ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the single Neapolitan rendering of the legend, by the composer Giacomo Tritto and librettist Giovanni Battista Lorenzi as a commedia per musica for the Carnevale celebrations of 1783. The changing political fortunes of Naples in the eighteenth century from Spanish to Austrian rule then to its status as an independent monarchy defined contemporary political discourse, yet perhaps further complicated the existing administrative hierarchies within the capital city and its provinces. Pulcinella and Giovanni are complemented by a cast that bears many archetypical dramatic traits, yet their contours and nuances are forged and grounded in the contemporary culture of Naples. The central focus on Pulcinella and the decidedly Neapolitan qualities of the roles that comprise the cast of Convitato di pietra are attributable to the opera's conception as a commedia per musica. Russell's perspective is nevertheless colored by the primary object of underlining the centrality of the versions by first Gluck and later Da Ponte and Mozart.
