Count Nicolò Minato (b.

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

, ca. 1627; d.

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, 28 February 1698) was an Italian

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 ...

and

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

. His career can be divided into two parts: the years he spent at

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, from 1650 to 1669, and the years at

, from 1669 until his death. Minato is best remembered for his vast output as a librettist for

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

. In total, he wrote over 200 librettos. His career began with '' Orimonte'', written in 1650 for

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

. At this time he worked primarily as a lawyer, and it was only over a decade later that he abandoned this, his first profession, and turned fully to the composition of librettos and theatre management (as did his contemporary, Giovanni Faustini. Minato was also a member of several literary academies, including, along with Busenello, the ''Accademia degli Imperfetti'', a group that devoted itself to studying the classics and contemporary jurisprudence. He wrote 11 librettos for Venice, most of them for Cavalli, though a few were first set by Antonio Sartorio. In 1665 he became a prominent figure in the running of the Teatro San Salvador. While there he collaborated with composer

Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi (baptized August 12, 1626 – May 27, 1690) was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era. He was one of the most prominent composers in Venice in the late 17th century, and ext ...

in revising his opera '' Zenobia e Radamisto'' in 1667. In 1669 he left Venice to take up a post in Vienna as court poet to the Emperor Leopold I. At Vienna he wrote over 170 librettos, averaging around 5 a year, in genres as diverse as ''

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...

'' and ''

festa teatrale The term ''festa teatrale'' (Italian: , plural: ''feste teatrali'' ) refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case ''feste teatrali'' tend to be split into two different sets: ''feste ...

''. In addition to his duties as a writer of secular works, Minato was also a prolific producer of sacred texts, often described as

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

s. He largely provided these texts for performances given to mark special occasions - birthdays in the royal family, for example, or possibly

Lenten Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthe ...

celebrations or court weddings. Minato was a popular librettist and after his death his works were frequently revived by composers such as Johann Adolf Hasse,

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 concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

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. He was a rival ...

, and

Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be ...

References

Bibliography

*S. T. Worsthorne: ''Venetian Opera in the Seventeenth Century'' (Oxford, 1954) *J. Glover: ''Cavalli'' (London, 1978) *E. Rutschman: ''The Minato-Cavalli Operas: the search for Structure in Libretto and Solo Scene'' (diss., U. of Washington, 1979) *E. Rutschman: ''Minato and the Venetian Opera Libretto'', CMc, no.27 (1982), 84–91 *E. Rosand: Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: the Creation of a Genre (Berkeley, 1991) *N. Hiltl: ''Die Oper am Hofe Kaiser Leopolds I. mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Tätigkeit von Minato und Draghi'' (diss., U. of Vienna, 1974) *F. Hadamowsky: ''Barocktheater am Wiener Kaiserhof'', Jb der Geschichte für Wiener Theaterforschung 1951–2 (1955), 7–96 *L. Bianconi: ''Funktionen des Operntheaters in Neapel bis 1700 und die Rolle Alessandro Scarlattis'', Colloquium Alessandro Scarlatti: Würzburg 1975, 13–111 {{DEFAULTSORT:Minato 1620s births 1698 deaths Italian opera librettists Writers from Bergamo Italian poets Italian male poets Italian impresarios Italian male dramatists and playwrights