Ghislanzoni Antonio, *25 November 1824 Barco (near Lecco), †16 July 1893 Caprino Bergamasco, Italian writer, poet, and librettist. Expelled from a seminary, he initially studied medicine in Pavia and later singing. Between 1846 and 1855 he performed as a baritone in France and Italy. In the 1860s he began working in journalism and publishing; he issued, among others, “L’Italia musicale,” “Rivista minima di scienze, lettere ed arti,” “Giornale-Capriccio,” and co-edited the “Gazzetta musicale di Milano.” In 1880 he settled in Caprino Bergamasco and withdrew from public life. He wrote novels dealing mainly with theatrical life (e.g., Gli artisti da teatro), associated with the verismo movement. Between 1881 and 1883, G. Puccini composed five songs to Ghislanzoni’s texts: Melancolia, Allor ch’io sarò morto, Spirto gentil, Noi leggeremo, and Storiella d’amore. Ghislanzoni authored about 85 opera librettos, including for A. Catalani – Edmea (1886), E. Petrella – I promessi sposi (1869), Giovanna di Napoli (1869), Antonio Cagnoni – Un capriccio di donna (1870), Papà Martin (1871), Carlos Gomes – Fosca (1873), Salvator Rosa (1874), and A. Ponchielli – Il parlatore eterno (1873), I Lituani, (based on Adam Mickiewicz’s Konrad Wallenrod, 1874), as well as for Pietro Platania – Spartaco (1891). His greatest fame came from his collaboration with G. Verdi: he revised F. M. Piave’s libretto for the opera La forza del destino (1869) and wrote the libretto for Verdi’s Aida (1870).
Literature: S. Farina A. Ghislanzoni, “Gazzetta musicale di Milano” 1900; T. Mantovani Librettisti verdiani. A. Ghislanzoni, “Musica d’oggi” XI, 1926; M. Morini A. Ghislanzoni tra música e poesia, “La Scala” VII, 1955; M. Morini A. Ghislanzoni, librettista di Verdi, “Musica d’oggi”, new series IV, 1961; K. Schlegel Bekenntnis zum Ungewöhnlichen. Verdis Mitarbeit am Aida-Libretto, “Jahrbuch der Komischen Oper”, Berlin IX, 1969; P. Gossett Verdi, Ghislanzoni and „Aida”. The Uses of Convention, “Critical Inquiry” I, 1974.
