ABSTRACT
Whilst, as we have seen, some ‘golden age’ Commedia troupes sought to create a company image by adopting a collective cognomen, other performers remained happy to receive their share of the take from a boss whose name and fame stood for them all. As far as is ascertainable, Alberto Naseli, known usually only by his stage name Zan Ganassa, was the first such capocomico to take a Commedia troupe to Paris. Of his previous work in Italy, little is known, except that he probably came from Bergamo itself, thus having more right than most to call himself ‘Zan’ (a diminutive of ‘Zanni’, unless one argues that ‘Zanni’ is a diminutive of ‘Zan’ . . .). On stage he certainly spoke in Bergamese dialect. His Magnifico was Stefanello Bottarga and his first innamorata Vincenza Armani. Tomasso Garzoni wrote of her that:
Of the learned Vicenza I cannot speak, but by imitating the eloquent style of Cicero, she has placed the comic art in competition with oratory . . . [and] in part by her admirable beauty, in part by her indescribable grace, has built an increased following for herself.7
