Which Italian poet and librettist was known under the name of Metastasio?
Pietro Metastasio Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (; 3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of "opera seria" libretti. Metastasio was born in Rome, where his father, Felice Trapassi, a native of Assisi, had taken service in the Corsican regiment of the papal forces. Felice married a Bolognese woman, Francesca Galasti, and became a grocer in the "Via dei Cappellari". The couple had two sons and two daughters; Pietro was the younger son. Pietro, while still a child, is said to have
Pietro Metastasio Naples was under Austrian rule, the birthday of Empress Elisabeth Christine had to be celebrated with more than ordinary honours, and the viceroy asked Metastasio to compose a serenata for the occasion. Metastasio accepted, but kept his authorship secret. He wrote "Gli orti esperidi", which was set to music by Nicola Porpora, and sung by Porpora's pupil, the castrato Farinelli, making a spectacular début, it won the most enthusiastic applause. The Roman prima donna, Marianna Bulgarelli, who played Venus in this opera, spared no pains until she had discovered its author. Bulgarelli persuaded the poet to give up the law,