Metastasio, Pietro

The son of a poor craftsman named Trapassi ^[2] . Metastasio became interested in poetry in early childhood and by the age of 10 had achieved considerable success in the art of improvisation. A talented child attracted the attention of the poet Gravina , a wealthy Roman lawyer who adopted him. It should be noted that Gravina left his mark in the history of fine literature with precisely this step ( Stendhal noted that he wrote “boredom for the sake of bad tragedies”; however, at one time his literary fame was quite wide). It was Gravina who gave his pupil the surname Metastasio - this surname is nothing more than a translation of the Trappassi surname into Greek . Through the efforts of Gravina, the young Metastasio received an excellent education. He also left his inheritance to him, thereby saving him from material worries.

Success came to Metastasio in 1724 , after the production of "Abandoned Dido", written specifically for the beloved poet, singer Marianna Romanini. The libretto was a rare success: put on the music by Domenico Sarro, it attracted the attention of several composers in the first year, and then - throughout the XVIII century - was “voiced” fifty more times. “Abandoned Dido” was not the poet’s first experience, but it was in her that the characteristic features of his style first appeared. The particular musicality of the verse (when composing the texts of the arias, Metastasio personally “checked” them by putting them to music); the clarity of the dramaturgy, which already from the previous generation of librettists was freed from the Venetian eccentricity (many characters, intricate intrigue, dressing, grotesque characters) and Metastasio finally acquired a classic look; a subtle depiction of characters, the ability to trace every shade of the experience of the heroes that Metastasio was famous for and which allowed him to transfer the whole interest of the drama to the psychological plane, unlike the tragedy - or comedy - of the provisions that the opera often had before him.

All metastasio librettos are built according to a clear and relatively simple plan. These are three-act plays, during the creation of which Metastasio used a number of simple rules, quite widely known (Stendhal speaks of them in “Letters on Metastasio” and Goldoni in the first volume of “Memoirs”). In every drama, there must certainly be six heroes - always in love. The three main characters in the opera are the prima donna, the first soprano (castrato) and tenor - they need to sing five arias each: aria patetica (sad), aria di bravura (bravura), aria parlante (in even colors), a semi-characteristic aria and aria brillante ( brilliant). There are a number of rules - you can read about them at the same Goldoni or Stendhal. The metastasio arias themselves are built according to the da capo scheme that was generally accepted at that time, that is, there are three stanzas, the first being repeated as the third. In the arias, another facet of the genius of Metastasio is revealed: they are compressed, only 8-12 verses, but at the same time they are unusually expressive.

In his opera reform, Metastasio had at least one famous predecessor - Apostolo Zeno , who, according to Goldoni, was the first to attack the idea that [severe] tragedy could be put into lyric poetry without any damage and that singing would not weaken it. For a long time, Zeno worked in Vienna , where he arrived at the invitation of Emperor Charles VI , as a court poet and historiographer, creating operas for the imperial theater. Modern philologists note the well-known dryness and rationality of the Zen style in comparison with Metastasio. According to Goldoni, the masculinity of the Zen style makes him akin to Cornel , while the subtlety and psychologism of Metastasio resemble Racine . Leaving Vienna, Zeno advised me to replace Metastasio, in which he saw a worthy successor.

Metastasio arrived in Vienna in 1729 . Here he was destined to live half a century - until the end of his life. All this time, with the exception of recent years, he constantly created new librettos, most of which were immediately recognized as masterpieces: texts for operas, oratorios and cantatas (the latter belong to the best examples of his lyrics).

In total, Metastasio wrote several dozen libretto: “Alexander in India”, “Olympiad”, “Charity of Titus”, “Antigonus”, “King Shepherd”, “Cato in Utica”, etc. They all had European fame: works on his libretto was written by such composers as Vivaldi , Handel , Hasse , Vinci , Gluck , Mozart , Salieri , Champi , Galuppi , Caldara , Vanhal , Martin y Soler , Meyerbeer , etc. Some metastasio dramas are set to music 70–80 time.

Metastasio encouraged the training of Marianne Martinez ^[3] and left her his fortune.

The name Metastasio, together with the names Carlo Goldoni , Carlo Gozzi and Vittorio Alfieri , glorified the Italian theater. Unlike the texts of other librettists, Metastasio's dramas are of independent value regardless of music and are among the classic works of Italian literature. In this of the famous librettists, only Philip Cinema can compare with him. The innovation of Metastasio - a rigorous composition of drama, detailed recitative , attention to the psychology of characters - largely paved the way for the opera reform of Gluck , which fell on the last decades of the poet's life, when he practically left the pen.

• Maeder, Costantino. Metastasio, L'olimpiade e l'opera del Settecento: [] . - Bologna : Il Mulino, 1993 .-- ISBN 9788815042217 .
• The life of Metastasio is described by Aluigi (Assisi, 1783), Charles Burney (London, 1796) and others.
• In 1817 , Stendhal 's book, The Life of Haydn, Mozart, and Metastasio, was published.

• Lukov Vl. A. Pietro Metastasio: the experience of an encyclopedic article about the great opera librettist // Information Humanitarian Portal “ Knowledge. Understanding. Skill . " - 2011. - No. 5 (September - October) ( archived in WebCite ) .
• Pietro Metastasio (English) . - article from Encyclopædia Britannica Online . Date of treatment June 27, 2012.