METASTASIO, Pietro, pi-i'tre (properly Prarao TRAPAsst), Italian poet: b. Rome, 13 Jan. 1698; d. 12 April 1782. His poetical talents were early displayed in im provisations, and 3ften he drew about him a crowd to listen to some versified narrative. The jurist Gravina, who thus accidentally became acquainted with his talents, took him under his protection, called him (by an Italianized trans lation of his name into Greek) Metastasio, paid great attention to his education, and on dying in 1717 left him an estate of $20,000. On 15 April 1718 he was received into the Arcadian Academy with the name of Artino Corasio, and in 1720 entered at Naples the office of the at torney Castagnola, who discountenanced liter ary work, and kept him severely to the law. He wrote anonymously 'Gli Orti Esperidi' (1722), but the authorship was soon revealed, and Metastasio left the lawyer's office, studied fur ther, and wrote a series of musical dramas, or melodramas in the true sense, which were set by leading composers and given with great suc cess. In 1730 he settled in Vienna as court
poet, and there in 1730-40 wrote his best works, (Demetrio,' (Issipile,' 'La Clemenza di Tito,' 'Attilio In the consideration of Metastasio's rank as a poet, his work must be viewed not absolutely, but with regard to its original environment, as done in collaboration with a composer, and rendered by great artists. He wrote, too, for the pre dominantly vocal system of Italian musical drama; and with this his poetry fell into com parative neglect. His writings have been praised by so good a critic as Symonds for ex cellent versification, ease of diction, effective simplicity of construction and frequent imagery of the highest rank. His lyrical verse and criti cisms are also of value. The best collected edition of his works is that of 1780-82 (Paris). Consult Massafia, 'Pietro Metastasio) (1882) ; also Lee, 'Studies of the 18th Century in Italy' (new ed., 1908).