Origins and early years
Pietro Metastasio, pseudonym of Pietro Antonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi, was born in Rome on January 3, 1698. The son of Felice Trapassi, originally from Assisi, and Francesca Galastri, he grew up in a modest but culturally vibrant family. After the untimely death of his mother in 1702, his father remarried Angela Lucarelli, with whom he had two sisters, Barbara and Endimira. His older brother Leopoldo remained very close to Pietro and pursued a career in legal studies, maintaining an affectionate and intellectual relationship with the future poet throughout his life.
From early childhood, Pietro showed an extraordinary talent for improvised poetry. It is said that he was capable of attracting crowds in the streets of Rome by reciting verses on themes suggested by the public. This precocious talent caught the attention of several men of culture and marked the beginning of a journey destined to transform him into one of the most important figures in European musical theatre.
The meeting with Gravina
In 1709, the young Pietro was noticed by the famous jurist and man of letters Gian Vincenzo Gravina, founder of the Accademia dell'Arcadia. Impressed by the boy's talent, Gravina decided to take him under his protection and personally oversee his education. It was he who transformed the surname Trapassi into the more classical-sounding "Metastasio," translating its meaning into Greek.
Gravina wanted to make him a jurist and provided him with a rigorous education based on the study of Latin and law. At the same time, however, he encouraged his literary talent and introduced him to Roman cultural circles, where the young Metastasio began to hold his own against the most famous improvisers of the time. This intense poetic activity, combined with constant study, put a strain on the boy's health.
Years of formation
To improve the young poet's condition, Gravina decided to take him to Calabria, where he entrusted him to the care of the philosopher Gregorio Caloprese, a relative living in Scalea. The sea air and a calmer pace of life helped restore Metastasio's health. On that occasion, Gravina realized that his pupil's talent had to be cultivated with greater balance, limiting public improvisations and focusing instead on a solid literary education.
Metastasio always followed his protector's instructions with great respect. Still a teenager, at only fourteen, he composed the tragedy Giustino, inspired by an episode from Italia liberata dai Goti by Gian Giorgio Trissino. The work was published in 1713 thanks to Gravina's intervention and represented the first major step in his literary career.
The death of the master
The following years were marked by painful events. In 1714 Gregorio Caloprese died, and four years later, in 1718, Gravina also passed away. With the death of his master and protector, Metastasio lost the figure who had guided his training since adolescence. However, Gravina left him a considerable inheritance of about eighteen thousand scudi, which guaranteed him a certain economic independence.
In the same year, Metastasio attended a meeting of the Accademia dell'Arcadia, where he recited a eulogy in honor of his benefactor. This moment symbolically marked the end of his youth and the beginning of the literary career that would lead him to become the most celebrated librettist of the European eighteenth century.
Early career steps
By the early 1720s, Pietro Metastasio was a young man ready to establish himself in the world of letters. He had received minor orders as early as 1714, a choice that guaranteed him clerical status, which at the time was almost indispensable for pursuing an intellectual career in Rome. Endowed with personal charm, elegance in manners, and great literary talent, he quickly managed to gain a certain notoriety in cultural circles.
For some time, he tried to build a career in the legal field. In Naples, he entered the service of the lawyer Castagnola, with whom he performed activities related to the legal profession. However, his poetic vocation continued to accompany him, and he soon began to dedicate more and more energy to writing, producing celebratory texts and compositions intended for music.
First musical works
In 1721, Metastasio composed an epithalamium and probably his first musical serenata, Endimione, written for the wedding of Donna Anna Francesca Ravaschieri Pinelli di Sangro and Marquis Antonio Pignatelli. The following year, he was entrusted with an even more prestigious task: celebrating the birthday of Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. The Viceroy of Naples commissioned a serenata from him, but Metastasio accepted only on the condition that his name remain anonymous.
From this commission came Gli orti esperidi, set to music by Nicola Porpora. The work was performed, among others, by the famous castrato Farinelli, who made one of his most spectacular debuts on that very occasion. A deep friendship was born between the singer and the poet, evidenced by a long correspondence in which Farinelli affectionately called him "dear twin" («gemello caro»).
The meeting with "La Romanina"
Among the performers of the serenata was also the famous singer Marianna Bulgarelli, known as "La Romanina." After discovering that the young author of the verses was Metastasio, the singer decided to support him with great determination. She convinced him to permanently abandon his legal career to devote himself entirely to musical theatre, promising him that his poetic talent would ensure him fame and independence.
Metastasio thus moved into La Romanina's house, where he came into contact with some of the most important composers of the time. These included Nicola Porpora, Johann Adolf Hasse, Giovan Battista Pergolesi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Leonardo Vinci, Leonardo Leo, Francesco Durante, and Benedetto Marcello. In this artistic environment, the poet also deepened his knowledge of music and the art of singing, observing extraordinary performers like Farinelli at close range.
The success of the first dramas
Under the protection of La Romanina, Metastasio began to produce a series of dramas destined to mark the history of opera seria. Between 1724 and 1730, he wrote works such as Didone abbandonata, Siroe re di Persia, Catone in Utica, Ezio, Alessandro nell’Indie, Semiramide riconosciuta, and Artaserse. These librettos were quickly set to music by the most important composers of the period and performed in the major Italian theatres.
