Caterino Tommaso Mazzolà (18 January 1745 at

Longarone Longarone is a town and ''comune'' on the banks of the Piave in the province of Belluno, in northeast Italy. It is situated from Belluno. 4,642 people work all together in Longarone, which is 112.62% of the total population, with most actual in ...

– 16 July 1806 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 ...

) was an Italian poet and

librettist 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 litu ...

. Born into a wealthy family from the islands of

Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...

, he and his family moved to Venice around 1767, but after a few years he moved to

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

. He married in 1780 and having already met

Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

and

Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte (; 10 March 174917 August 1838) was an Italian, later American, opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas: ''The Marr ...

, started work as a librettist.Armellini, Mario (2008)
"Mazzolà, Caterino Tommaso"
''

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' ( en, Biographical Dictionary of the Italians) is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biograp ...

'', Vol. 72. Treccani. Online version retrieved 3 May 2015 . After 1780,

Joseph Schuster Joseph Schuster may refer to: * Joseph Schuster (cellist) (1903–1969), Constantinople-born American cellist * Joseph Schuster (composer) (1748–1812), German classical composer * Joe Shuster (1914–1992), Canadian-born comic book writer who cre ...

helped Mazzolà to be appointed as

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

's court poet; he held the post until 1796. During this period, he worked with Da Ponte and met

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...

, who suggested that Mazzolà could write the libretto for an

opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...

entitled '' La scuola de' gelosi'' which premiered in 1778. In 1783 the opera appeared in

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

.Rice, John A. (1991)
''W. A. Mozart: La Clemenza Di Tito''
pp. 31–33. Cambridge University Press Early in 1791, Mazzolà briefly became the Viennese

court poet A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

through Da Ponte and Salieri. Later that year he significantly revised Metastasio's text for Mozart's new setting of ''

La clemenza di Tito ' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an '' opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last of ...

'' (originally created in 1734, on a music by

Antonio Caldara Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, ...

). Da Ponte and Salieri had suggested that Mazzolà would be a suitable poet for Count Rosenberg, the court theatre director. However,

Giovanni Bertati Giovanni Bertati (10 July 1735 – 1 March 1815) was an Italian Libretto, librettist. Bertati was born in Martellago, Italy. In 1763, he wrote his first libretto, ''La morte di Dimone'' ("The Death of Dimone"), set to music by Antonio Tozzi. Two ye ...

replaced Rosenberg, and Mazzolà retreated to Dresden. In 1796, he returned to Venice, but Friedrich August III of Dresden helped Mazzolà to engage in diplomatic work, and requested that some of his writings should be sent back to the Saxon court each year. Mazzolà's librettos are mostly ''

opere buffe ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...

'' and set by the Dresden composers

Johann Gottlieb Naumann Johann Gottlieb Naumann (17 April 1741 – 23 October 1801) was a German composer, conductor, and Kapellmeister. Life Johann Gottlieb Naumann was born in Blasewitz and received his musical training from the teachers at his town school, where he ...

and Franz Seydelmann. Seydelmann's best Italian opera was ''Il turco in Italia'' (1788), described by

Constanze Mozart Maria Constanze Cäcilia Josepha Johanna Aloysia Mozart ( née Weber; 5 January 1762 – 6 March 1842) was a trained Austrian singer. She was married twice, first to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; then to Georg Nikolaus von Nissen. She and Mozart had s ...

after a performance in Vienna in 1789. Mazzolà's libretto was reworked by

Felice Romani Giuseppe Felice Romani (31 January 178828 January 1865) was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist betw ...

for Rossini's ''

Il turco in Italia ''Il turco in Italia'' (English: ''The Turk in Italy'') is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The Italian-language libretto was written by Felice Romani. It was a re-working of a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà set as an opera (w ...

'' which premiered in 1814.Senici, Emanuele (2004)
''The Cambridge Companion to Rossini''
p. 54. Cambridge University Press

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzola, Caterino Italian opera librettists 1745 births 1806 deaths Italian male dramatists and playwrights