Apostolo Zeno: I Drammi Per Musica. Teil 1

Volume 1 of the first part of Apostolo Zenos Drammi per musica is the beginning of a critical edition of all works by the Venetian author, based on the historical complete edition by Gasparo Gozzi, published by Giambattista Pasquali in Venice in 1744, with the addition of two texts that were not considered at the time . The chosen title Venezia e oltre describes the early phase in Zeno's work, mainly his libretti for the Venetian stages and some commissioned works for court theaters. Without a doubt, Zeno is one of the most important librettists of his time. His works were present all over Italy and was finally appointed to the Viennese court as poeta cesareo for ten years. With his better-known successor Pietro Metastasio, he played an essential role in the history of opera and oratorio in the 18th century. This first volume contains the ten earliest works, from Gli inganni felici (1696) to Temistocle (1701), with the following sections in Italian: 1) a brief introduction; 2) a chapter on the importance of French tragedy for the reform of Italian musical drama; 3) a summary of Zeno's work during the Venetian period; 4) the structure of the edition and the edition criteria; 5) a bibliography and list of historical editions; 6) the texts of the libretti with variations in the footnotes; 7) an apparatus with a description of the literary sources and a catalog of the contemporary print editions up to 1800.