The young poet thus established himself as one of the protagonists of European musical theatre. His elegant writing, the clarity of the dramatic structure, and the poetic strength of the characters helped define a new model of opera libretto, destined to profoundly influence 18th-century melodrama.
Departure for Vienna
As the years passed, however, Metastasio began to perceive a certain dependence on the generosity of La Romanina, who continued to support him and his family financially. The poet earned about three hundred scudi for each work—a considerable but uncertain sum. For this reason, he desired a stable position that would guarantee him security and prestige.
The opportunity came in September 1729, when he was offered the position of court poet at the Imperial Theatre in Vienna. The planned salary was three thousand florins per year, a sum far exceeding his previous earnings. Metastasio accepted the post, succeeding Apostolo Zeno. With generosity and affection, La Romanina encouraged him to leave for what would become the most famous phase of his career, while she continued to care for the poet's family remaining in Rome.
Arrival at the Imperial Court
In April 1730, Pietro Metastasio moved permanently to Vienna to take up the post of court poet of the Imperial Theatre. His new residence was in the Großes Michaelerhaus, not far from the Hofburg, in the heart of the Habsburg capital. The apartment was made available to him by Luigi Pio di Savoia, director of Emperor Charles VI's theatres, and the poet lived here for the rest of his life.
Metastasio shared the house with Niccolò Martines, master of ceremonies to the apostolic nuncio. A sincere and lasting friendship was born between the two. The poet also contributed to the musical training of the young Marianna Martines, destined to become a very talented composer and singer, also entrusting her musical education to Franz Joseph Haydn, who lived in the same building for some time.
The triumph of the Imperial Poet
The arrival in Vienna marked a new phase in Metastasio's career. Between 1730 and 1740, he composed some of the most famous librettos of his production, intended for the Imperial Theatre. These include Adriano in Siria, Demetrio, Issipile, Demofonte, L’Olimpiade, La clemenza di Tito, Achille in Sciro, Temistocle, and Attilio Regolo. These dramas were set to music by the most important European composers and performed in the continent's major theatres.
The poet's extraordinary technical skill allowed him to work with great speed. Some works were composed in surprisingly short times: Achille in Sciro was completed in just eighteen days, while Ipermestra was written in only nine days. Alongside his theatrical dramas, Metastasio also continued to cultivate sacred poetry. In 1730, he composed the oratorio La Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo, which became one of the most frequently set religious texts of the 18th century.
Selected video insights from the ItalianOpera channel:
Private life and social relations
Despite his great artistic success, Metastasio never managed to fully integrate into Viennese aristocratic society. His non-noble origin kept him on the fringes of the court's most exclusive circles. In this context, his relationship with Countess Marianna Pignatelli di Althann, a widow and influential figure in the imperial environment, was born. The bond between the two was very intense, and some contemporaries even hypothesized a secret marriage.
Meanwhile, the poet maintained increasingly distant relations with his former benefactor Marianna Bulgarelli, the famous "Romanina." When the singer tried to join him in Vienna, Metastasio attempted to dissuade her from the journey. La Romanina died suddenly during the trip, and the poet, deeply affected by the news, renounced the inheritance she had left him.
The final years
With the passage of time, the pace of Viennese life and old age advanced for Metastasio as well. After 1745, his production became rarer, although he continued to write cantatas and poetic compositions. Among these is the famous canzonetta Ecco quel fiero istante, which enjoyed great success during the eighteenth century.
In 1755, the death of Countess Althann marked a turning point in his private life. The poet progressively reduced social contacts and spent his final years in relative solitude, receiving only a few visitors. During this period, he was also the teacher of the young Archduchess Marie Antoinette, the future Queen of France, to whom he taught the Italian language with such elegance that the princess spoke it with great naturalness.
Selected video insights from the ItalianOpera channel:
Death and legacy
Pietro Metastasio died in Vienna on April 12, 1782, after more than half a century spent at the imperial court. Having no close relatives left alive, he left his considerable fortune to the children of the Martines family, with whom he had shared his home and friendship for many years.
He was buried in the crypt of St. Michael's Church, and in 1855, a sepulchral monument was also dedicated to him in the Minoritenkirche in Vienna. His fame remained immense throughout the 18th century and beyond: his librettos were set to music by dozens of composers and performed throughout Europe. It is no coincidence that Ugo Foscolo called him the «monarch of sung Italian tragedy», recognizing his central role in the history of melodrama.
The model of opera seria
Over nearly fifty years of theatrical activity, Metastasio wrote twenty-six melodramas, contributing decisively to defining the structure of 18th-century opera seria. His librettos were constructed with a great balance between poetry, stage action, and music, offering composers a clear and rigorous dramatic model.
Curiously, among all his works, only three have an authentically tragic ending: Didone abbandonata, Catone in Utica, and Attilio Regolo. In particular, Catone in Utica sparked much discussion because it showed the protagonist's death on stage, an unusual choice for the taste of the time. Metastasio himself later prepared an alternative version of the ending, in which the hero's death was only recounted and not represented directly.
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