ABSTRACT
A canovaccio is, in our definition, a short Commedia, designed to get the maximum amount of drama and comedy from a limited period of stage time; it is more of a slice of Commedia than the whole cake, so does not need to be as tightly structured as a scenario (which involves the whole range of Masks), or even to have a definite ending. We had previously assumed that the etymology of canovaccio stemmed from the notion that it was the plot summary pinned on the back of the canvas, i.e. the back curtain – thus indicating a shorter, probably outdoor performance – whereas the scenario was the same thing, but pinned on the scenery – thus implying a longer, indoor performance. However Thomas Heck has recently argued that the word is borrowed from embroidery where it means ‘a piece of loosely woven cloth on which a line or pattern has been traced, upon which one embroiders, adding color and texture in the process.’2 Whether this attribution is right or not, it is a valuable image for the performer to work from.
