Works on the history of Rome by Metastasio and his spanish translators highlighting the importance of the jesuit Benito Antonio de Céspedes

Abstract

The History of Rome and its famous figures provided 18th century playwrights and librettists with attractive ideas for their plots, as happened earlier with Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca, Corneille or Racine. Metastasio, Italian librettist, had a considerable influence on the period due to the successful staging of his works, some of them about Ancient Rome based upon Greco-roman authors. He can be considered an intermediary between the authors of antiquity and Spanish authors writing in the transition between the Enlightenment and Liberalism. The Jesuit Benito Antonio de Céspedes was the most prolific translator of Metastasio’s works although only one manuscript has survived.

Keywords

• metastasio
• benito antonio de céspedes
• jesuitas
• historia de roma
• teatro español del siglo xviii