Giacomo Rust

Giacomo Rust or Rusti (Rome, Italy, 1741 – Barcelona, Spain, 1786) was an Italian opera composer, probably of German ancestry.

Not much is known about this composer. Between 1763 and 1777, Rust was active in Venice, where his first opera, a dramma giocoso, "La contadina in corte", on the libretto by Niccolò Tassi, was performed, in 1763. During this period, Rust acquired great fame as opera composer, not only in Italy, buy also abroad, which gained him an invitation to be employed in the service of the archbishop of Salzburg. On 12 June, 1777, he was named a choir master at the Salzburg court, a post that he abandoned towards the end of the year. Some time later, Rust returned to Venice to continue his operatic activity. In 1783, he settled down in Barcelona, where he assumed the office of the cathedral choir director.

Operas

The following is the list of 25 operas of Rust; the year and city refer to their first performance.

*"La contadina in corte" (dramma giocoso per musica, libretto by Niccolò Tassi, 1763, Venice)
*"La finta semplice" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Pasquale Mililotti, 1772, Bologna)
*"L'idolo cinese" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi, 1773, Venice)
*"Il conte Baccellone" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Marco Coltellini, from "La contessina" by Carlo Goldoni, 1774, Venice)
*"I cavalieri lunatici" (farsa, 1774, Venice)
*"L'amor bizzaro" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1775, Venice)
*"Li due amanti in inganno" (1st and 3rd acts) (dramma giocoso, in collaboration with Matteo Rauzzini (2nd act), 1775, Venice)
*"Alessandro nelle Indie" (dramma per musica, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1775, Venice)
*"Il baron in terra asciuta" (dramma giocoso, 1775, Venice)
*"Il Socrate immaginario" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi, 1776, Venice)
*"Calliroe" (dramma per musica, libretto by Mattia Verazi, 1776, Padova)
*"Il Giove di Creta" (dramma giocoso, 1776, Venice)
*"Li due protetti" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Pier Antonio Bagliacca, 1776, Venice)
*"Il talismano" (2nd and 3rd acts) (dramma giocoso, in collaboration with Antonio Salieri (1st act), libretto by Carlo Goldoni, 1779, Milan)
*"L'isola capricciosa" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, 1780, Venice)
*"Gli antiquari in Palmira" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Carpani, 1780, Milan)
*"Demofoonte" (dramma per musica, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1780, Firenze)
*"Il castellano deluso" (1781, Parma)
*"Artaserse" (dramma per musica, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1781, Perugia)
*"Adriano in Siria" (dramma per musica, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1781, Turin)
*"L'incognita fortunata" (farsa, libretto by G. Ciliberti, 1782, Napoli)
*"L'incontri inaspettati" (1783, Roma)
*"La caccia d'Enrico IV" (dramma giocoso, libretto by A. Dian, 1783, Venice)
*"Il marito indolente" (dramma giocoso, libretto Caterino Mazzolà, 1784, Vienna)
*"Berenice" (dramma per musica, libretto by Jacopo Durandi, 1786, Parma)

See also

* List of Italian composers