A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Metastasio, Pietro

by Carl Ferdinand Pohl

METASTASIO, Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura, a celebrated Italian poet, son of Trapassi, of Assisi, a papal soldier, was born in Rome Jan. 3, 1698. As a child he showed an astonishing power of improvisation, which so struck Gravina, that, with his parents' consent, he took him into his family, had him educated, and changed his ^[1]name. He was studying the classics, and engaged in translating the Iliad into Italian verse, when his benefactor died suddenly—a loss he felt deeply, although he was eventually consoled by the attachment of Maria Bulgarini the singer. In the meantime his fame had reached Vienna, and, at the instigation of Apostolo Zeno, the late court poet, the Emperor Charles VI. offered him that post. He arrived in Vienna in 1730, and remained there till his death, April 12, 1782, living with his friend Martines in the 'Michaeler Haus.' Henceforth he furnished the principal attraction at the private festivals of the Court, composing verses to be recited or sung by the young Archduchesses, set to music in the latter case by the Court composers, Reutter, Predieri, Caldara, or Bonno. Metastasio was also musical; he played the harpsichord, sang ('come un serafino,' as he used to say) and composed.^[2] He may be considered as the originator of a real improvement in the musical drama, though long since superseded. His popularity as a dramatic poet was great; the charm, grace, melody, and sweetness of his verse induced the composers to overlook the absence of contrast and strong passion; and in consequence some of his libretti have been set as many as thirty or forty times.

Mozart's 'Clemenza di Tito' is the solitary example of Metastasio's dramas to be seen on the boards at the present day. His poems include 29 dramas, 8 oratorios, 39 pièces de circonstance, nearly 50 cantatas and scenas; elegies, idyls, sonnets, canzonas, sestines, terzines, etc., published in nearly 50 different editions.^[3] His portrait has often been engraved; that by Mansfield and Heath after Steiner is the best. Burney describes his appearance in 1772 in enthusiastic terms.^[4] There are also busts and medallions of him. He was buried in a vault in the Michaeler church, and in 1855 an amateur named Galvagni placed a marble monument to his memory (by Luccardi) in the church of the Minorites, bearing the following lines by the Abbé Guido Ferrari:—

'Dat patriam Assisium, nomen Roma, Austria famam,
Plausum orbis, tumulum haec urna Metastasio.'

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Chronological List of Metastasio's Secular Dramas, with the chief composers, and dates of production.

Didone abbandonata. Sarro, 1724; Hasse, 1743; Jomelli, 1749; Bonno, 1752. [App. p.718 "For Sarro read Sarri, and correct the date of Jommelli's composition to 1745. Add to the names of composers who set the libretto those of Galuppi; Scarlatti, about 1724; Porpora, 1742; Piccinni, 1767; Kozeluch, 1795; Paisiello, 1797; Paer, 1810; Mercadante, 1823; Reissiger, 1823."]

Siface. Porpora, 1726; Leo, 1737.

Siroe. Vinci, 1726; Handel, 1728; Hasse, 1733. [App. p.718 "Piccinni, 1759."]

Catone in Utica. Vinci, 1727; Jomelli, 1749. [App. p.718 "Leo and Hasse, 1732; Graun, 1744; Piccinni, 1770."

Ezio. Auletta, 1728; Porpora, 1729; Jomelli, 1749; Hasse, 1755; Graun, 1755; Gluck, 1763. [App. p.718 "Handel, 1731; Mercadante, 1826."]

Semiramide. Vinci, 1729; Porpora, 1729; Hasse. 1747; Gluck, 1749; Meyerbeer, 1819.

Alessandro nell' Indie. Vinci, 1729; Handel (as 'Poro'), 1731; Hasse (as 'Cleofide'), 1731. [App. p.718 "Correct date of Vinci's work to 1730. Add Leo, 1727; Gluck, 1745; Piccinni, 1758 and 1774."]

Artaserse. Vinci, 1730; Hasse, 1740; Gluck, 1741; Galuppi. 1749; G. Scarlatti, 1763: 40 settings in all. [App. p.718 "Leo, 1740."]

Demetrio. Caldara, 1731; Gluck (as 'Cleonice'), 1742. [App. p.718 "Hasse, 1732."]

Adriano in Siria. Caldara, 1732; Hasse, 1752; 26 settings in all.

