]'. Galuppi composed the score for more than twenty of Goldoni's librettos. As with his comedies, Goldoni's ''opera buffa'' integrates elements of the Commedia dell'arte with recognisable local and middle-class realities. His operatic works include two of the most successful musical comedies of the eighteenth century, ''Il filosofo di campagna'' (''The Country Philosopher''), set by Galuppi (1752) and ''[[La buona figliuola]]'' (''The Good Girl''), set by [[Niccolò Piccinni]] (1760).<ref name="cgt"/>

In 1753, following his return from Bologna, he defected to the [[Teatro San Luca]] of the [[Vendramin]] family, where he performed most of his plays to 1762.

=== Move to France and death ===
[[File:Carlo Goldoni buste neige.jpg|thumb|130px|Bust of Goldoni, near [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] in Paris]]

In 1757, he engaged in a bitter dispute with playwright [[Carlo Gozzi]], which left him utterly disgusted with the tastes of his countrymen; so much so that in 1761 he moved to Paris, where he received a position at court and was put in charge of the [[Théâtre-Italien]]. He spent the rest of his life in France, composing most of his plays in French and writing his memoirs in that language.

Among the plays which he wrote in French, the most successful was ''[[Le bourru bienfaisant]]'', dedicated to [[Adélaïde of France (1732–1800)|Marie Adélaïde]], a daughter of [[Louis XV]] and aunt to the [[Dauphin of France|dauphin]], the future [[Louis XVI]] of France. It premiered on 4 February 1771, almost nine months after the dauphin's marriage to [[Marie Antoinette]].<ref>Richards 1995; [https://books.google.com/books?id=81etmWhHeJ0C&pg=PP1 title page of ''Le bourru bienfaisant''].</ref> Goldoni enjoyed considerable popularity in France; in 1769, when he retired to [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]], the King gave him a pension.<ref>Richards 1995.</ref> He lost this pension after the [[French Revolution]]. The Convention eventually voted to restore his pension the day after his death. It was restored to his widow, at the pleading of the poet [[André Chénier]]; "She is old", he urged, "she is seventy-six, and her husband has left her no heritage save his illustrious name, his virtues and his poverty."
[[File:Commedie del dottore Carlo Goldoni.tif|thumb|''Commedie del dottore Carlo Goldoni'' (1753)]]