(b Arezzo, c1635; d Arezzo, ?15 May 1688). Italian librettist. The name Apollonio Apolloni is spurious and refers to Giovanni Filippo (see Pirrotta). On the recommendation of Cardinal Giovanni Carlo de’ Medici, he entered the service of Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria about September 1653, perhaps at the instigation of Cesti. During his service at Innsbruck he wrote the librettos for Mars und Adonis, L’Argia and La Dori. He returned to Italy by 1659 and entered the service of Cardinal Flavio Chigi at Rome in May 1660, remaining in that post until his death; at some point he was given an abbotship, and in April 1668 entered the ‘family’ of the cardinal. Like Cesti, he belonged to the circle of Salvator Rosa and G.B. Ricciardi. He set to verse L’empio punito of Filippo Acciaiuoli, a friend of Chigi, for the Teatro Tordinona, Rome, in 1669; he apparently did the same for Acciaiuoli’s Girello (Rome, 1668), for which he certainly wrote the prologue. In addition to the secular dramatic works, he wrote three oratorio texts.
Crescimbeni recognized Apolloni as ‘one of the best followers’ of G.A. Cicognini. The work that most clearly shows him in that tradition is La Dori, which rivalled Il Giasone and L'Orontea as one of the most widely performed Italian operas of the 17th century. La Dori relies heavily on mistaken identity and misunderstanding in its concentrated love plot, which makes little use of historical or pseudo-historical superstructure; it has in common with Cicognini’s dramas much rapid dialogue, direct and lively language, strong but traditional comic elements and a ‘surprise’ resolution of the plot.
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L’Argia, A. Cesti, 1655; Mars und Adonis, ?Cesti, 1655; La Dori, Cesti, 1657; La Circe (operetta), A. Stradella, 1668; La forza d’amore (cant. scenica), P.P. Cappellini, n.d. (B. Pasquini, 1672, rev. as Con la forza d’amor si vince amor, 1679); La sincerità con la sincerità, overo Il Tirinto (favola drammatica per musica, with F. Acciainoli), Pasquini, 1672; Gl’inganni innocenti, ovvero L’Adalinda (with Acciaiuoli), P.S. Agostini, 1673; L’Amor per vendetta, ovvero L’Alcasta, Pasquini, 1673 |
all oratorios
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Jefte, G.B. Tomasi, Mantua, 1689; L’Assalone, I-Rli; Oratorio dell’Angelo |
AllacciD
Apolloni poesie (MS, I-Rn Ebor.26) [incl. texts set by Carissimi, Cesti, Stradella]
Other texts by Apolloni in I-Fn Palat. 285.ix and Rvat Ferrajoli 1
Raccolta di componimenti per musica del Sig.r Abb. Gio: Filippo Apolloni Aretino (MS, I-PAc) [incl. texts of orats and other dramatic works]
Versi per musica di G.F.A. P[oeta] A[retino], parte seconda (MS, I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.193) [incl. texts of cants. and other works]
G.M. Crescimbeni: L’istoria della volgar poesia (Rome, 2/1714)
N. Pirrotta: ‘Tre capitoli su Cesti (L’opera italiana prima di Cesti – “L’Orontea” – Cesti nell’epistolario di Salvator Rosa)’, La scuola romana: G. Carissimi – A. Cesti – M. Marazzoli, Chigiana, x (1953), 27–79, esp. 59
N. Burt: ‘Opera in Arcadia’, MQ, xli (1955), 145–70
F. Schlitzer: Intorno alla ‘Dori’ di Antonio Cesti (Florence, 1957)
C.B. Schmidt: The Operas of Antonio Cesti (diss., Harvard U., 1973)
C. Schmidt: ‘Antonio Cesti’s “La Dori”: a Study of Sources, Performance Traditions and Musical Style’, RIM, x (1975), 455–98
C.B. Schmidt: ‘“La Dori” di Antonio Cesti: sussidi bibliografici’, RIM, xi (1976), 197–229
M. Murata: ‘Il carnevale a Roma sotto Clemente IX Rospigliosi’, RIM, xii (1977), 83–99
THOMAS WALKER