Issipile. F. Conti. 1732. [App. p.718 "Porpora, 1723."]

Olimpiade. Caldara, 1733; Wagenseil, 1749; Hasse, 1756; Gassmann, 1764. [App. p.718 "Pergolesi, 1735; Leo, 1740; Jommelli, 1765; Piccinni, 1761 and 1771. [See Olimpiade]."]

Demofoonte. Caldara, 1733; Gluck, 1742; Hasse, 1748. [App. p.718 "Leo, 1741; Piccinni, 1762; Paisiello, 1773."]

La Clemenza di Tito. Caldara, 1734; Hasse, 1737; Wagenseil, 1746; Gluck, 1751; G.Scarlatti, 1760; Mozart, 1791. [App. p.718 "Leo, 1735."]

Achille in Sciro. Caldara, 1736; Jomelli, 1749; Hasse, 1759. [App. p.718 "Correct date of Jommelli's work to 1745."]

Ciro riconosciuto. Caldara, 1736; Hasse, 1751. [App. p.718 "Scarlatti, 1712; Leo, 1727; Jommelli, 1744."]

Temistocle. Caldara, 1736. [App. p.718 "Omit Caldara, as his work is not composed to Metastasio's libretto. Add Porpora, 1742; Pacini, 1838."]

Zenobia. Predieri, 1740. [App. p.718 "Hasse, 1763."]

Antigono. Hasse, 1743. [App. p.718 "Gluck, 1754."]

Ipermestra. Hasse, 1744. [App. p.718 "Jommelli, 1752; Gluck, 1742; Hasse, 1751."]

Attillo Regolo. Hasse, 1750. [App. p.718 "Jommelli, 1752."]

Il Rè Pastore. Bonno, 1751; Sarti, 1753; Hasse, 1755; Gluck, 1756; Mozart, 1775.

L'Eroe Cinese. Bonno, 1752; Hasse, 1753; Gluck, 1754; Sacchini, 1771; Cimarosa, 1783.

L'Isola disabitata. Bonno, 1754; Jomelli, 1762; G. Scarlatti, 1763; Haydn, 1779; Spontini, 1798. [App. p.718 "Correct date of Scarlatti's work to 1757."]

Nitteti. Jomelli, 1759; Hasse, 1759; Sarti, 1765; Sacchini, 1774.

Alcide al Bivio. Hasse, 1760; Paisiello, 1779.

Il Trionfo dl Clelia. Gluck, 1760; Hasse. 1762.

Tetide. Gluck, 1760.

Egeria. Hasse, 1764.

Romolo ed Ersllia. Hasse, 1765.

Il Parnasso confuso. Gluck, 1765.

Il Trionfo d'Amore. Gassmann, 1765.

Partenope. Hasse, 1767.

Il Ruggiero, ovvero L'eroica gratitudine. Hasse, 1771.

Sacred Dramas or Oratorios, performed in the Imperial Chapel, Vienna, in Passion week.

La Passione etc. Caldara, 1730.

Sant' Elena. Caldara, 1731.

La Morte d'Abel. Caldara, 1732.

Giuseppe riconosciuto. Porsile, 1733.

La Betulia liberata. Reutter, 1734.

Gioas, Rèe dl Giuda. Reutter, 1745.

Isacco. Predieri, 1740.

One drama, 'Per la Fest. di S. Natale,' composed by G. Costanza,was performed at Rome, 1727, in a theatre with scenery and action.

[ C.F.P. ]

1. 'Metastasio,'=trapissamento, or transition, is a play on Trapassi.
2. Cappi of Vienna published his 'XXXVI Canzoni a Sole tre voci.'
3. Vol. i. of 'Opere del Signer Abbate Pletro Metastasio,' 17 small vols. 12mo. (Nice 1785), contains a life by Cristini.' A selection of his poems was published in Paris (1804) with the title 'Pensieri di Metastasio.' Burney wrote his 'Memoirs' (London 1796).
4. 'For that time of life [he was about 74] he is the handsomest man I ever beheld. There are painted on his countenance all the genius, goodness, propriety, benevolence, and rectitude which constantly characterise his writings. I could not keep my eyes off his face, it was so pleasing and worthy of contemplation.—Present State of Music in Germany, i. 295.