Carlo Magno
Subtitle: festa teatrale : in occasione della nascita del Delfino offerta alle Sacre Reali Maestà Cristianissime del re, e regina di Francia dal cardinale Otthoboni protettore degl'affari della corona
Contributors: Ottoboni, Pietro, 1667-1740; Fonton, Gioseppe; Orti, Giacomo; Michetti, Niccolò, -1759; Gabbuggiani, Baldassare, 1689-; Vasconi, Filippo, 1687?-1730; Grandi, Carlo, active 1729-1775; Massi, Gasparo, 1698?-1731?; Pilaja, Paolo; Ghezzi, Pier Leone, 1674-1755; Louis XV, King of France, 1710-1774, dedicatee; Marie Leszczyńska, Queen, consort of Louis XV, King of France, 1703-1768, dedicatee
Publisher: Per Antonio de' Rossi nella strada del Seminario romano
Published: 1729
Place of publication: In Roma
Language: ita
Number of pages: 64
Subjects: Librettos; Operas; Early works to 1800; Performances; Caricatures and cartoons; Poetry
Work titles: Carlo Magno
Notes: In three acts followed by "Machina che termina il dramma," p. 61-64.

"Compositore della musica, Giovanni Costanzi romano maestro di cappella del signor cardinale Otthoboni. Inventore delle scene, il cavalier Nicolò Michetti romano ingegniere del signor cardinale Otthoboni. Maestro de' balli, Gioseppe Fonton turinese. Conduttore degli abbattimenti, Giacomo Orti romano"--P. [23].

"The plates were designed by cav. Nicolò Michetti and engraved by different artists. They represent the scenes of the opera as arranged by Michetti. The engraved frontispiece, not numbered as a plate, also by Michetti, is interesting as it contains a picture of the opera orchestra of the time with two cembalists and ten other players ... First performed at Rome, Palazzo Ottoboni, October 1729." Cf. Library of Congress. Music Division. Catalogue of opera librettos printed before 1800 (Washington : GPO, 1914), p. 259.

Each plate is signed at lower left: Cav. N. Michetti inv. e dis. Plates are signed at lower right by the engravers/etchers: Baldasar Gabbuggiani incise; F. Vasconi inc., C. Grandi Ven. inc., G. Massi inc., Paolo Pilaja inc.

Performers' names not given.

Another, deluxe, issue, 43 cm., has an etched border by Massi repeated on each leaf and plate.

Signatures: a-b⁶ A-D⁶ E⁸.

Etched title vignette depicts the arms of Louis XV.

Except for the unnumbered frontispiece, each plate includes in the upper right corner a page number in roman designating where it should be inserted.

U.S. RISM Libretto Project.

LC Copy 1 from the Albert Schatz Collection of libretti, no. 2277. Two plates have alterations that appear to be the work of Pier Leone Ghezzi.

Introduction in Italian ("Notizia istorica," preliminary p. [5]-[12]) and French ("Avertissement historique," preliminary p. [13]-[20]) with footnotes in Latin. Main text in Italian verse.