Italian librettist and composer.
He abandoned an ecclesiastical carrier, continuing his studies in Rome, where he had moved with his family. In 1842 he became performance director at the La Fenice Theatre in Venice, where from 1848 to 1859 he was named official poet.
In 1842 he also worked with the Scala Theatre in Milan, and was official poet there from 1859 to 1867. He wrote about 60 librettos for various composers: Mercadante, Pacini, Ponchielli and the Ricci brothers for whom he wrote the poetry for
Crispino e la comare (1850).
His most important librettos, though, were those he wrote for Verdi, of whom he became an assiduous and devoted collaborator. He did 10 librettos for the Maestro of Busseto:
Ernani and
I due foscari (1844),
Attila (1846),
Macbeth (1847),
Il corsaro (1848),
Stiffelio (1850),
Rigoletto (1851),
La traviata (1853),
Simon Boccanegra (1857) and
La forza del destino (1862).
Opera librettos
(the dates in parentheses are of the first performances)
Il duca d'Alba (G. Pacini, 1842)
Ernani (G. Verdi, 1844)
I due foscari (G. Verdi, 1844) Lorenzino de Medici (G. Pacini, 1845)
Estella di Murcia (F. Ricci, 1846)
Attila (G. Verdi, 1846) Tutti amanti (C. Romani, 1847)
Griselda (F. Ricci, 1847)
Macbeth (G. Verdi, 1847) Allan Cameron (G. Pacini, 1848)
Il corsaro (G. Verdi, 1848) Giovanna di Fiandre (C. Boniforti, 1848)
La Schiava Saracena (S. Mercadante, 1848)
Stiffelio (G. Verdi, 1850) Crispino e la comare (L. e F. Ricci, 1850)
Elisabetta di Valois (Buzzolla, 1850)
Rigoletto (G. Verdi, 1851) La Sposa di Murcia (A. Casalini, 1851)
La Baschina (F. De Liguoro, 1853)
La traviata (G. Verdi, 1853) La Prigioniera (C. Bonsoni, 1853)
Pittore e Duca (M. Balfe, 1854)
Margherita di Borgogna (F. Petrocini, 1854)
I Fidanzati (A. Peri, 1856)
Simon Boccanegra (G. Verdi, 1857) Vittore Pisani (A. Peri, 1857)
Margherita la Mendicante (G. Braga, 1859)
La Biscaglina (S. Levi, 1860)
Guglielmo Shakspeare (Benvenuti, 1861)
Mormile (G. Braga, 1862)
La forza del destino (G. Verdi, 1862) Rienzi (A. Peri, 1862)
La Duchessa di Guisa (Serrao, 1865)
Rebecca (B. Pisani, 1865)
Berta di Varnol (G. Pacini, 1867)
Don Diego de Mendoza (G. Pacini, 1867)
La Trombola (Cagnoni, 1868)
Olema (C. Pedrotti, 1872)
