FARCITURA. — From the French *farce*, this term refers to a series of interpolations into a sung or recited liturgical text: "Kyrie farcito," "Epistle farcita." The more technical term "tropo" is generally used when dealing with sung texts, while the expression "farcitura" is preferably applied to texts read with musical inflections or recitatives (Epistle, Gospel, Preface, lessons of the Office).
Tropo in the strict sense dates back to the 9th century; traces of farcitura in readings, however, are not found before the 11th century. Initially, farcitura was nothing more than a paraphrase, an amplification of the sacred text; little by little, things alien to the sacred concept were introduced, even of a burlesque or satirical nature. The Council of Trent, along with tropes and sequences, suppressed farcitura in readings. In the modern sense, farce has become primarily a comedy that can descend into triviality. The transfer of the term from ecclesiastical use to secular theater may have occurred in the 13th century or slightly earlier. Through the work of the *cleres de la Basoche*, scribes attached to the Parisian *Parlament*, the practice developed of contaminating Latin with vernacular words for comic effect; the *farce* was one of many types of *jeux* and *fabliaux* that remained popular under various names until our own day. The French comic theater, in which this genre prevailed and from which it spread to other countries, owes much to the *farce* in its greatest exponent Molière, who began his brilliant career precisely with *farces*. From the end of the 15th century with the famous *Farce de l'avocat Pathelin* to the 20th century with the *vaudevilles* and *revues*, one may say that the spirit of farce has remained ever alive.