picture of Pietro		Metastasio

Metastasio Correspondence in English Translation:

Selected Letters in Charles Burney's Memoirs

link to the Metastasio online database

For his Memoirs of Metastasio, Dr. Burney translated sections from many of the poet's letters into English. The following complete list of these letters, as cited by Burney, is arranged as a concordance between two published works:
  • Burney, Charles. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Abate Metastasio. 1796. Reprint. 3 vols. New York: Da Capo, 1971, and
  • Metastasio, Pietro. Tutte le opere di Pietro Metastasio. Edited by Bruno Brunelli. 5 vols. Verona: Mondadori, 1951-65, vols.3-5: Lettere.

How to browse this concordance:

The concordance is arranged in three sections, separated according to the volume numbers in which the letters appear in the edition of the Burney Memoirs cited above.
  • "Click" on one of the following:

    Burney Volume 1  |   Burney Volume 2  |   Burney Volume 3

  • The entries are arranged numerically by volume and page number in the Burney volume [BNY]
  • Where the above order breaks the chronological order of the letters in the Brunelli edition [BR]:
    • The Brunelli citation is given in [ ] beside the equivalent Burney translation
    • The Brunelli numerical citation (letter number, volume and page number has been given in correct Brunelli sequence as a cross reference. "Click" on any Brunelli cross reference to reach the location of the Burney/Brunelli concordance
  • Scroll through to the page number required. The letters can be followed in sequence both according to the Burney citations and according to the chronology in the Brunelli edition.

Order of information in the individual entries:

  • Volume and page number of each letter as it appears in the Burney Memoirs
  • Letter number, volume, and page number of the same letter as it appears in the Brunelli edition
  • Text incipits of the opening and closing phrases of the passages translated in the Burney Memoirs
  • Text incipits of the same phrases as they appear in Italian in the Brunelli edition
BURNEY [BNY] Numerical citation BRUNELLI [BR] Numerical citation
Opening phrase ... Opening phrase ...
Closing phrase ... Closing phrase ...

Metastasio Home

Acknowledgements 
Dr. Don Neville, <dneville@uwo.ca>
Faculty of Music, The University of Western Ontario
Last updated: November 14, 2001