Georg Friedrich Treitschke was manager and librettist for Baron von Braun, and he became Beethoven's collaborator.
As was his custom, he drafted a plan of the work, and this he sent to Piave, who for a long time had been his librettist in ordinary.
The librettist has taken the elements of his dramatic poem from Shakespeare's play, but has, owing to musical exigencies, very much cut down the work.
No finer opening for an opera has ever been devised, and it is remarkable how the composer and librettist have managed to sustain this high level right through the four acts of the work.
The third act has a somewhat longer orchestral prelude than the first two, but the librettist gets to work very swiftly none the less.
The librettist does not attempt to adapt Shakespeare's tragedy, but is content to take enough plot and situations for a conventional Italian libretto, and he succeeds in doing this very well.
There is no sign of the clowns in {92} the score, so I fear Smith's librettist cut them out; but the music is all by one composer and all in one style.
He trusted in his librettistand was justified in his trust.
It was a brave attempt of Sir Charles Stanford, but he was beaten by his librettist every time.
I {151} think a great deal of its weakness is due to the librettist cutting out Feste, the clown.
Carre fils is the son of the well-known librettist of Faust and Romeo fame, and Choudens is connected with Choudens Fils, who publish this opera; but concerning the composer, Grove and Riemann are silent.
As a whole, the librettist adheres closely to his text, with the exception of the omission of Dogberry and Verges; and I don't think that anyone except an Englishman could possibly understand two such thoroughly British characters.
Franco Faccio+ had the inestimable boon of the services of Boito as librettist for his Hamlet opera.
In the last act the librettist introduces a new character who sings a barcarolle to Dante's celebrated words, "Nessun maggior do lore.
The young librettist Sterbini was considered quite as impertinent in his way as his musical associate.
The librettist maintains that to take away one phrase, one word, is to render the work unintelligible, so cunningly is it constructed.
In fact, it is known that his struggles with his librettist were frequent and stormy, ending, however, as one would naturally imagine, in the complete collapse of the latter.
Yet so impatient of criticism was he, that, did his librettist suggest an alteration, the unhappy man usually provoked a storm from which he was only too happy to escape.
He bought the play, and sent it to his librettist in ordinary at Milan, with marginal notes, showing how it ought to be divided for musical purposes.
The old forms prevailed and the librettistwas but a purveyor to the composer.
The librettist thought, with Paer, that the subject was excellent for music; but he preferred to treat it for Rossini, who seems to have profited by the treachery of Paer's poet in ordinary.
This time, Rossini had a librettist of some brains.
The librettist was in a happy vein that morning, and thought he had over-written himself.
Its leaves were tattered, and the librettist had long since renounced his pen in favour of auctioneering in the North.
Years ago, so many years ago that they told falsehoods to one another about its age, pretending that the poor dear was less ancient than it was, the man had written a light opera, the librettist being a friend even unluckier than he.
The subject is one of Shakespeare's best, and the librettist has throughout kept Shakespeare to the front, respecting the great dramatist in the most laudable manner.
Verdi's goodness of heart is seen in his treatment of his favourite librettist Francesco Piave, when dire misfortune befell him.
The great scene in which Falstaff is obliged to take refuge in the buck-basket is handled with immense skill by librettist and composer alike.
Da Ponte is well known as the librettist of a number of Mozart's operas, and should be better known as the author of some of the most charming of eighteenth-century memoirs.
There are many cases in which a librettist has had a good idea but has failed to express it adequately.
Paer had designed to have written the music himself, but his librettist slyly turned over the poem to Rossini, who produced one of his masterpieces in setting it.
The final scene could not be made very lengthy; so the composer determined to pad out the act with pure irrelevant music, and the librettist had to find him words.
The librettist is inexorable: the stage is wanted for some one else; and the watchman's song merely acts as a soporific, and at last the poor fellow snores.
The librettist now having need of his services for the finale, Daland enters, and the act winds up with a showy trio.
We are principled against it in all cases where we feel sure of losing; though in this case we could never settle it, for both composer andlibrettist are dead.
He suggested to the librettist that the King should be changed to a duke of Mantua, and the title of the work to "Rigoletto," the name of the buffoon who figures in the place of the original Triboulet.
After Dumas comes the librettist who transposed the story into suitable Italian verse to be set to music.
The work of the composer, the dramatist, and the librettist belongs to the past, however, and that audience of five thousand people did not bestow much thought on them.
The words of the opera leave much to be desired, but we must make allowances for the fact that Glinka, in his impatience, sometimes expected the librettist to supply words to ready-made music.
The librettist for "Martha" and another Flotow piece was Reise, but he wrote under the name of W.
It was Schikaneder, the librettist and producer of Mozart's "Magic Flute," who commissioned Beethoven to compose an opera.
