Giovanni Francesco Busenello

Giovanni Francesco Busenello (* September 24 1598 in Venice, † October 27, 1659 in Legnaro in Padua ) was an Italian lawyer, librettist and poet.

Busenello came from distinguished Venetian family and studied law at the University of Padua, but where he among other things, Paolo Sarpi and Cesare Cremonini heard. From 1623 he worked as a lawyer in Venice. In addition, he was vicar. At times he was Venetian ambassador in Mantua. In Venice, he was a member of several literary academies, the Umoristi, Imperfetti and particularly important for the development of opera Accademia degli Incogniti.

In his time, experienced the opera in Venice a big boost. He wrote opera libretti for Francesco Cavalli and Claudio Monteverdi. His libretto for " Gli Amori d' Apollo e di Dafne " (1640) by Cavalli was based on the pastoral novel "Il Pastor Fido " by Giovanni Battista Guarini. Other operas for Cavalli were " Didone " ( 1641), " La proserpita infelice di Giulio Cesare dittatore " (1646, the opera is lost) and " Statira, Princess of Persia " ( 1655). For Monteverdi, the Busenello met through his students Cavalli, he wrote shortly before his death " L' incoronazione di Poppea " (1642 ), an early operatic masterpiece, the libretto is not mythological but historical patterns ( Tacitus ) follows and by the psychological complexity of the characters excels. Busenello also wrote several novels in which he portrays the relaxed life in the Venice of his time.