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Giovanni Bertati

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giovanni Bertati (10 July 1735 – 1 March 1815) was an Italian librettist.

Bertati was born in Martellago, Italy. In 1763, he wrote his first libretto, La morte di Dimone ("The Death of Dimone"), set to music by Antonio Tozzi. Two years later, L'isola della fortuna ("The Island of Fortune"), based on Bertati's libretto and Andrea Luchesi's music, was performed in Vienna. During 1770, Bertati visited Vienna several times, where he collaborated with Baldassare Galuppi. Emperor Leopold II gave Bertati the title of Poeta Cesareo ("Imperial Poet") of the Italian Opera in Vienna, previously held by Lorenzo Da Ponte, who, a year earlier, fell in disgrace with the emperor. He died in Venice, Italy.

During his career as a librettist, Bertati was almost exclusively devoted to writing drammi giocosi. His most celebrated libretto is Il matrimonio segreto ("The Secret Marriage"), set to the music of Domenico Cimarosa, and premiered on 7 February 1792, in Vienna.

Libretti

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The following is the list of 70 libretti by Bertati; the years refer to first performances.

"Melinda" (1798)

Sources

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  • Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5