Lazzi (/ˈlɑːtsi/; from the Italian lazzo, a joke or witticism) are stock comedic routines that are associated with commedia dell'arte. Performers, especially those playing the masked Arlecchino, had many examples of this in their repertoire, and would use improvisatory skills to weave them into the plot of dozens of different commedia scenarios.[1][2] These largely physical sequences could be improvised or preplanned within the performance and were often used to enliven the audience when a scene was dragging, to cover a dropped line or cue, or to delight an expectant audience with the troupe's specialized lazzi.[3][4]
Lazzi could be completed by a single player (e.g. the Lazzo of the School of Humanity wherein a Zanni character would announce that his sister was running a "school of humanity" from their home because she was a prostitute), a few individuals (e.g. the Lazzo of the Straw wherein a stock character of higher status would pour wine as his servant emptied it through a straw), or the entire troupe (e.g. the Lazzo of Nightfall wherein the entire troupe would stumble onto stage to enact hapless physical sequences as though the room was pitch black).[3][5] While its placement in the plot was usually fixed during rehearsals, it was acceptable for an actor to unexpectedly utter a predetermined line of dialogue that instructed fellow performers to enact lazzi at any time during the performance. Sometimes lazzi could take place in dances or songs accompanied by onstage stringed musical instruments.[6]
^Boyd, Timothy W. (2012-08-01). "Memory on Canvas: Commedia dell'Arte as a Model for Homeric Performance". Oral Tradition. 26 (2). doi:10.1353/ort.2011.0025. hdl:10355/65243. ISSN 1542-4308. S2CID 162185511.
^Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia Dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. Columbia University Press. pp. 5–10. ISBN 9780742643543.
^ abGarfein, Herschel; Gordon, Mel; Turci, Gennaro (1978-01-01). "The Adriani Lazzi of the Commedia Dell'Arte". The Drama Review: TDR. 22 (1): 3–12. doi:10.2307/1145163. JSTOR 1145163.
^Smith, Winifred (1912). The Commedia Dell'arte: A Study in Italian Popular Comedy. The Columbia University Press. pp. 5–10.
^Gordon, Mel (1983). Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia Dell'arte. Performing Arts Journal Publications. ISBN 9780933826694.
^Oreglia, Giacomo (1968). The Commedia dell'Arte. New York: Dramabook. pp. 11–12. ISBN 0-8090-0545-X. The lazzi were stage jests in mime or words, sometimes even in dances (sarabands, pavanes, galliards, bergamasques, chaconnes and the like) and songs (strambotti- short rounds in folk style, frottole- popular songs, arias, canzoni) accompanied by musical instruments such as the guitar, the theorbo, the flute, the Neapolitan lute and the mandola or small lute.
Lazzi (/ˈlɑːtsi/; from the Italian lazzo, a joke or witticism) are stock comedic routines that are associated with commedia dell'arte. Performers, especially...
in mime or in words. The following lazzi examples are short comic routines by the character type Zanni. In "Lazzi of the Cat" the Zanni mimics the actions...
Gianluca Lazzi is an Italian electrical engineer. Lazzi graduated from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1994 with a Dr. Eng. in electrical engineering...
operator for each of the 14 lots constituted, CLAP merged with the companies Lazzi and C.LU.B. Scpa to form the consortium VaiBus which was absorbed by the...
character names, brief descriptions of action, and references to specific lazzi with no further explanation. It is believed that a scenario formed the basis...
canovaccio. Plays did not originate from written drama but from scenarios called lazzi, which were loose frameworks that provided the situations, complications...
Il Capitano (Italian: [il kapiˈtaːno]; lit. 'The Captain') is one of the four stock characters of commedia dell'arte. He most likely was never a "Captain"...
were called the edhilingui (related to the term aetheling), frilingi and lazzi. These terms were subsequently Latinised as nobiles or nobiliores; ingenui...
of the play depended largely on their creativity and above all on their lazzi (jokes and gags). The spotlight fell on the actors rather than on the play...
improvisation, notably the Commedia dell'arte, improvise on the basis of 'lazzi' or rough outlines of scenic action (see Gordon (1983) and Duchartre (1929))...
him at the beginning of the comedy. In a commedia drama, many Zanni or lazzi routines will begin by an action delivered by Pantalone himself. Pantalone...
Comedy. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 286–288. Gordon, Mel (1983). Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell'Arte. Performing Arts Journal Publications...
improvisation, notably the Commedia dell'arte, improvise on the basis of 'lazzi' or rough outlines of scenic action (see Gordon 1983 and Duchartre 1966)...
Arlecchin t'invola Colombina, ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà! Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto in una smorfia il singhiozzo e 'l dolor, Ah! Ridi...
Giordani, who were nobles of Pesaro. The original name of the Albani was Lazzi (Laçi) which they changed to Albani in memory of their origin. Francesco...
canovaccio, and throughout would perform physical-comedy acts known as lazzi (from Italian lazzo, a joke or witticism) and the dialogue was improvised...
canovaccio. Plays did not originate from written drama but from scenarios called lazzi, which were loose frameworks that provided the situations, complications...
Heinemann Drama. pp. 3, 6–7. ISBN 978-0-325-00346-7. Gordon, Mel (1983). Lazzi: The Comic Routine of the Commedia dell'Arte. New York: Performing Arts...
innovative TV soundtracks in recent years." Criticisms of Green Wing include the lazzi methods of filming and the overall length of the episodes, with some critics...
Feminine Experience. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1996. Print. Pickering-lazzi, Robin (1995). Mothers of Invention: Women, Italian Fascism, and Culture...
performers comprised a vast collection of training games, exercises and lazzi. He wrote two books about his system; 1979's Impro: Improvisation and the...
Belgium (Epervier), Eurolines France S.A, Deutsch Touring, SITA, Sadem, Lazzi (Eurolines Italy), CLP, Julia (Eurolines Spain), Linebus and Alsa.[1] Archived...
Global Information