Carlo Gozzi: A Life in the 18th Century Venetian Theater, an Afterlife in Opera

Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806) is best known for his plays that have famously been adapted into opera librettos. Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, was based on a play by Gozzi. Prokofiev’s The Love of Three Oranges is also based on a Gozzi play. Richard Wagner’s first opera, Die Feen , is based on Gozzi’s La Donna Serpente . Mozart’s The Magic Flute contains many elements that are similar to Gozzi’s plays. Gozzi was the most successful playwright in 18th century Venice.

This is the first full biography in English of this major figure in the history of world theatre. He is well known for reviving commedia dell'arte, an ancient form of Italian improvisational theatre that had fallen out of favour before Gozzi’s time: In this way his plays soon became the most popular in Venice and other parts of Italy.