Italian Librettists
Major Italian Librettists
Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) – Librettist and poet. Considered the greatest librettist of all time and the most important writer of opera seria libretti.
Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) – Playwright and librettist. Regarded as the greatest Italian playwright and the most important librettist of the opera buffa genre.
Ranieri de' Calzabigi (1714-1795) – Poet and librettist. Most famous for his collaboration with Gluck, for whom he wrote the libretti for Don Juan (1761), Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), Alceste (1767) and Paride ed Elena (1770).
Felice Romani (1788-1865) – Poet, librettist and music critic. The Considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito. He wrote many librettos for Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini and Pacini.
Salvadore Cammarano (1801-1852) – Librettist and playwright. Best known for writing the text of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) for Donizetti. For Donizetti he also wrote the libretti for L'assedio di Calais (1836), Belisario (1836), Pia de' Tolomei (1837), Roberto Devereux (1837), Maria de Rudenz (1838), Poliuto (1838) and Maria di Rohan (1843). For Verdi he wrote Alzira (1845), La battaglia di Legnano (1849), Luisa Miller (1849) and Il trovatore (1853).
Francesco Maria Piave (1810-1876) – Best known as Giuseppe Verdi's librettist, for whom he wrote 10 librettos, the most well-known being those for Macbeth (1847), Rigoletto (1851) and La traviata (1853).
Arrigo Boito (1842-1918) – Poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer. Regarded as one of the greatest librettists of all time. Best known for his libretti for Giuseppe Verdi's operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda (1876), and his own opera Mefistofele (1868).
Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906) – Poet, playwright and librettist. Best known for writing the libretti for Puccini's three operas La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904), in conjunction with Luigi Illica, and for writing the final version of the libretto for Puccini's Manon Lescaut (1893).
Luigi Illica (1857-1919) – His most famous libretti are those for Puccini's La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904), in conjunction with Giuseppe Giacosa, as well as Antonio Smareglia's Nozze istriane (1895) and Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier (1896).
Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919) – Composer and librettist. He wrote the libretto for his own opera Pagliacci (1892).
Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938) – Although best known today for his poetry and military exploits, he also wrote libretti, including Le Martyre de saint Sébastien (1911) for Debussy and Parisina (1913) for Pietro Mascagni.
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) – Composer and librettist. He wrote his own libretti for over two dozen operas, including the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951), the first opera ever written for television in the United States. His other major works include The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955), for which he won two prizes.
Minor Italian Librettists
Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621) - Poet, courtier and the world's first librettist. He wrote the libretto for Jacopo Peri's Dafne (1597), the first opera.
Alessandro Striggio (1573-1630) – He wrote the libretto for Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607).
Giovanni Francesco Busenello (1598-1659) – Best remembered for his five opera libretti for Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli, the most important being the libretto for L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643).
Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750) – Poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters. He composed 36 libretti for operas.
Domenico Lalli (1679-1741) – Poet and librettist. Among the many libretti he produced were those for Vivaldi's Ottone in villa (1713) and Alessandro Scarlatti's Tigrane (1715).
Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca (c. 1718 - c. 1795) – Poet and librettist. His most successful work was the libretto for the opera Solimano (1753), first set by Johann Adolph Hasse and subsequently set by 18 other composers in the course of the next 50 years.
Marco Coltellini (1719-1777) – He provided libretti for Gluck, Hasse and Salieri, and revised Carlo Goldoni's La finta semplice (1768) so it could be set by Mozart. He also wrote the libretto for Giuseppe Scarlatti's Dove è amore è gelosiae (1768).
Giambattista Varesco (1735-1805) – Priest, musician, poet and librettist. His most notable work is the libretto to Mozart's Idomeneo (1781). He also edited Metastasio's libretto for Mozart's Il re pastore (1775).
Giovanni de Gamerra (1743-1803) – Priest, playwright, poet and librettist. Operas based on his libretti include Giuseppe Sarti's Medonte, re di Epiro (1777), Josef Myslivecek's Il Medonte (1780), Paisiello's Pirro (1787), Mozart's Lucio Silla (1772) and several operas by Antonio Salieri.
Angelo Anelli (1761-1820) – Poet and librettist. His opera libretti includes those for Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri (1813), Paer's I fuorusciti di Firenze (1802), Usiglio's La secchia rapita (1872), and Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio (1810) which later formed the basis for Donizetti's Don Pasquale (1843).
Gaetano Rossi (1774-1855) – He wrote libretti for several of the bel canto composers including Rossini, Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante and Giacomo Meyerbeer. His most important libretto was for Rossini's Tancredi (1813) and Semiramide (1823).
Cesare Sterbini (1784–1831) – Writer and librettist. Best known as the librettist for two operas by Rossini: Torvaldo e Dorliska (1815) and The Barber of Seville (1816).
Jacopo Ferretti (1784–1852) – Writer, poet and librettist. He is famous for writing the libretti for five operas by Donizetti and two operas by Rossini, the most important being La Cenerentola (1817).
Andrea Maffei (1798-1885) – Poet, translator and librettist. His most notable libretti are those for Verdi's Macbeth (1847) and I masnadieri (1847).
Andrea Leone Tottola (c. 1750 - 1831) – His best known libretti are those for Donizetti's La zingara (1822), Alfredo il grande (1823), Il castello di Kenilworth (1829) and Imelda de' Lambertazzi (1830), and for Rossini's Mosè in Egitto (1818), Ermione (1819), La donna del lago (1819) and Zelmira (1822).
Temistocle Solera (1815-1878) – Composer and librettist. He wrote the libretti for Verdi's Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio (1839), Nabucco (1842), I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843), Giovanna d'Arco (1845) and Attila (1846).
Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824-1893) – Journalist, novelist, poet and librettist. His bes known libretti are those for Verdi's Aida (1871) the revised version of La forza del destino (1869).
Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti (1863-1934) – Best known for his collaboration with the composer Pietro Mascagni. His most famous libretto is for Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana (1890), co-written with Guido Menasci.
Guido Menasci (1867-1925) – His best-known work is Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana (1890), co-written with Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti.
Giuseppe Adami (1878-1946) – Librettist, playwright and music critic. Best known for his collaboration with Puccini on the operas La rondine (1917), Il tabarro (1918) and Turandot (1926).
