Andrea Maffei

Andrea Maffei was an Italian poet and translator from the Trentino, best known for his translations of Schiller's complete plays, which supplied the subjects of many operas. In 1842 he brought Verdi into the Milan salon he kept with his wife Clara, where the composer became a constant guest, and he guided Verdi's choices, sketching scenarios and writing the words of songs. He wrote the libretto of I masnadieri (London, 1847) from his own Schiller translation and worked on that of Macbeth, and his translation of Heine's Ratcliff became Mascagni's libretto. He was made a senator in 1879.