View source for Francesco Maria Piave

{{short description|Italian opera librettist (1812–1876)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
[[File:Francesco_Maria_Piave_-_Granger.jpg|thumb|Francesco Maria Piave]]
'''Francesco Maria Piave''' (18 May 1810{{spnd}}5 March 1876) was an Italian opera [[libretto|librettist]] who was born in [[Murano]] in the lagoon of [[Venice]], during the brief Napoleonic [[Kingdom of Italy (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.<ref name="BALD">Baldini 1970, pp. 70 - 74</ref> His expertise as a stage manager and his tact as a negotiator served Verdi very well, but the composer bullied him mercilessly for his pains over many years.

Like Verdi, Piave was an ardent Italian patriot, and in 1848, during Milan's  ''"Cinque Giornate,"'' when [[Joseph Radetzky von Radetz|Radetzky]]'s [[Austria]]n troops retreated from the city, Verdi wrote to Piave in Venice addressing him as "Citizen Piave."

[[File:Francesco Maria Piave grave Milan 2015.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A marble gravestone on the wall of a crypt|Piave's grave at the [[Monumental Cemetery of Milan]]]]
Together, they worked on ten operas between 1844 and 1862, and Piave would have also prepared the libretto for ''[[Aida]]'' when Verdi accepted the commission for it in 1870, had he not suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed and unable to speak. Verdi helped to support his wife and daughter, proposing that "an album of pieces by famous composers be compiled and sold for Piave's benefit".<ref>Werfel and Stefan 1973, p. 262, referring to a letter of 1 August 1869 from Verdi to publisher Léon Escudier requesting him to furnish his own contribution to the album</ref>  The composer paid for his funeral when he died nine years later in Milan aged 65 and arranged for his burial at the [[Monumental Cemetery of Milan|Monumental Cemetery]].

==Piave's librettos for Verdi==
From the beginnings of their working relationship in 1844, scholars such as Gabriele Baldini see Verdi's overall influence upon the structure of his work take a big leap forward when he notes: 
:Working with Piave was Verdi's first opportunity to work with himself. [...] The composer completely dominates and enslaves the librettist, who becomes scarcely more than an instrument in his hands...[Piave's] libretti are in fact those best suited to Verdi's music [....] simply because, in detail as well as in general shape, Verdi himself composed them.<ref name="BALD"/>

This statement suggests that, almost for the first time, the composer was going to be the one who determined "that drama essentially consisted of the arrangement of pieces and the clarity of the musical forms..[so that]..he began to become aware of the structure and architecture of musical composition, something which was not even clearly hinted at during the period with Solera.<ref name="BALD"/> The composer began to control the overall dramatic arc of the drama and no longer would he "suffer under"<ref name="BALD"/> such librettists as [[Temistocle Solera]], who wrote the libretti for five Verdi operas  beginning with ''[[Oberto (opera)|Oberto]]'' and up to ''[[Attila (opera)|Attila]]'' in 1846.

[[File:Piave caricature.jpg|thumb|Caricature of Piave as "a theatrical jack-of-all-trades", after 1861]]
An example of the pressure which Verdi exerted on Piave was in the struggle to have the Venetian censors  approve ''Rigoletto'': "Turn Venice upside down to make the censors permit this subject"<ref>Verdi to Piave, 6 May 1850, in Phillips-Matz 1993, p. 265</ref> he demanded, following that up with the admonition not to allow the matter to drag on: "If I were the poet I would be very, very concerned, all the more because you would be greatly responsible if by chance (may the Devil not make it happen) they should not allow this drama [to be staged]".<ref>Verdi to Piave, 29 November 1850, in Phillips-Matz 1993, p. 270</ref>
 
Another Verdi scholar notes that "Verdi always harried him unmercifully, often having his work revised by others [but] Piave rewarded him with doglike devotion, and the two remained on terms of sincere friendship."<ref>Black 1998, p. 999</ref> Piave became "someone Verdi loved".<ref>Phiilips-Matz 1993, p. 644</ref>

In following [[Salvadore Cammarano]] as Verdi's main mid-career librettist, Piave firstly wrote ''[[Ernani]]'' in 1844,  and then ''[[I due Foscari]]'' (1844), ''[[Attila (opera)|Attila]]'' (1846), ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' (the 1847 first version), ''[[Il Corsaro]]'' (1848), ''[[Stiffelio]]'' (1850), ''[[Rigoletto (opera)|Rigoletto]]'' (1851), ''[[La traviata]]'' (1853), ''[[Simon Boccanegra]]'' (the 1857 first version), ''[[Aroldo]]'' (1857), ''[[La forza del destino]]'' (the 1862 first version), and ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' (the 1865 second version).

