Scaramouche

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Scaramuccia, figurine by Maurice Sand , 1860

Scaramouche , Scaramuz or Skaramuz is a comic character from the Italian folk theater Commedia dell'arte . The word comes from the Italian word Scaramuccia , also Scaramuzzo , and means " skirmish ", also in the sense of a word battle. In French the character is called Scaramouche , in English one knows the scaramouch colloquially in the sense of "loudmouth".

Skaramuz is mostly dressed in black and appears in traditional Spanish clothes . He represents the type of the Neapolitan adventurer and braggart. Usually he is beaten at the end by Arlecchino .

At first, the figure in France became a prominent figure. The actor Tiberio Fiorilli (1608–1694) is said to have cheered up the two-year-old Louis XIV (1638–1715) as Scaramouche . After that, the character developed into an integral part of his theater. Around 1680 the Scaramuccia appeared for the first time instead of the Spanish Capitano in the pieces of the Commedia dell'arte.

The figure in poetry and music

The writer Rafael Sabatini lets his novel hero André Moreau slip into this role in his novel Scaramouche (1921).

Probably the most famous setting for this figure comes from the French composer Darius Milhaud , who wrote it for two pianos in 1936. The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius wrote a complete theatrical music based on the libretto Scaramouche by Poul Knudsen and Mikael Trepka Bloch from 1912 to 1913.

The character also appears in the song Bohemian Rhapsody by the British rock group Queen . In addition, one of the protagonists in the Queen musical We Will Rock You is called Scaramouche.

The Russian secret service agent Dmitri Badin used the name as a pseudonym in his hacking activities.

Film adaptations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Florian Flade and Georg Mascolo: Allegations against Moscow after cyber attack Tagesschau, May 15, 2020.