Francesco Maria Piave
Personal Info
Known for
Writing
Gender
Male
Birthday
1810-05-18
Day of Death
1876-03-05 (65 years old)
Place of Birth
Murano, Italy
Francesco Maria Piave
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Maria_Piave.
Francesco Maria Piave (18 May 1810 – 5 March 1876) was an Italian opera librettist who was born in Murano in the lagoon of Venice, during the brief Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.
His 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 well known as Giuseppe Verdi's librettist, for whom he was to write 10 librettos, the most well-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. 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 Radetzky's Austrian troops retreated from the city, Verdi wrote to Piave in Venice addressing him as "Citizen Piave."
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". 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.
Crew
(2025)
La Traviata
Writer
(2022)
(2021)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2019)
Verdi: Macbeth
Writer
(2019)
(2019)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Screenplay
(2019)
(2018)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2018)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2018)
(2018)
(2017)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2017)
The ROH Live: Rigoletto
Script
(2017)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2017)
(2017)
Ernani
Writer
(2016)
(2016)
Macbeth
Writer
(2015)
Verdi: Macbeth
Lyricist
(2015)
La Traviata
Writer
(2015)
Verdi's La Traviata - English National Opera
Original Story
(2015)
Verdi: La Traviata
Writer
(2015)
La Traviata
Lyricist
(2015)
Verdi: Rigoletto
Writer
(2014)
(2014)
(2013)
I due Foscari
Writer
(2013)
(2013)
(2012)
(2012)
Stiffelio
Writer
(2012)
Verdi: Ernani
Writer
(2012)
I Due Foscari - Verdi
Writer
(2012)
(2012)
(2011)
La traviata
Writer
(2010)
(2010)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2010)
Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2010)
Attila
Writer
(2010)
Attila
Writer
(2010)
Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2010)
Rigoletto a Mantova
Writer
(2009)
La Traviata
Writer
(2009)
(2008)
(2008)
(2008)
(2008)
La Traviata
Writer
(2008)
Il corsaro
Writer
(2008)
(2007)
Verdi: La Traviata
Writer
(2007)
(2007)
La forza del destino
Writer
(2007)
Nabucco
Writer
(2006)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2006)
La Traviata
Writer
(2006)
Macbeth
Writer
(2005)
La traviata
Writer
(2005)
Ernani
Writer
(2005)
Verdi La Traviata
Writer
(2004)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2002)
La Traviata
Writer
(2002)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2002)
Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(2001)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2001)
La Traviata
Writer
(2001)
Rigoletto
Writer
(2001)
Macbeth
Writer
(1997)
Macbeth
Writer
(1997)
(1996)
(1996)
Rigoletto
Writer
(1995)
(1994)
Rigoletto
Writer
(1993)
Verdi Stiffelio
Writer
(1992)
Verdi La Traviata
Writer
(1991)
Attila
Writer
(1988)
I due Foscari
Writer
(1987)
La Traviata
Writer
(1987)
Verdi: Macbeth
Writer
(1987)
Rigoletto
Writer
(1987)
Verdi Macbeth Chailly
Writer
(1985)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(1984)
Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(1984)
La Forza del Destino
Writer
(1982)
La traviata
Screenplay
(1982)
Verdi: Rigoletto
Writer
(1982)
Verdi Ernani
Writer
(1981)
Rigoletto
Writer
(1981)
La Traviata - The Met
Writer
(1978)
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Writer
(1977)
Rigoletto
Writer
(1976)
La Traviata
Writer
(1973)
La Traviata
Writer
(1967)
La traviata
Writer
(1955)
Rigoletto
Opera
(1947)
La signora dalle camelie
Original Story
(1935)
Broadway Gondolier
Music
(1918)
Álarcosbál
Story