Mary Magdalene in Italian-Language Dramatic Works after Trent

Abstract Saint Mary Magdalene appeared as a principal character in over fifty Italian dramatic works written or published between 1550 and 1750—plays, oratorios, and even an opera. Many of these works appeared in numerous editions, and in the case of oratorios, the same libretto, sometimes revised, might be set musically by two or more composers, resulting in well over 100 documented performances. Much of the scholarship to date on these dramas has focused on single works, sometimes analyzed within the contexts of contemporary social and theatrical practices or theological debates. While some scholars have alluded to the long history of Mary Magdalene dramas, fewer have explored this tradition by comparing two or more works. Fewer still have approached the topic across genre boundaries, that is, by studying relationships between plays and oratorios. Yet these genres shared themes and, to some extent, performance contexts, although the production of spoken Magdalene plays had largely ceased by the end of the seventeenth century, replaced by the newer genre of the oratorio. This essay focuses on three themes that appear throughout the 200-year-tradition under discussion: (1) Mary Magdalene as a mirror of penitence, whose repentance causes the conversion of one or more of a drama’s other characters; (2) the youthful Magdalene and the concept of carpe diem; and (3) Mary Magdalene’s struggles and eventual conversion as the dramatization of contested theological concepts such as Grace and Free Will.