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libretto
libretto, the Italian word for the ‘little book’ in which the text of an opera (or oratorio) was printed, and hence the text itself. A few composers have written their own librettos, but the majority have used a poet or professional librettist.
A libretto must provide the composer with three elements: a core of character, situation, and plot; a framework of words laid out for musical treatment; and language that will stimulate the creative imagination. Few writers have succeeded in satisfying all these requirements though there are exceptions such as Hofmannsthal's librettos for Strauss, Boito's for Verdi's Falstaff, or Auden's for Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. Tate's libretto for Purcell's Dido and Aeneas has been much attacked on literary grounds. Tate was not the first English librettist: he is generally held to have been preceded by D'Avenant with The Siege of Rhodes. In the 18th cent. the taste for Italian music gained ground in England, and with Handel's arrival in London in 1710 the fate of English opera was sealed. Only in the lighter field did the English libretto survive; the ballad operas which followed Gay's The Beggar's Opera were effectively straight plays interspersed with music. It was not until 1871 that the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas introduced a new and invigorating talent. Many 20th-cent. composers have taken an active part in the preparation of their own librettos, and the professional librettist has disappeared: in his place names like Hardy, Synge, A. P. Herbert, Clifford Bax, J. B. Priestley, and Plomer have been found in the opera programmes. Auden, in his librettos for Britten, Stravinsky, and Henze, established himself as the most important writer in the form in the last few decades. |
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-libretto.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-libretto.html |
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libretto
libretto [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series of episodes. Characterization and emotion are suggested by the words of a libretto but are expressed by the music. The first major librettist was Ottavio Rinuccini, an Italian poet of the 16th cent. Outstanding in the 17th cent. was Philippe Quinault , and in the 18th cent. important librettists were the poet Pietro Metastasio , many of whose 50 libretti were set numerous times by major composers, Ranieri di Calzabigi, and Lorenzo Da Ponte . The 19th-century librettists of note included Augustin Eugène Scribe , W. S. Gilbert , and the composers Arrigo Boito and Richard Wagner ; prominent in the 20th cent. was Hugo von Hofmannsthal . |
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"libretto." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "libretto." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-libretto.html "libretto." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-libretto.html |
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libretto
libretto (It.). Little book. The text of a vocal work, particularly opera. Author is ‘librettist’. First known was for Peri's Dafne (1594–8). Among famous librettists have been Metastasio, da Ponte, Scribe, Romani, Piave, Illica, Gilbert, Boito, Hofmannsthal, Auden and Kallman, and Myfanwy Piper. Some composers have written own libs., e.g. Wagner, Leoncavallo, Delius, and Tippett.
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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-libretto.html MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-libretto.html |
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libretto
li·bret·to / ləˈbretō/ • n. (pl. -bret·ti / -ˈbretē/ or -bret·tos ) the text of an opera or other long vocal work. DERIVATIVES: li·bret·tist / -ˈbretist/ n. |
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"libretto." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "libretto." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-libretto.html "libretto." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-libretto.html |
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libretto
libretto Text of an opera or operetta. From 1597, libretti were printed to commemorate performances; by the mid-18th century, public audiences used them to follow the opera's story.
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"libretto." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "libretto." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-libretto.html "libretto." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-libretto.html |
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libretto
libretto XVIII. — It., dim. of libro book.
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T. F. HOAD. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-libretto.html T. F. HOAD. "libretto." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-libretto.html |
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Libretto
Libretto, see BOOK.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Libretto." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Libretto." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-Libretto.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Libretto." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-Libretto.html |
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libretto
libretto •bateau, chateau, gateau, gelato, mulatto, plateau
•de facto, ipso facto
•alto
•canto, Esperanto, manteau, panto, portmanteau
•antipasto, impasto -
•agitato, Ambato, castrato, esparto, inamorato, legato, moderato, obbligato (US obligato), ostinato, pizzicato, rubato, staccato, tomato, vibrato, Waikato
•contralto
•allegretto, amaretto, amoretto, Canaletto, cornetto, falsetto, ghetto, larghetto, libretto, Loreto, Orvieto, Soweto, stiletto, Tintoretto, vaporetto, zucchetto
•perfecto, recto
•cento, cinquecento, divertimento, lento, memento, pimiento, portamento, Risorgimento, Sacramento, Sorrento, Trento
•manifesto, pesto, presto
•concerto
•Cato, Plato, potato
•Benito, bonito, burrito, coquito, graffito, Hirohito, incognito, Ito, magneto, Miskito, mosquito, Quito, Tito, veto
•ditto • in flagrante delicto • mistletoe
•pinto, Shinto
•tiptoe
•Callisto, fritto misto
•cogito • Felixstowe • Sillitoe
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"libretto." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "libretto." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-libretto.html "libretto." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-libretto.html |
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