Ranieri de' Calzabigi (; 23 December 1714 – July 1795) 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 ...

, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas. Born in Livorno, Calzabigi spent the 1750s in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he became a close friend of

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 ...

. Here he explored his interest in opera, producing an edition of the works of

Pietro 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 Met ...

, the most famous librettist of opera seria. However, Calzabigi was also impressed by French

tragédie en musique Tragédie en musique (, ''musical tragedy''), also known as tragédie lyrique (, ''lyric tragedy''), is a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully and used by his followers until the second half of the eighteenth century. Operas in ...

, and eager to reform Italian opera by making it simpler and more dramatically effective. In 1761 he settled 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 ...

, where he met likeminded reformers: Gluck; Count Giacomo Durazzo, the theatre director;

Gasparo Angiolini Gasparo Angiolini (7 February 1731 – 6 February 1803), real name Domenico Maria Gasparo, son of Francesco Angiolini and Maria Maddalena Torzi, was an Italian dancer, choreographer and composer. He was born in Florence and died in Milan. He is ...

, the choreographer; Giovanni Maria Quaglio, the set designer; and the castrato

Gaetano Guadagni Gaetano Guadagni (16 February 1728 – 11 November 1792) was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in 1762. Career Born at Lodi, Guadag ...

. Together they worked on Gluck's groundbreaking '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in 1762. Calzabigi then wrote the libretto for ''Alceste'', which further abandoned the practices of opera seria in favour of "noble simplicity". In the preface to this work, to which Gluck put his signature, Calzabigi set out his manifesto for reforming opera. A third collaboration, '' Paride ed Elena'', followed in 1770. Calzabigi also contributed to the scenario of Gluck's reformist

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, ''Don Juan'', in 1761. ''La finta giardiniera'', set by Pasquale Anfossi in 1774 and

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

1775 Events Summary The American Revolutionary War began this year, with the first military engagement being the April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord on the day after Paul Revere's now-legendary ride. The Second Continental Congress t ...

, has been ascribed to him, but this is now regarded as doubtful.

Julian Rushton Julian Gordon Rushton (born 22 May 1941) is an English musicologist, born in Cambridge. He has contributed the entry on Mozart in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' and several other articles in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians' ...

"Finta giardiniera, La (ii)"
in '' Grove Music Online'' , accessed 13 May 2015. In 1774 Calzabigi was banished from the Viennese court as the result of a scandal and took up residence in Pisa and in 1780 in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he wrote his last two librettos, ''Elfrida'' (1792) and ''Elvira'' (1794), both set to music by

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

, and continued his literary activities until his death.

Notes

External links

''Alceste'': opera with libretto by Calzabigi and music by Gluck
vocal score from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection * Daniel Winkler: "Körper und Tragödie. Alfieris und Calzabigis paratextueller Kampf um eine reine Gattung", in

Wilhelm Fink, Munich 2016, . 49–104. pp. 153–190. {{DEFAULTSORT:Calzabigi 1714 births 1795 deaths People from Livorno Ballet librettists Italian expatriates in Austria Italian opera librettists Italian male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights 18th-century Italian male writers