Francesco maria piave biography of martin

Italian opera librettist (1812–1876)

Francesco Maria Piave (18 May 1810 – 5 March 1876) was an Italian opera librettist who was born in Murano in the lagoon of Venice, during the brief Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

Career

Piave's career spanned over twenty years working with many of the significant composers of his day, including Giovanni Pacini (four librettos), Saverio Mercadante (at least one), Federico Ricci, and even one for Michael Balfe.

He is most known for his collaborations with Giuseppe Verdi, for whom he was to write 10 librettos, the best known being those for Rigoletto and La traviata.

But Piave was not only a librettist: he was a journalist and translator in addition to being the resident poet and stage manager at La Fenice in Venice where he first encountered Verdi.

Later, Verdi was helpful in securing him the same position at La Scala in Milan.^[1] His expertise as a stage manager and his tact as a nego