== Librettos by Piave ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year !! Title<ref>[http://opera.stanford.edu/librettists/Piave.html List of operas for which Piave wrote the libretto taken from opera.stanford.edu] Retrieved 9 September 2013</ref> !! Composer  
|-valign="top"
|1842 || ''Il duca d'Alba'' || {{Sortname|Giovanni|Pacini}}<br />(Libretto also used by Giovanni Peruzzini)  
|-valign="top"
|1844 || ''[[Ernani]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1844 || ''[[I due Foscari]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}}  
|-valign="top"
|1845 || ''Lorenzino de' Medici'' || {{Sortname|Giovanni|Pacini}}
|-valign="top"
|1846 || ''[[Attila (opera)|Attila]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1846 || ''[[Estella di Murcia]]'' || {{Sortname|Federico|Ricci}}  
|-valign="top"
|1847 || ''Griselda'' || {{Sortname|Federico|Ricci}} 
|-valign="top"
|1847 || ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' (first version) || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}}  
|-valign="top"
|1847 || ''[[Tutti amanti]]'' || {{Sortname|Carlo|Romani}}  
|-valign="top"
|1848 || ''Allan Cameron'' || {{Sortname|Giovanni|Pacini}}  
|-valign="top"
|1848 || ''[[Giovanna di Fiandra]]'' || {{Sortname|Carlo|Boniforti}}  
|-valign="top"
|1848 || ''[[Il corsaro]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1848 || ''[[La Schiava Saracena]]'' || {{Sortname|Saverio|Mercadante}} 
|-valign="top"
|1850 || ''[[Crispino e la comare]]'' || {{Sortname|Luigi|Ricci|Luigi Ricci (composer)}} and [[Federico Ricci]]  
|-valign="top"
|1850 || ''[[Elisabetta di Valois]]'' || {{Sortname|Antonio|Buzzolla}}  
|-valign="top"
|1850 || ''[[Stiffelio]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1851 || ''[[La Sposa di Murçia]]'' || {{Sortname|Andrea|Casalini}} 
|-valign="top"
|1851 || ''[[Rigoletto]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}}  
|-valign="top"
|1853 || ''[[Baschina]]'' || {{Sortname|Federico Guglielmo|De Liguoro}}  
|-valign="top"
|1853 || ''La donna delle isole'' || {{Sortname|Giovanni|Pacini}}  
|-valign="top"
|1853 || ''[[La prigioniera]]'' || {{Sortname|Carlo Ercole|Bosoni}} 
|-valign="top"
|1853 || ''[[La traviata]]'' || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1854 || ''Margherita di Borgogna'' || {{Sortname|Francesco|Petrocini}}  
|-valign="top"
|1854 || ''[[Pittore e Duca]]'' || {{Sortname|Michael William|Balfe}}  
|-valign="top"
|1856 || ''[[I Fidanzati (opera)|I Fidanzati]]'' || {{Sortname|Achille|Peri}}  
|-valign="top"
|1857 || ''[[Simon Boccanegra]]'' (first version) || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1857 || ''[[Aroldo]]'' (revision of ''Stiffelio'') || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}}  
|-valign="top"
|1857 || ''[[Vittore Pisani]]'' || {{Sortname|Achille|Peri}}  
|-valign="top"
|1859 || ''[[Margherita la mendicante]]'' || {{Sortname|Gaetano|Braga}}  
|-valign="top"
|1860 || ''[[La Biscaglina]]'' || {{Sortname|Samuele|Levi}} 
|-valign="top"
|1861 || ''[[Guglielmo Shakspeare]]'' || {{Sortname|Tomaso|Benvenuti}}  
|-valign="top"
|1862 || ''[[La forza del destino]]'' (first version) || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}}  
|-valign="top"
|1862 || ''[[Mormile]]'' || {{Sortname|Gaetano|Braga}} 
|-valign="top"
|1862 || ''Rienzi'' || {{Sortname|Achille|Peri}} 
|-valign="top"
|1865 || ''[[La Duchessa di Guisa]]'' || {{Sortname|Paolo|Serrao}}  
|-valign="top"
|1865 || ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' (second version) || {{Sortname|Giuseppe|Verdi}}  
|-valign="top"
|1865 || ''Rebecca'' || {{Sortname|Bartolomeo|Pisani}} 
|-valign="top"
|1867 || ''[[Berta di Varnol]]'' || {{Sortname|Giovanni|Pacini}} 
|-valign="top"
|1867 || ''[[Don Diego de Mendoza]]'' || {{Sortname|Giovanni|Pacini}}  
|-valign="top"
|1868 || ''[[La tombola]]'' || {{Sortname|Antonio|Cagnoni}} 
|-valign="top"
|1872 || ''Olema'' || {{Sortname|Carlo|Pedrotti}}
|}

