"or three voices, embodying the several contending passions of the agents brought into conflict by the circumstances of the plot. The total result is not pure literature, but literature fit for musical effect. Language in Metastasio's hands is pure and limpid, perhaps due to his history as an improvisatory poet. He is said to have admired Torquato Tasso, Giambattista Marino, and Ovid. The names of the first composers to set the respective texts to music is indicated next to the title Notes Sources Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (; 3 January"
"a modern English language musical theatre piece, the libretto is often referred to as the book of the work, though this usage typically excludes sung lyrics. Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio (1698–1782) (real name Pietro Trapassi) was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe. His libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozart's greatest operas, as well as for many"
"""Temistocle"", ""Il re pastore"" and what he regarded as his finest libretto, '. For the librettos, Metastasio and his imitators customarily drew on dramas featuring classical characters from antiquity bestowed with princely values and morality, struggling with conflicts between love, honour and duty, in elegant and ornate language that could be performed equally well as both opera and non-musical drama. On the other hand, Handel, working far outside the mainstream genre, set only a few Metastasio libretti for his London audience, preferring a greater diversity of texts. At this time the leading Metastasian composers were Hasse, Antonio Caldara, Vinci, Porpora,"
"Italy and much of the rest of Europe until the late 18th century. The influence of this new attitude can be seen in the works of the composers Carlo Francesco Pollarolo and the enormously prolific Alessandro Scarlatti. During the 18th century artistic and cultural life in Italy was heavily influenced by the aesthetic and poetic ideals of the members of the Accademia dell'Arcadia. The Arcadian poets introduced many changes to serious music drama in Italian, including: By far the most successful librettist of the era was Pietro Metastasio and he maintained his prestige well into the 19th century. He belonged"
"the clown roles, constructing his works so that they could be presented also without music. Francesco de Sanctis, referring to Metastasio, wrote that ""if we look at the structure, his drama is constructed in the fashion which Apostolo Zeno already demonstrated. But the structure is only a simple skeleton. Metastasio breathed into that skeleton the grace and the romance of a happy and harmonious life. He was the poet of melodrama; Zeno was the architect."" Apostolo Zeno Apostolo Zeno (11 December 1669 in Venice – 11 November 1750 in Venice) was a Venetian poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters."
"poetry was intended for a certain style of music – for the music of omnipotent vocalists, of exceedingly skilled sopranos and castrati. When the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—focusing more on psychology and less on virtuoso singing—came into vogue, a new style of libretto was needed. (However, Mozart did use an old Metastasio libretto for his renowned opera ""La clemenza di Tito"".) The demise of castrato singing meant that Metastasio's operas dropped out of the repertory. Metastasio is known as an emotional, lyrical, and romantic poet. The chief dramatic situations are expressed by lyrics for two"
"kept well preserved. Hundreds of mummified corpses, some still in burial finery or with a wig, are on display, some in open coffins, adorned with flowers or skulls, others decorated with Baroque paintings or with vanitas symbols. The most famous among them is Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782), the most famous writer of opera librettos of the baroque era. Archaeological excavations in the Michaelerplatz between 1989 and 1991 uncovered among other things the settlement of Canabæ associated with the Roman camp at Vindobona. This will have consisted primarily of the residences of soldiers' wives and children. The excavation site was made permanently"
"kinsman Gregorio Caroprese at Scaléa. In country air and the quiet of the southern seashore Metastasio's health revived. Gravina decided that he should never improvise again, but should be reserved for nobler efforts, when, having completed his education, he might enter into competition with the greatest poets. Metastasio responded to his patron's wishes. At the age of twelve he translated the ""Iliad"" into octave stanzas; and two years later he composed a Senecan tragedy on a subject from Gian Giorgio Trissino's ""Italia liberata"" – Gravina's favourite epic. It was called ""Giustino"", and was printed in 1713; forty-two years later, Metastasio"
