Giovanni Battista Locatelli (7 January 1713 – 14 March 1785) was an Italian

opera director Crossbreed is an American industrial metal band from Clearwater, Florida, United States, formed in 1996. They were signed with Artemis Records before being dropped from the label in 2003. The band released two EPs and three full-length albums b ...

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. Hist ...

and owner of a private opera company. Locatelli was court poet at Bonn in 1741. From 1748 to 1756 he presented opera productions in Prague, including works by

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...

to libretti by

Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

. He presented other operas in Dresden as well in the 1750s. He went bankrupt in 1757 and left for Russia to relaunch his career as an impresario. In 1757 he and his

troupe Troupe may refer to: General *Comedy troupe, a group of comedians *Dance troupe, a group of dancers **Fire troupe, a group of fire dancers *Troupe system, a method of playing role-playing games *Theatrical troupe, a group of theatrical performers ...

were invited to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. They put on an opera every week for the court, and two to three times a week they were allowed to give open public performances. The repertoire was mostly of Italian

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 ...

, including one titled ''Sanctuary of the Gods''. The

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

and Grand Duke Peter each attended at least one performance. He moved his troupe to Moscow in 1759 where he operated a theater with financial support from the state until he declared bankruptcy in 1762, after the theater was unable to present performances following the death of Empress Elizabeth. Empress

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

paid him 3,000 rubles for his years of service in presenting the highest standard of opera performance Russia had ever seen. He ended his career running a cabaret on the outskirts of St. Petersburg that "enjoyed the patronage of an exclusive clientele". During its years in Russia the troupe presented seven operas by

Baldassare Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. ...

(1706–1785): *''Il mondo della luna'' (russian: Лунный мир, italic=yes – ''The World of the Moon'', previously premiered in 1750,

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 ...

) *''

Il filosofo di campagna ''Il filosofo di campagna'' (''The Country Philosopher'') is a dramma giocoso per musica in 3 acts by composer Baldassare Galuppi. The opera uses an Italian language libretto by Carlo Goldoni. The work premiered at the Teatro San Samuele Teatro ...

'' (''Деревенский философ – The Village Philosopher'', 1754, Venice) *''L'Arcadia in Brenta'' (''Аркадия в Бренте – Arcadia in Brenta'', 1749, Venice) *''I bagni d'Abano'' (''Купанье в Абано – The Spa of Abano'', written together with Bertoni, 1753, Venice) *''Il conte Caramella'' (''Граф Карамелла – Count Caramella'', 1749,

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

?) *''La calamità de' cuori'' (''Сердечное бедствие – A Calamity of Hearts'', 1752, Venice) *''Il mondo alla roversa, ossia Le donne che commandono'' (''Мир наизнанку, или Женщины командуют – The World Upside Down, or Women in Command'', 1750, Venice)

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Locatelli, Giovanni Battista 1713 births 1785 deaths 18th-century Italian people Italian opera directors Opera managers