METASTASIO, Pietro
(1698–1782)> POET · DRAMATIST
METASTASIO (Pietro). Italianpoet and dramatist, Rome, 1698. Vienna, 1782. Metastasio gave life and form to much of the operatic work of the 18th century; his librettos having been the most widely used and popular of any poet of the period. At the same time his librettos had a decided tendency to make the musical settings stilted and lacking in variety. Metastasio was opposed to Gluck and operatic reform, and was the representative of the old classical form. His life was written by Burney, and…