"attracted crowds by reciting impromptu verses on a given subject. On one such occasion in 1709, two men of distinction stopped to listen: Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, famous for legal and literary erudition as well as his directorship of the Arcadian Academy, and Lorenzini, a critic of some note. Gravina was attracted by the boy's poetic talent and personal charm, and made Pietro his ""protégé""; in the course of a few weeks he adopted him. Felice Trapassi was glad to give his son the chance of a good education and introduction into society. Gravina hellenized the boy's name Trapassi into Metastasio,"
"20th century, he came to be appreciated as one of a group of reforming Italian librettists which also included Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Mattia Verazi, Giovanni de Gamerra, and Gaetano Martinelli. They moved away from the traditional Metasasian plot structures, increased the number of ensembles relative to solo arias, and organized the ballets, arias, and ensembles into integrated dramatic scenes rather than the series of showy arias which had previously characterised ""opera seria"". Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca ( 1718 – c. 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist. A student and protégé of Metastasio, he was primarily active in"
"Notes Sources Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio), was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's operas ""Otello"" and ""Falstaff"", and his own opera ""Mefistofele"". Along with Emilio Praga, and his own brother Camillo Boito he is regarded as one of the prominent representatives of the Scapigliatura artistic movement. Born in Padua, the son of Silvestro Boito, an Italian painter of miniatures and his"
"they attended Niccolò Piccinni's opera ""Cesare in Egitto"". Firmian eventually welcomed them with generous hospitality and friendship, presenting Wolfgang with a complete edition of the works of Metastasio, Italy's leading dramatic writer and librettist. Firmian also hosted a series of concerts attended by many of the city's notables, including Archduke Ferdinand, a possible future patron for the young composer. For the last of these occasions, Wolfgang wrote a set of arias using Metastasio's texts. These were so well received that Firmian commissioned Wolfgang to write the opening opera for the following winter's carnival season in Milan, just as Leopold had"
"with almost incredible rapidity: ""Achille"" in eighteen days, ""Ipermestra"" in nine. Poet, composer, musical copyist and singer did their work together in frantic haste. Metastasio understood the technique of his peculiar art in its minutest details. The experience gained at Naples and Rome, quickened by the excitement of his new career at Vienna, enabled him almost instinctively, and as it were by inspiration, to hit the exact mark aimed at in the opera. The libretto ""Adriano in Siria"" was used by more than 60 other composers in the 18th and early 19th century: Antonio Caldara (1732), Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1734),"
"Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio), was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's operas ""Otello"" and ""Falstaff"", and his own opera ""Mefistofele"". Along with Emilio Praga, and his own brother Camillo Boito he is regarded as one of the prominent representatives of the Scapigliatura artistic movement. Born in Padua, the son of Silvestro Boito, an Italian painter of miniatures and his wife, a"
"Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca ( 1718 – c. 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist. A student and protégé of Metastasio, he was primarily active in the court theaters of Dresden and Vienna. His most successful work was the libretto for the opera ""Solimano"", first set by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1753 and subsequently set by 18 other composers in the course of the next 50 years. Migliavacca was born in Milan around 1718, but the exact date of his birth as well as his parentage and early life are unknown. Much of the information about his life"
"and promised to secure for him fame and independence if he would devote his talents to the musical drama. In her house Metastasio became acquainted with the greatest composers of the day: Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Leonardo Vinci, Leonardo Leo, Francesco Durante, and Benedetto Marcello, all of whom would later set his plays to melody. Here too he studied the art of singing, and learned to appreciate the style of such men as Farinelli. Metastasio wrote quickly and his plays were enhanced by being set to music and sung by the greatest singers of the day."
