FERRETTI, JACOPO (b. Rome 16 July 1784; d. Rome 7 Mar 1852)
Ferretti's first libretto was a failed reworking of Metastasio's Didone Abbandonata, for the composer Fioravanti, in 1810.
In 1817 he had a spectacular success with his text for Rossini's La Cenerentola. This is a retelling of the old Cinderella story as it was written down for the amusement of the French court by Charles Perrault, almost a hundred years before.
In Ferretti's version, the magic of the fairy godmother is replaced by the wisdom of the prince's tutor, and the glass slippers become a pair of silver bracelets. (To avoid the inherent immodesty of a soprano's ankles becoming the focus of an operatic plot.)
His other libretto for Rossini was Matilde di Shabran (1821). He also provided libretti for many other operas, including Donizetti's Torquato Tasso (1833), produced in the same year as the composer's more successful Lucrezia Borgia.
Ferretti's words are sharp and witty in content and particularly graceful in style. He was a deft and pragmatic professional, able and willing to craft and rewrite according to his collaborator's demands.
