Pietro Metastasio
Pietro Metastasio
1698~1782. An Italian poet, writer of opera script. His real name is Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi. He was born in Rome and gained popularity in Vienna. His works were translated into various languages and many composers put music to his verse. The major works of his are Gli orti esperidi、L'Olimpiade (1733) and Demofoonte(1733).
He associated with Carlo Broschi (Farinelli), a famous Castrate in the 17th century Italy, and called Farinelli "idol of his age" in letters. Lee asserted that he called Farinelli "adorable Twin-Brother" because of "his voice and my verse together learned their earliest Parnassian flights."
Gluck and Händel, both of whom Lee loved, put music to Metastasio's works. In Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy, Lee mentioned Achille in Sciro.
About Farinelli, a singer who Lee depended on writing 'Winthrop's Adventure' and 'A Wicked Voice,' she gained materials from the books by Metastasio. She wrote: "Italy's greatest glory then was "definition of the human voice," and the ideal medium for that voice was "the old heroic opera, as perfected by Metastasio."
