Italian Baroque Opera Libretti
In April 1931 the Florence-based antiquarian bookseller Leo S. Olschki offered a collection of Baroque Italian libretti to the Warburg Library. A libretto is a booklet containing the text of an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical, sometimes even ballet. It is sometimes the only written source for lost plays. Libretti are re-tellings of legends or stories written by professional writers, Librettists, and set to music by composers.
The collection, purchased by the Institute in 1931, comprises of 45 libretti from the late 17th and early 18th centuries from Italy. It includes works by: Bonaventura Aliotti, Aurelio Aureli, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Francesco Berni, Carlo Bosi, Lorenzo Cattani, Fortunato Chelleri, Vicenzo Legrenzio Ciampi, Domenico Gabrielli, Pietro Antonio Galerini, Baldassare Galuppi, Francesco Gasparini, Giulio Cesare Grazzini, Giovanni Legrenzi, Carlo Ambrogio Lonati, Paolo Magni, Andrea Mattioli, Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Carlo Pallavicino, Giacomo Antonio Perti, Carlo Francesco Pollarolo, Giovanni Maria Ruggieri, Giuseppe Domenico Totis, Belisario Valeriani and Marc’Antonio Ziani.
Pages
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- Diocleziano
- Music composed by Carlo Pallavicino, libretto by Matteo Noris. Cf. Warburg Institute catalogue card.
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- Favore de gli dei, Il
- Poesia d'Aurelio Aurelj., Also available online., Also available online., Opera libretto.
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- Fede tradita e vendicata, La
- Also available online., Dedication signed "Pietro Denzi" (p. 4)., "La Musica è del Sig. Maestro Francesco Gasparrini."--Page 8., Includes performers' names.
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- Forza della virtu , La
- Also available online., Libretto attributed to Domenico David.
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- Furbo contra il furbo, Il
- Also available online., "La musica è del celebre Maestro Valentino Fioravanti"--p. 3, Text probably by the composer. Cf. Loewenberg. Annals of opera.
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- Furio Camillo
- di Matteo Noris., Also available online., Composer's name from Warburg Institute catalogue card., Performers' names not given., Last 6 pages blank.
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- Gianguir
- Also available online., Composer: Giminiano Giacomelli; author: Apostolo Zeno.
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- Giudizio di Paride, Il
- Also available online., Dedication signed "Bernardino Pomatelli".
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- Gneo Marzio Coriolano
- Also available online., Composer's name from RLG database., Libretto by Giovanni Andrea Moniglia. Cf. New Grove dictionary of music and musicians.
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- Idalma, overo, Chi la dura la vince, L'
- Also available online., Libretto attributed to Giuseppe Domenico de Totis, music to Bernardo Pasquini., Stieger, Opernlexikon Teil 1, p. 600.
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- Intermezzo primo [-terzo]
- Also available online., Caption title., 3 intermezzi with Fiammetta and Pancrazio as the only characters., Imprint from colophon., www.operone.de lists Intermezzo Pancrazio e Fiammetta as one of Francesco Gasparini's works., Warburg Institute copy lacks t.p.