Name Cristoforo Ivanovich | Died 1688, Venice, Italy | |
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Cristoforo Ivanovich (Serbo-Croatian: Kristofor Ivanović; 1620–1689) was the first historian of Venetian opera, who also wrote several librettos.
Ivanovich was born in Budua (Budva), at the time part of Venetian Albania (now southeastern Montenegro). According to his own testimony, he descended from an old patrician family who settled Budva after leaving Cetinje. In 1655 he moved to Verona, where he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica and of the Accademia dei Temperati. In 1657, he moved to Venice, the city where he remained throughout his life. There he became secretary of Leonardo Pesaro, Procurator of San Marco, and later, in 1676, was appointed canon of St Mark's Basilica. From 1663, he wrote several librettos for operas which were performed in the theaters of Venice, Vienna and Piacenza. He catalogued all opera performances held in Venice from 1637 until 1681 in his treatise Memorie teatrali di Venzia (Theatrical Memories of Venice), published in 1680 as part of collection Minerva al tavolino. He wrote all his works in Italian.
Almost all his librettos are drammi per musica.