Cristoforo Ivanovich (1628–1689) was the first historian of Venetian
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...
, who also wrote several
librettos of his own.
Biography
Ivanovich was born in
Budua (Budva), at the time part of
Venetian Albania (now southeastern
Montenegro
)
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). According to his own testimony, he descended from an old patrician family who settled Budva after leaving
Cetinje
Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegr ...
.
In 1655 he moved to
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
, where he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica and of the Accademia dei Temperati. In 1657, he moved to Venice, the city where he remained throughout his life. There he became secretary of Leonardo Pesaro,
Procurator of San Marco, and later, in 1676, was appointed
canon of
St Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Pa ...
. From 1663, he wrote several librettos for operas which were performed in the theaters of Venice, Vienna and
Piacenza
Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
. He catalogued all opera performances held in Venice from 1637 until 1681 in his treatise ''Memorie teatrali di Venzia'' (Theatrical Memories of Venice), published in 1680 as part of collection ''Minerva al tavolino''. He wrote all his works in Italian and nearly all of his librettos are
drammi per musica.

Notable works
*''L'amor guerriero'' (music by
Pietro Andrea Ziani, 1663)
*''La Circe'' (music by Pietro Andrea Ziani, 1665), music by
Domenico Freschi, 1679)
*''Coriolano'' (music by
Francesco Cavalli
Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading oper ...
, 1669)
*''La costanza trionfrante'' (music by
Gian Domenico Partenio, 1673, music by
Bernardo Pasquini
Bernardo Pasquini (Massa e Cozzile, 7 December 1637Rome, 21 November 1710) was an Italian composer of operas, oratorios, cantatas and keyboard music. A renowned virtuoso keyboard player in his day, he was one of the most important Italian compos ...
as ''Dov'è amore è pietà'', 1679)
*''Lisimaco'' (music by
Giovanni Maria Pagliardi, 1673)
*''L'africano trionfo di Pompeo'' (1678)
*''La felicità regnante'' (''serenata'', 1681)
* – Letters, essays, poetry, incl. ''Memorie teatrali di Venzia'' (pp. 361 ff)
Bibliography
*Ivano Cavallini: "Questioni di poetica del melodramma del Seicento nelle lettere di Cristoforo Ivanovich", in ''Giovanni Legrenzi e la Cappella ducale di San Marco'', pp. 185–99 (Venice, 1990)
*Norbert Dubowy: ''Introduction to C. Ivanovich: Memorie teatrali di Venezia'' (
Lucca
Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.
Lucca is known as ...
, 1993)
*Miloš Milošević: "Il contributo di Cristoforo Ivanovich nell'evoluzione del melodramma seicentesco", in ''Il libro nel bacino adriatico (secc. XVI–XVIII)]'', pp. 111–24 (Venice, 1989)
*
Miloš Velimirović Miloš Milorad Velimirović (December 10, 1922 – April 18, 2008) was an American musicologist. Twice a recipient of a Fulbright fellowship, he was considered an international expert in the areas of Byzantine music, the history of Slavonic music, ...
. ''Cristoforo Ivanovich from Budva: the First Historian of the Venetian Opera'' (1967)
*Thomas Walker. "Gli errori di ''Minerva al tavolino'': osservazioni sulla cronologia delle prime opere veneziane", in ''Venezia e il melodramma nel Seicento'', pp. 7–20 (Venice, 1972)
*
References
External links
Cristoforo Ivanovich biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanovich, Cristoforo
1620 births
1689 deaths
17th-century Venetian writers
People from Budva
Italian opera librettists
17th-century Italian historians
Music historians
Italian male dramatists and playwrights
Italian male non-fiction writers
Baroque writers