Pietro METASTASIO [original name Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi, 1698–1782] Italian poet and the most celebrated librettist in Europe writing during the 18th century for the opera seria; his librettos were set more than 800 times. In 1708 his astonishing skill in verse improvisation attracted the attention of Gian Vincenzo Gravina, a man of letters who made him his heir adoptive and Hellenized his name into Pietro Metastasio. In 1712, after receiving a good education from Gravina, Metastasio was taken to Scalea in Calabria, where he studied for some months with Gregorio Caloprese, the Cartesian philosopher. At the age of 14 he wrote Giustino, a tragedy in the Senecan style; and in 1717 he published a book of verses. In 1718 Metastasio entered the Accademia dell’Arcadia, and in 1719 he went to Naples where he was employed in a law office and gained acceptance in aristocratic circles through his voluptuous wedding poems. On the recommendation of his friend and patroness Marianna Pignatelli, countess of Althann, Metastasio received an invitation (1729) from the emperor of Austria. In March 1730 he went to Vienna, where he lived the rest of his life as poet laureate to the imperial court. During the reign of Charles VI Metastasio wrote cantatas, oratorios, and 11 melodrammi, some of the best of which—Demetrio, Olimpiade, Demofoonte, La clemenza di Tito, and Attilio Regolo—were performed as plays in their own right as well as being set to music by virtually every composer from Pergolesi to Mozart. After 1740, with the accession of Maria Theresa, whose tastes were not as lavish as her predecessor’s, Metastasio was not so well placed. He continued to be productive until 1771; although his work was always honoured, he was mainly called upon for shorter works (feste teatrali, componimenti, and serenate) rather than elaborate melodrammi. Under these circumstances, Metastasio’s talents gradually went into decline.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:34:31 +0000
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