MASSARANO, JACCHINO OR ISACCHINO

MASSARANO, JACCHINO OR ISACCHINO (16^th century), Italian choreographer. In 1583 he was commissioned to provide the dances for Bernardo Pino's Gli Ingiusti Sdegni which was performed by the Jewish Theater in Mantua in honor of the marriage of the duke's heir, Vincenzo Gonzaga, who was an intimate friend. The following year, when Vincenzo visited Ferrara, he was sent to supervise a similar performance there. In 1591, the poet Manfredi corresponded with Massarano and also commissioned him to supervise dances for him. When Giovanni Guarini's Pastor Fido, the most famous play of its day, was staged at the ducal palace in Mantua in 1598, Massarano was commissioned to supervise the "Blind-folded Dance" for the ballet. He was also appointed choreographer for one of the Jewish theater's biggest performances, Accessi de Amor fatta by Niccolo Grassi, in 1605, when 64 members of the company took part, and in the following year he choreographed the Tasso's Delli Intreghi de Amor. Massarano was also a composer, teacher, and singer. He was father of Abraham Massarano, historian and author of Ha-Galut veha-Pedut (Venice, 1634).

bibliography:

C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (1959), 284–5 and index; S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Dukkasut Mantovah, 2 (1964), index and bibl.; A.D. Ancona, Origini del Teatro in Italia (1891²), index; E. Faccioli, Mantova, la storia, le lettere, le arti (1962).