Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.
Metastasio, c. 1770 by Meytens or Batoni
Statue of Metastasio in Rome, in front of the Santa Maria in Vallicella
Opere drammatiche, oratorj sacri e poesie liriche (1737)
A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet.
Cover of a 1921 libretto for Giordano's Andrea Chénier
The composer of Cavalleria rusticana, Pietro Mascagni, flanked by his librettists, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci
Pages from an 1859 libretto for Ernani, with the original Italian lyrics, English translation and musical notation for one of the arias
Henry Purcell (1659–1695), whose operas were written to English libretti