Arti musices, Vol. 46 No. 1, 2015.
Original scientific paper
Useful Liaisons: Luka Sorgo – Ruggiero Boscovich – Pietro Metastasio
Vjera Katalinić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7230-7990
; Odsjek za povijest hrvatske glazbe HAZU, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In 1781, Luka Sorgo (Sorkočević), a nobleman and composer from Dubrovnik, was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court of Joseph II in Vienna. His diary, starting with September 5, offers much information on his assignment, as well as his remarks on the cultural — and especially musical — life of the city and at the Court. However, the letter of the Viennese court poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio to the scientist from Dubrovnik Ruggiero Boscovich (Ruđer Bošković), at that time in Paris, gives some new insight into Luka’s sojourn in Vienna: he obviously arrived at least a month earlier, hired his first headquarters rather far away from the centre, possibly near the Prater, so that the old poet was not able to meet him regularly. On the other hand, Metastasio gave information on the fine and noble character and personality of the Dubrovnik nobleman that attracted the majority of the local nobility at the Court. It is known from his diary that the affinity was mutual: Luka Sorgo was obviously impressed by the Viennese culture and Enlightenment standards of the Emperor, which — upon his return to Dubrovnik — caused the isolation of sorts to which he was exposed, accompanied by the accusations of his being an Austrophile. Information from the letter shows not only the relationship between three outstanding men, but can serve as a typology of relations existing within the Dubrovnik Republic and in contacts with their envoys abroad.
Keywords
Luka Sorgo/Sorkočević; Ruđer Bošković; Pietro Metastasio; Vienna; 1781
Hrčak ID:
143638
URI
Publication date:
30.5.2015.
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