==Filmography==
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Crispino e la comare (film)|it|3=Crispino e la comare (film 1938)|lt=Crispino e la comare}}'', directed by Vincenzo Sorelli (1938)
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|Rigoletto (1946 film)|it|3=Rigoletto (film 1946)|lt=Rigoletto}}'', directed by [[Carmine Gallone]] (1946)
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|La signora delle camelie (1947 film)|it|3=La signora delle camelie (film 1947)|lt=La signora delle camelie}}'', directed by [[Carmine Gallone]] (1947)
*''[[The Force of Destiny (film)|The Force of Destiny]]'', directed by [[Carmine Gallone]] (1950)
*''[[Rigoletto e la sua tragedia]]'', directed by [[Flavio Calzavara]] (1956)
*''{{Interlanguage link multi|La traviata (1968 film)|it|3=La traviata (film 1968)|lt=La traviata}}'', directed by [[Mario Lanfranchi]] (1968)
*''[[Rigoletto (1982 film)|Rigoletto]]'', directed by [[Jean-Pierre Ponnelle]] (1982)
*''[[La Traviata (1983 film)|La Traviata]]'', directed by [[Franco Zeffirelli]] (1983)
*''[[Macbeth (1987 film)|Macbeth]]'', directed by [[Claude d'Anna]] (1987)
*''[[Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto Story]]'', directed by Gianfranco Fozzi (2005)

==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}
===Sources===
*Baldini, Gabriele (1970), (trans. Roger Parker, 1980), ''The Story of Giuseppe Verdi: Oberto to Un Ballo in Maschera''. Cambridge, ''et al'': Cambridge University Press.  {{ISBN|0-521-29712-5}}
*Black, John (1998),  "Piave, Francesco Maria" in [[Stanley Sadie]], (Ed.),  ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Opera]]'', Vol. Three, pp.&nbsp;999. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. {{ISBN|0-333-73432-7}}  {{ISBN|1-56159-228-5}}
*[[Julian Budden|Budden, Julian]] (1996), ''Verdi''. New York: Schirmer Books (Master Musicians Series). {{ISBN|0028646169}}  {{ISBN|9780028646169}} 
*Kimball, David (2001), in [[Amanda Holden (writer)|Holden, Amanda]] (Ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. {{ISBN|0-140-29312-4}}
*O'Grady, Deidre (2000), ''Piave, Boito, Pirandello: From Romantic Realism to Modernism'' (Studies in Italian Literature). Edwin Mellon Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7734-7703-2}}  {{ISBN|0-7734-7703-9}}
*[[Mary Jane Phillips-Matz|Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane]] (1993), ''Verdi: A Biography'', London & New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-313204-4}}
*Werfel, Franz and Stefan, Paul (1973), ''Verdi: The Man and His Letters'', New York: Vienna House. {{ISBN|0-8443-0088-8}}

{{wikisource|vec:Autor:Francesco Maria Piave|Francesco Maria Piave}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Francesco Maria Piave}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piave, Maria}}
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1876 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from the Metropolitan City of Venice]]
[[Category:Giuseppe Verdi]]
[[Category:Italian journalists]]
[[Category:Italian male journalists]]
[[Category:Italian translators]]
[[Category:Burials at the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano]]
[[Category:Italian opera librettists]]
[[Category:Italian male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian translators]]
[[Category:People from Murano]]