Nicolò Beregan
Count Nicolò Beregan (also Berengani and Bergani;[1] 21 February 1627 – 17 December 1713) was a nobleman, lawyer and amateur opera librettist from the Republic of Venice.[2] His Giustino was first set to music in 1683 by composer Giovanni Legrenzi for Il Giustino, and later reused by both Vivaldi (Giustino, 1724) and Handel (Giustino, 1737).[3]
Biography
[edit]Beregan was born in Vicenza on February 21, 1627. He was one of the best-known lawyers in Venice and was widely respected as a literary figure and classical scholar. His Italian translation of the works of the Latin poet Claudian is particularly well-regarded.[4] He was a member of three academies: the Dodonei in Venice, the Concordi in Ravenna and the Gelati in Bologna. During his period of activity as a librettist he was in contact with the imperial court at Vienna and corresponded with John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick, a principal military and musical supporter of the Venetians. Beregan’s librettos, generally in a heroic vein, were set by some of the best-known composers of the time, and were revised or drawn upon by other librettists. Genserico (1669) was the source for the libretto of Handel’s uncompleted opera of that name; and Handel also set Pariati’s 1724 revision (for Rome) of Beregan’s Giustino (1683). Domenico Scarlatti wrote an opera based on Giustino to a text by Giulio Convò.
Librettos
[edit]- Annibale in Capita, set by Pietro Andrea Ziani, 1661[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Holmes, William C. (2001). "Beregan, Nicolò". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- ^ Ellen Rosand Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre 2007 Page 188 "In other seasons Faustini managed to convince a variety of noblemen and a canon to turn author: Counts Zaguri and Nicolo Beregan in 1660 and 1661, respectively, and Dott. Cristoforo Ivanovich in 1663."
- ^ Music As Social and Cultural Practice Page 217 Melania Bucciarelli, Berta Joncus - 2007 "Nicolò Beregan's Giustino, first staged in 1683 and set by Vivaldi for Rome in 1724, has two successful couples, Giustino–Leocasta and Arianna–Anastasio, "
- ^ Ferrari 1966.
- ^ Rivista politica e letteraria Volume 8 1899 Page 161 "All' Annibale in Capita, melodramma con poesia del conte Nicolò Beregan, patrizio veneto, e musica di D. Pietro Andrea Ziani, dato nel febbraio del 1661 nel teatro dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo, vi fu una tale ressa che una simile non si era mai "
Bibliography
[edit]- Ferrari, Giorgio E. (1966). "BEREGAN, Nicolò". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 8: Bellucci–Beregan (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.
