The Librettist Metastasio

            I wanted to find a good concise biography on the first part of this posting’s namesake; Metastasio. The only thing online that gave any biographical information on the man was the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) reprinted on the Wikipedia “Wikisource” page.  Evidently, his mentor (a lawyer) intended him to study law but found that he was much more interested in poetry. He started writing libretti when the Viceroy of Naples asked him to participate in authoring a musical drama; at this point he began taking music lessons which helped him to become the most sought after librettist of his age.  His librettos were set by the likes of Hasse, Handel, Domenico Scarlatti and Mozart.

            The first part of Chapter II in the textbook gives a great deal of information regarding the aria style of Metastisio’s writing (such as his placing the arias at the end of scenes and being very careful with the placement of vowels like “I” and “e”), but there was no real concrete definition of what Opera Seria was. As best as I can ascertain, Opera Seria was the style of non-comedic opera happening in the last part of the 17^th century and the first half of the 18^th century with a focused clientele in the aristocracy. It seems to have been much grander and more dramatic which is the logical inference I draw from the construction of larger and more ornate theatres.  It also seemed as though the rest of the world was speaking Italian in the theatres, where in order for any serious opera to be legitimate, it had better be in the Italian tongue or better yet, with a libretto from Metastisio.

            In a view of the composers; Scarlatti was a very prolific composer of Operas and it was during his tenure as Maestro di Capella in the Viceroy’s court that Naples grew to international acclaim as a center for opera.  Scarlatti wrote 69 operas, most of them in Naples, according to the author, his style changed little over his lifetime, it seems as though he found something that worked and stuck with it. Handel came from Germany but emigrated to Great Britain where he worked for the theater composing mostly operas and later dramatic music for the church. Some of Handel’s most well known pieces of Opera Seria are Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, Rodelinda, and Admeto. Hasse was settled in Dresden when he did the bulk of the work that this chapter discusses. At this time there was a great deal of enthusiasm for Italian opera and Hasse was enjoying a phenomenal amount of support for his operas.  Hasse was very faithful to Metastisio’s libretti and the two (according to the author) became friends.  All of these composers lived in a time where the singers were often considered to be the most important aspect of the production and as that was the case, it was not uncommon for vocalists to commission specific pieces for only one performer that could be inserted into any stage work. I found this very interesting as it is yet another coincidence with Broadway theater, as many stage personalities commissioned “specialty” pieces such as Liza Minnelli singing “Liza with a Z.”