Giovanni Faustini

Giovanni Faustini(1615 – 19 December 1651) was an Italianlibrettistandopera impresarioof the 17th century. He is best remembered for his collaborations with the composerFrancesco Cavalli.

Life and career

Faustini was born inVenice.Impresario at theTeatro San Cassiano,Teatro San MoisèandTeatro Sant 'Apollinare,his 14librettiwere mostly set by Cavalli, with a few being used by other composers. The libretti Faustini left incomplete at his death were later finished by his brotherMarco Faustini,who continued his brother's career as impresario at multiple theatres.

Three of his librettos are based on mythological themes, but these are exceptions rather than the rule. A typical Faustini plot relies not on myth or classical history but upon his own imagination. He based his creative thinking upon a fundamental pattern of two pair of aristocratic lovers from exotic nations, who undergo a lengthy process of separation and reconciliation, assisted by a good number of clownish servants who provide comic relief. Many devices from Roman comedy and thepastoralgenre also appear, such as sleeping potions and letters delivered to the wrong person. Faustini was heavily committed to his career as a professional librettist, and his work with Cavalli was of vital importance in the development of Venetian opera.

Librettos

• La virtù de' strali d'Amore(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1642)
• Egisto(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1643; music byBenedetto Ferrari,1651)
• Ormindo(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1644)
• Doriclea(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1645; music byPietro Andrea Ziani,1666)
• Titone(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1645)
• Euripo(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1649)
• Oristeo(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1651)
• Rosinda(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1651)
• La Calisto(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1651)
• Eritrea(music byFrancesco Cavalli,1652)
• Eupatra(music byPietro Andrea Ziani,1655; music byGiovanni Battista Costanzi,1730)
• Elena(completed byNicolò Minato;music byFrancesco Cavalli,1659)
• Il tiranno humiliato d’amore, ovvero Il Meraspe(revised byNicolò Beregan;music byCarlo Pallavicino,1667)
• Alciade(music byPietro Andrea Ziani,1667)

References

• Rosand, Ellen (2001). "Giovanni Faustini". InSadie, Stanley;Tyrrell, John(eds.).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians(2nd ed.). London:Macmillan Publishers.ISBN978-1-56159-239-5.‎

Bibliography

• B. Brunelli:L’impresario in angustie,Rivista italiana del dramma, iii (1941), 311–41
• J. Glover:The Teatro Sant’Apollinare and the Development of Seventeenth-Century Venetian Opera(diss., U. of Oxford, 1975)
• J. Glover:Cavalli(London, 1978)
• G. Morelli:Scompiglio e lamento (simmetrie dell’incostanza e incostanza delle simmetre): ‘L’Egisto’ di Faustini e Cavalli(Venice, 1982)
• E. Rosand:Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: the Creation of a Genre(Berkeley, 1990)