Apostolo Zeno (jan 1, 1668 – jan 1, 1750)

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Venetian scholar and librettist admired by the Arcadian society.

Along with the purification and elevation of subject matter went the standardization of form and the regularization of verse. Zeno cast all the scenes in the same basic shape--recitative followed by a single da capo aria, after which the singer exits amid applause--and made every aria the bearer of a single vivid and emotional message. Thus Zeno and the Arcadians sought ot match at the textual level what Scarlatti had achieved musically in standardizimnmg formal procedures.

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