"they celebrate the reign of a merciful and righteous king. (Chorus: ""Giusto re, la Persia adora""). Artaserse (Vinci) Artaserse is an opera (""dramma per musica"") in three acts composed by Leonardo Vinci to an Italian libretto by Metastasio. This was the first of many musical settings of arguably Metastasio's most popular libretto, and Vinci and Metastasio were known to have collaborated closely for the world premiere of the opera in Rome. This was the last opera Vinci composed before his death, and also considered to be his masterpiece, and is known among baroque opera enthusiasts for its florid vocal lines"
"Girolamo Graziani Girolamo Graziani (1604 – 12 September 1675), was an Italian poet. Girolamo Graziani () has been one of the most famous poet of 17th century. But his fame didn't survive him. During his life he was appreciated mainly for his epic poems ""La Cleopatra"" (1632) and ""il Conquisto di Granata"" (1650). The latter has been the source for Giacomo Leopardi's ""Consalvo"" (1833). Actually the plot (Love in the imminence of death) and the names of the main characters (Consalvo and Elvira) of Leopardi's ""Consalvo"" seem to come from Graziani's poem. Girolamo Graziani (1604–1675) was born in Pergola, near"
"with two of Italy's major writers of the time. ""L'Olimpiade"" and ""Catone in Utica"" were written by Pietro Metastasio, the major representative of the Arcadian movement and court poet in Vienna. ""La Griselda"" was rewritten by the young Carlo Goldoni from an earlier libretto by Apostolo Zeno. Like many composers of the time, Vivaldi faced financial difficulties in his later years. His compositions were no longer held in such high esteem as they once had been in Venice; changing musical tastes quickly made them outmoded. In response, Vivaldi chose to sell off sizeable numbers of his manuscripts at paltry prices"
""""". Artaserse There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, and first set to music by Leonardo Vinci in 1730 for Rome (""Artaserse""). It was subsequently set by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1730 (""Artaserse"") for Venice and in 1760 for Naples, by Christoph Willibald Gluck in 1741 for Milan, by Pietro Chiarini in 1741 for Verona, by Carl Heinrich Graun in 1743 for Stuttgart, by Domènec Terradellas in 1744 for Venice, by Baldassare Galuppi in 1749 for Vienna, by Johann Christian Bach in 1760 for Turin, by Josef Mysliveček in 1774 for Naples"
"created colonies in many cities of Italy. Many noblemen, ecclesiastics, and artists held membership of it to be an honour, and very soon it numbered 1,300. Much of what they produced, however, was either mediocre or pretentious (an example is Saverio Bettinelli's disparagement of Dante), although the Academy did receive some endorsement for its attack on the redundant Rococo style, then dominant in art and literature. The celebrated opera librettist Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782) although he had his own differences with Arcadia, was a student of Gravina's, and a leading light of the academy's second generation. His works, of which the"
"Artaserse There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, and first set to music by Leonardo Vinci in 1730 for Rome (""Artaserse""). It was subsequently set by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1730 (""Artaserse"") for Venice and in 1760 for Naples, by Christoph Willibald Gluck in 1741 for Milan, by Pietro Chiarini in 1741 for Verona, by Carl Heinrich Graun in 1743 for Stuttgart, by Domènec Terradellas in 1744 for Venice, by Baldassare Galuppi in 1749 for Vienna, by Johann Christian Bach in 1760 for Turin, by Josef Mysliveček in 1774 for Naples (""Artaserse)"","
"writer of opera seria libretti. At the age of thirty-two, he was appointed court composer to Emperor Charles VI of Vienna. There he met his lifelong friend and companion Nicolo Martines. Metastasio resided with the Martines family for the entire rest of his life (from about 1734 to 1782). His presence would prove crucial to Nicolo’s daughter, Marianne's career. Marianna Martines was an Austrian singer, pianist and composer of the classical period. The Martines family lived in rooms in a large building on the Michaelerplatz, ""a stately building still standing in the Kohlmarkt."" Nicolo Martines Nicolo Martines was Maestro di"
"Betulia liberata La (""The Liberation of Bethulia"") is the title of a libretto by Pietro Metastasio which was originally commissioned by Emperor Charles VI and set by Georg Reutter the younger in 1734. It was subsequently set by as many as 30 composers, including Niccolò Jommelli (1743), Ignaz Holzbauer (1752), Florian Leopold Gassmann (1772), Leopold Kozeluch (1780), Joseph Schuster (1787), and most famously Mozart (1771). The Mozart is the best known, if only because the composer's output receives more examination. Composed in March to July 1771 when Mozart was 15 years old, K. 118 (74c) is a 140-minute ""azione sacra"""
