The Librettists

The figure of the librettist sits behind every opera in the standard repertoire, and yet · with the conspicuous exceptions of Metastasio, Da Ponte, Boito, Hofmannsthal, and a small handful of others · the librettist is the silent partner of the operatic enterprise. The index below sets out every librettist credited with two or more operas in OperaPedia's records, with each name linking to a full editorial entry covering the premieres, the principal composer collaborators, and the languages in which the librettos were written.

The selection is intentionally generous in scope: many librettists worked principally in a single national tradition, often in collaboration with the same composer over many years, and the entries below allow that distinctive professional shape to come into focus. Readers wishing to pursue particular composer–librettist partnerships will find further cross-references on the corresponding composer pages.