Paolo Antonio Rolli (13 June 1687 – 20 March 1765) was an Italian

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

Biography

Degli avanzi dell'Antica Roma Bonaventura van Overbeek translated into Italian by Paolo Rolli

Paolo Rolli was born in Rome, Italy and like

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 ...

was trained by

Gian Vincenzo Gravina Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (20 January 1664 – 6 January 1718) was an Italian man of letters and jurist. He was born at Roggiano Gravina, a small town near Cosenza, in Calabria. Biography Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina was descended from a d ...

. The

earl of Burlington Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831. Since 1858, Earl of Burlington has been a courtesy title used by the d ...

brought him to England, which he commemorates in the dedication of his opera of “Astarte” to his noble patron, who attached him to the court as master of the Tuscan language to the princesses. He was Italian tutor to

Caroline of Ansbach , father = John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach , mother = Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach , birth_date = , birth_place = Ansbach, Principality of Ansbach, Holy Roman Empire , death_date = , death_place = St James's Pala ...

and then undertook the same role in London from 1715 to 1744 for her children

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

, Amelia and Caroline. During this period, he wrote librettos for numerous Italian operas including

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

's ''

Floridante ''Floridante'' ( HWV 14) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli after Francesco Silvani's libretto for Marc'Antonio Ziani dramma per musica ''La costanza in trionfo'' ...

'' (1721), ''

Muzio Scevola ''Muzio Scevola'' (; "Mucius Scaevola", HWV 13) is an opera seria in three acts about Gaius Mucius Scaevola. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli, adapted from a text by Silvio Stampiglia. The music for the first act was ...

'' (1722), ''

Riccardo Primo ''Riccardo primo, re d'Inghilterra'' ("Richard the First, King of England", HWV 23) is an opera seria in three acts written by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music (1719) . The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio R ...

'' (1927) and '' Deidamia'' (1741) and

Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included compose ...

's ''

La festa d'Imeneo ''La festa d'Imeneo'' (The Festival of Hymenaeus) is a serenata by Nicola Porpora, with a libretto by Paolo Rolli. It was premiered at the King's Theatre on 4 May 1736 by the Opera of the Nobility to mark the marriage of Porpora's patron Frederi ...

'' (1736) and
Orfeo
' (1736).R. A. Streatfeild, 'Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century', ''The Musical Quarterly'', Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jul., 1917), pp. 428-445 He also worked frequently with composer

Giovanni Bononcini Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) (18 July 1670 – 9 July 1747) (sometimes cited also as Giovanni Battista Bononcini) was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers. Biography E ...

writing and adapting numerous librettos for him including his popular '' Griselda'' (1722). In December 1729 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. Rolli did not spend an inactive life in England: besides being opera poet to the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

until it was broke up, teaching his language to the royal family, and many of the first nobility, he published Italian

odes Odes may refer to: *The plural of ode, a type of poem *Odes (Horace), ''Odes'' (Horace), a collection of poems by the Roman author Horace, circa 23 BCE *Odes of Solomon, a pseudepigraphic book of the Bible *Book of Odes (Bible), a Deuterocanonic ...

, songs and

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

in the manner of

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

, which were much admired. Among the works Rolli published in London there is a new edition of

Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

's ''Rime e Satire'' as early as 1716, only a few months after his arrival in London; in 1717 he published Alessandro Marchetti's translation of

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into E ...

' ''

De Rerum Natura ''De rerum natura'' (; ''On the Nature of Things'') is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius ( – c. 55 BC) with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7 ...

''; then ''

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 ...

'' followed in 1718. In 1729 he published the first complete Italian translation of

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

''. Upon the death of queen Caroline, his royal protectress, in 1737, he left England and returned to Italy, where he died in

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...

in 1767, leaving behind him a very curious cabinet, and a rich library of well-chosen books. In ''

Dichtung und Wahrheit ''Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit'' (''From my Life: Poetry and Truth''; 1811–1833) is an autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that comprises the time from the poet's childhood to the days in 1775, when he was about to leave for ...

'' (Poetry and Truth),

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

explained that he learned by heart Rolli's canzonet ''Solitario Bosco Ombroso'', performed by his “old Italian teacher named Giovanizzi” even before he knew a word of Italian.

Works

* * * ''De' Poetici Componimenti del signor Paolo Rolli'' (Venice 1753, 1761; Nice 1782). * * ''Componimenti poetici in vario genere'' (Verona, 1744).

References

Bibliography

* * * * * 1687 births 1765 deaths Italian poets Italian male poets Italian opera librettists Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Academy of Arcadians Writers from Rome Italian male dramatists and playwrights {{opera-bio-stub