"and intended his adopted son to be a jurist like himself. He therefore made the boy learn Latin and law. At the same time he cultivated his literary gifts, and displayed the youthful prodigy both at his own house and in the Roman coteries. Metastasio soon found himself competing with the most celebrated ""improvvisatori"" of his time in Italy. However, his days full of study and evenings devoted to improvising poetry took a toll on Pietro's health. Gravina, making a business trip to Calabria, exhibited Metastasio in the literary circles of Naples, then placed him in the care of his"
"new title where applicable. Felice Romani Felice Romani (31 January 178828 January 1865) was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito. Born Giuseppe Felice Romani to a bourgeois family in Genoa, he studied law and literature in Pisa and Genoa. At the University of Genoa he translated French literature and, with a colleague, prepared a six-volume dictionary of mythology and antiquities, including the history of the Celts in Italy. Romani's expertise in French and antiquity is"
"engraving the name of David under the Apollo, and of Judith under the Minerva"" (Rodolfo Lanciani, ""Pagan and Christian Rome"" 1896, ch. 1) Jacopo Sannazaro Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples. He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic ""Arcadia"", a masterwork that illustrated the possibilities of poetical prose in Italian, and instituted the theme of Arcadia, representing an idyllic land, in European literature. Sannazaro's elegant style was the inspiration for much courtly literature of the 16th"
"libretto written more than half a century earlier by Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782). Metastasio's libretto had already been set by nearly 40 composers; the story is based on the life of Roman Emperor Titus, from some brief hints in ""The Lives of the Caesars"" by the Roman writer Suetonius, and was elaborated by Metastasio in 1734 for the Italian composer Antonio Caldara. Among later settings were Gluck's in 1752 and Josef Mysliveček's version in 1774; there would be three further settings after 1791. Mozart was not Guardasoni's first choice. Instead, he approached Antonio Salieri, the most distinguished composer of Italian opera"
"he simply went to the established librettist in Vienna, who happened to be the Florentine Marco Coltellini, an Italian ""poet"" who was to replace Metastasio as ""poeta cesareo"" at the Imperial court of the Habsburgs in 1769. Together they selected a libretto by Goldoni, the master of the commedia dell'arte genre. Coltellini modified the libretto somewhat, especially act 3. He abandoned some arias, replaced a few with his own, and in some cases, kept the original Goldoni aria in the scene while adding a new one of his own, with the result that a few scenes ended up with two"
"by Girolamo Graziani"" Other sonnets: ""Main articles and books about Girolamo Graziani:"" Girolamo Graziani Girolamo Graziani (1604 – 12 September 1675), was an Italian poet. Girolamo Graziani () has been one of the most famous poet of 17th century. But his fame didn't survive him. During his life he was appreciated mainly for his epic poems ""La Cleopatra"" (1632) and ""il Conquisto di Granata"" (1650). The latter has been the source for Giacomo Leopardi's ""Consalvo"" (1833). Actually the plot (Love in the imminence of death) and the names of the main characters (Consalvo and Elvira) of Leopardi's ""Consalvo"" seem to"
"the success was so great that the famed Roman ""prima donna"", Marianna Bulgarelli, ""La Romanina"", sought out Metastasio, and took him on as her protégé. Under her wing, Metastasio produced libretto after libretto, and they were rapidly set by the greatest composers in Italy and Austria, establishing the transnational tone of ""opera seria"": ""Didone abbandonata"", ""Catone in Utica"", ""Ezio"", ""Alessandro nelle Indie"", ""Semiramide riconosciuta"", ""Siroe"" and ""Artaserse"". After 1730 he was settled in Vienna and turned out more librettos for the imperial theater, until the mid-1740s: ""Adriano in Siria"", ""Demetrio"", ', ""Demofoonte"", ""Olimpiade"", ""La clemenza di Tito"", ""Achille in Sciro"","
"Metastasio and one to words by Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Gluck's librettist for all three of his Italian reform operas. The published score of Millico's opera ""La pietà d’amore"" includes a message of support for Gluck's attempted reforms of ""opera seria"". Millico also composed eight cantatas, a ""Salve regina"", 23 arias and 22 duets unattached to a dramatic work, and 82 canzonets. These works are usually composed for harp accompaniment and were extremely popular at the time; many of them were published, both individually and as a part of collections. A collection of his keyboard compositions, ""Musical Trifles: a Collection of"
"and Pergolesi. Vinci's settings of ""Didone abbandonata"" and ""Artaserse"" were much praised for their ""stromento"" recitative, and he played a crucial part in establishing the new style of melody. Hasse, by contrast, indulged in stronger accompaniment and was regarded at the time as the more adventurous of the two. Pergolesi was noted for his lyricism. The main challenge for all was achieving variety, a break from the pattern of ""recitativo secco"" and ""aria da capo"". The mutable moods of Metastasio's librettos helped, as did innovations made by the composer, such as ""stromento"" recitative or cutting a ritornello. During this period"