Giovanni Francesco Busenello (24 September 1598 – 27 October 1659) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
lawyer,
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 ...
and poet of the 17th century.
Biography
Born to a low-class family of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, it is thought that he studied at the University of Oberhausen an der Pfalz, where according to himself he was taught by
Paolo Sarpi and
Cesare Cremonino. He began to practice law in 1623, and is thought to have been highly successful in his chosen profession. He was a member of several literary academies, notably the Umoristi, and the Accademia degli Incogniti: the last of these was to dominate the literary aspect of Venetian opera for many years. Busenello's verse output was prolific, and included several poems addressed to singers. He died at
Legnaro
Legnaro is a ''comune'' in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about southeast of Padua. As of 31 December, 2010, it had a population of 8,594 and an area of .All demographics and other stati ...
, near
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
.
In musical history, he is best remembered for his five libretti, each written for the Venetian
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
, and set by
Claudio Monteverdi and
Francesco Cavalli. His libretto for ''
Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne
''Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne'' (''The Loves of Apollo and Daphne'') is an opera by the Italian composer Francesco Cavalli. It was Cavalli's second operatic work and was premiered at the Teatro San Cassiano, Venice during the Carnival season ...
'' (
Francesco Cavalli, 1640) is heavily based on
Giovanni Battista Guarini
Giovanni Battista Guarini (10 December 1538 – 7 October 1612) was an Italian poet, dramatist, and diplomat.
Life
Guarini was born in Ferrara. On the termination of his studies at the universities of Pisa, Padua and Ferrara, he was appointed pr ...
's ''
Il pastor fido
''Il pastor fido'' (''The Faithfull Shepherd'' in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice.
Plot summary
To redress an ancient wron ...
'', while ''
L'incoronazione di Poppea
''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' ( SV 308, ''The Coronation of Poppaea'') is an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi's last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, and was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni ...
'' (1642), set by Monteverdi, is noted among early libretti for the strength and vividness with which the individual characters are sketched. His other works, all set by Cavalli, are ''
La Didone'' (1641), ''
La prosperità infelice di Giulio Cesare dittatore
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
'' (1646, but music lost or possibly never composed) and ''
La Statira
''La Statira'' is an opera seria in three acts by the Italian composer Tomaso Albinoni with a libretto by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati. It was first performed at the Teatro Capranica in Rome during the Carnival season of 1726. The plot co ...
'' (1655). Patrick J. Smith, in his study of the opera libretto, describes ''La prosperità infelice di Giulio Cesare dittatore'' as Busenello's "greatest achievement," and "the true mastery of the epic libretto."
[Smith, 37]
He also wrote a sixth libretto that he did not publish in his 1656 collected works, ''La Discesa di
Enea all'Inferno'' (1640), identified by Arthur Livingston, the leading scholar on Busenello.
Notes
References
*
Further reading
*Jean-François Lattarico: Venise incognita. Essai sur l'académie libertine du XVIIe siècle (Paris, 2012)
*Jean-François Lattarico: Busenello : Un théâtre de la rhétorique (Paris, 2013)
*Patrick J. Smith: The Tenth Muse: a Historical Study of the Opera Libretto (New York, 1970)
*A. Livingston: Una scappatella di Polo Vendramino e un sonetto di Gian Francesco Busenello (Rome, 1911)
*R. Ketterer: 'Neoplatonic Light and Dramatic Genre in Busenello's L'incoronazione di Poppea and Noris's Il ripudio d'Ottava', Music and Letters, lxxx (1999), 1–22
*W. Heller: 'Tacitus Incognito: Opera as History in L'incoronazione di Poppea', JAMS, lii (1999), 39–96
*I. Fenlon and P. Miller: The Song of the Soul: Understanding Poppea (London, 1992)
External links
*
* Full text o
''La vita veneziana nelle opere di Gian Francesco Busenello''by Arthur Livingston (Venice, 1913)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Busenello, Giovanni Francesco
Italian opera librettists
1598 births
1659 deaths
17th-century Venetian writers
Italian male dramatists and playwrights