Giuseppe Bonecchi - was an Italian poet and opera librettist. He was brought to Russia in 1740 by

Francesco Araja Francesco Domenico Araja (or Araia, Russian: Арайя) (June 25, 1709 in Naples, Kingdom of Sicily – between 1762 and 1770 in Bologna, States of the Church) was an Italian composer who spent 25 years in Russia and wrote at least 14 opera ...

, an Italian composer working in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. His opera ''Il Bellerofonte'', which was written for the coronation of

Elizabeth of Russia Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...

, praised the virtues of the Empress. A Russian translation was printed in 1757. Bonecchi also wrote the libretto for Josef Mysliveček's opera ''

Il Bellerofonte ''Il Bellerofonte'' is an 18th-century Italian opera in three acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It conforms to the serious type ( opera seria) that was typically set in the distant past. The libretto, based on the Greek legend of B ...

'' which premiered in Naples in 1767. Another opera called

Scipione ''Scipione'' ( HWV 20), also called ''Publio Cornelio Scipione'', is an opera seria in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed ''Sc ...

was written for the wedding celebration of Elisaveta and Pyotr Feodorovich. He frequently used to plagiarize the work of other poets and dramatists, and this spoiled his reputation. He left for Italy in 1752.

Operas

He wrote the libretti for the following operas by

: :*''Seleuco'', opera seria, (May 7, 1744 S April 26

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) :*''Scipione'', opera seria, (September 4 or 5, 1745 S August 23 or 24

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 ...

) :*''Mitridate'', opera seria, (May 7, 1747 S April 26

) :*''L'asilo della pace'', opera seria, (May 7, 1748 S April 26

) :*''Il Bellerofonte'', opera seria, (December 9, 1750 S November 28

) :*''Eudossa incoronata, o sia Teodosio II'', (May 9, 1751 S April 28

) He wrote the libretto for the following cantata by Nicolo Conforto: :*"La Pesca", (1756,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

)

Quotations

“Alexander Sumarokov angrily exclaimed in the letter to I. I. Shuvalov on March 12, 1761: “I am assigned to the post of a Director of the Theatre but not to the mean title of a theatrical poet, which was Bonecchi... But I will be not a Bonecchi-like theatrical poet even if this would cost me a life…”” (''Konstantin Kovalev'')

External links

Большой Русский Биографический Словарь - Big Russian Biographical Dictionary (the electronic version, in Russian)

{{authority control Bonecchi, Giuseppe Italian male dramatists and playwrights