Apostolo Zeno (11 December 1668 in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

– 11 November 1750 in Venice) was a Venetian poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters.

Early life

Apostolo Zeno was born in

to a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

branch of the Zeno family, an ancient Venetian patrician family. His family had been transplanted from Venice to the Kingdom of Candia in the 13th century in order to maintain Venetian order and suppress any rebellious subjects. Following the assault on the island by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

, the remaining members of his family returned to

. Upon return they were not readmitted to the patrician class, but were only able to obtain status as ordinary citizens. His father was Pietro Zeno, a doctor of medicine, and his mother, Caterina Sevasto, belonged to an illustrious and powerful family from Candia,

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. Having lost his father at an early age, he was left to the care of his mother, who remarried to Venetian senator Pier Antonio Cornaro. His education was entrusted to the Somaschi Fathers. He was in 1691 among the founders of the ''Accademia degli Animosi''. In 1695, he composed his first

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

, ''Gli inganni felici'', which obtained great success, making him a fashionable librettist. From 1705, he worked with

Pietro Pariati Pietro Pariati (Reggio Emilia, 27 March 1665- Vienna, 14 October 1733) was an Italian poet and librettist. He was initially secretary to Rinaldo d'Este (1655–1737), Duke of Modena.Xavier de Courville -''Un artisan de la rénovation théàtral ava ...

, keeping the theatrical scenes for himself and leaving to Pariati the composition of the libretti.

Works

He began work as a literary journalist for the ''Galleria di Minerva'', also taking upon executive responsibilities, but distanced himself when he realized that he had not succeeded in making the impact upon the publication that he intended. In the end he described it as an ''idiocy''. In 1710 together with

Scipione Maffei Francesco Scipione Maffei (; 1 June 1675 – 11 February 1755) was a Italian writer and art critic, author of many articles and plays. An antiquarian with a humanist education whose publications on Etruscan antiquities stand as incunables of ...

Antonio Vallisneri Antonio Vallisneri ( Trassilico,3 May 1661 – Padua, 18 January 1730), also rendered as ''Antonio Vallisnieri'', was an Italian medical scientist, physician and naturalist. Life Vallisneri was born in Trassilico, a small village in Garfagnana, ...

and his brother, Pier Caterino Zeno, he founded the ''Giornale de' letterati d'Italia'', maintaining that it was necessary that "Italians themselves make their own newspaper... revealing that good sense, erudition and ingenuity never were lacking among us, and now more than ever are they flourishing." The tri-monthly publication had prestigious contributors such as

Eustachio Manfredi Eustachio Manfredi (20 September 1674 – 15 February 1739) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and poet. Biography Eustachio Manfredi was born in Bologna on 20 September 1674. He attended Jesuit school, then studied at the University o ...

Ludovico Antonio Muratori Lodovico Antonio Muratori (21 October 1672 – 23 January 1750) was an Italian historian, notable as a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian fragment, the earliest known list of New Testament books. Biography Bor ...

Giovanni Battista Morgagni Giovanni Battista Morgagni (25 February 1682 – 6 December 1771) was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Prof ...

, Giovan Battista Vico,

Bernardino Ramazzini Bernardino Ramazzini (; 4 October 1633 – 5 November 1714) was an Italian physician. Ramazzini, along with Francesco Torti, was an early proponent of the use of cinchona bark (from which quinine is derived) in the treatment of malaria. His m ...

. Motivated above all by the desire to improve Italian learning, it enjoyed considerable success. When Apostolo Zeno was called to duty as poet laureate to the imperial court of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1718, his brother, Pier Caterino took over the direction until 1732, publishing the periodical annually. Apostolo remained in Vienna until 1729, at which point he was replaced by Pietro Metastasio. He returned to Venice, dedicating himself to works of erudition and to coin-collecting. Zeno wrote the libretti for 36 operas with historical and mythological themes, including ''Gli inganni felici'' (1695), ''Odoardo'' (1695) ''Faramondo'' (1698), ''Lucio Vero, Imperatore di Roma'' (1700), ''Griselda'' (1701), ''

Temistocle ''Temistocle'' (''Themistocles'') is an opera seria in three acts by the German composer Johann Christian Bach. The Italian text is an extensive revision of the libretto by Metastasio first set by Antonio Caldara in 1736, by Mattia Verazi, court ...

'' (1701), ''Merope'' (1711
Edition, 1727
, ''L'Ambleto'' (1712), ''Alessandro Severo'' (1716), ''T'Euzzone'' (1719), ''Ormisda'' (1721), ''Artaserse'' (1724), ''Semiramide'' (1725),

Domenico Sarro Domenico Natale Sarro, also Sarri (24 December 1679 – 25 January 1744) was an Italian composer. Born in Trani, Apulia, he studied at the Neapolitan conservatory of S. Onofrio. He composed extensively in the early 18th century. His opera ''Di ...

's ''Il Valdemaro'' (1726), ''Astarto'' (1730), ''Caio Fabbricio'' (1733), ''Euristeo'' (published 1757), and ''Sesostri re d'Egitto'' (Prague edition 1760) as well as 17 oratorios, including ''Giuseppe'' (1722), ''Gioaz'' (1726), ''David umiliato'' (1731). Among his literary works, the ''Dissertazioni vossiane'' are additions and corrections to ''De historicis latinis'' by Voss. His ''Annotazioni'' to the ''Biblioteca della eloquenza italiana'' by

Giusto Fontanini Giusto Fontanini (30 October 1666 in San Daniele del Friuli – 17 April 1736 in Rome) was a Roman Catholic archbishop and an Italian historian. Biography A prelate and attentive bibliophile, in 1697 became a stubborn and reactionary defender o ...

were published posthumously. His correspondence (''Epistolario'') is ample.

Critical evaluation

From condemnation of the unrealistic and exaggerated elements of

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exce ...

was born a demand for greater verisimilitude in plots and for literary dignity in texts. Zeno was the first to undertake reform to make melodrama more sober, according to the arcadici principles, developed further by Metastasio. Inspired by French tragedians, he respected, as they did, the rule of the

unity of time and space The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities represent a prescriptive theory of dramatic tragedy that was introduced in Italy in the 16th century and was influential for three centuries. The three unities are: #''unity of action' ...

. He reduced the number of characters and scenes and eliminated the

clown role A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

s, constructing his works so that they could be presented also without music. Francesco de Sanctis, referring to Metastasio, wrote that "if we look at the structure, his drama is constructed in the fashion which Apostolo Zeno already demonstrated. But the structure is only a simple skeleton. Metastasio breathed into that skeleton the grace and the romance of a happy and harmonious life. He was the poet of melodrama; Zeno was the architect."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeno, Apostolo 1669 births 1750 deaths Italian poets Italian male poets Italian opera librettists Apostolo 18th-century Venetian writers Italian male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century Italian journalists 17th-century journalists