Ottavio Rinuccini

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Ottavio Rinuccini (born January 20, 1562 , † March 28, 1621 in Florence ) was an Italian poet and librettist . Together with the composer Jacopo Peri , he created the first opera in 1598 .

Life

Rinuccini was a nobleman and courtier at the Medici court in Florence. As a poet he was a member of the Accademia Fiorentina and the Accademia degli Elevati and belonged to the Florentine Camerata . Together with the members of the Camerata, Rinuccini was involved in the creation of several Florentine intermedia . On the occasion of Ferdinando de 'Medici's splendid wedding with Christine of Lorraine in 1589, six of these interludes to the comedy La pellegrina by Girolamo Bargagli were made , in which Rinuccini worked as a lyricist and in which the poet Giovanni de' Bardi and, in addition to Peri, the composer Emilio de 'Cavalieri , Luca Marenzio and Cristofano Malvezzi were involved. In the following years Rinuccini provided the composers with texts from ancient shepherd games in the tradition of a tasso on subjects such as the Daphne and Orpheus myths, with which he shaped the style of the entire 17th and 18th centuries.

For Jacopo Peri and other members of the Camerata he wrote the text of the first actual opera, La Dafne (1598), favola drammatica in a prologue and six scenes. Except for a few fragments, the music for this opera has been lost, but its impact on music history is of far-reaching importance. In 1608, the text by Marco da Gagliano was set to music again in his La Dafne , and the text of the first German opera, Tragicomoedia von der Dafne (1627) by Martin Opitz (music by Heinrich Schütz ), is a free transfer of Rinuccini's work. 1601-03 Rinuccini stayed in Paris at the invitation of Maria de Medici and there got to know the courtly opera literature. Il Ballo delle Ingrate by Monteverdi follows the French model of a court or dance opera .

Works

Libretti

Madrigals

  • Sfogava con le stelle un infermo d'amore , Monteverdi: Fourth Book of Madrigals, No. 4
  • Lamento della ninfa , Monteverdi: Eighth Book of Madrigals, No. 18
  • Bel pastor dal cui bel guardo , Monteverdi: Ninth Book of Madrigals, No. 1
  • Zefiro torna , Monteverdi: Ninth Book of Madrigals, No. 2
  • Texts for Le nuove musiche (1601) by Giulio Caccini

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