ABSTRACT
The libretto published for the premiere of Eliogabalo, written by Aurelio Aureli and composed by Giovanni Antonio Boretti, which opened the 1667/68 season at the Venetian SS. The transtextual relationships of Eliogabalo's 1668 libretto extend backward in time to its literary and visual sources and forward to the librettos published for performances of the opera throughout Italy after its Venetian premiere. Though SS. Giovanni e Paolo had been the sole venue for all of Aureli's librettos from 1658 to 1669, in 1670 the librettist began to collaborate with the Grimanis' competitors in the Venetian opera market, but the S. Angelo became the most receptive venue for his works. Unlike the Grimanis, however, most other patrician families, like the Cappellos and Marcellos, who together founded the Teatro S. Angelo in 1677, engaged an impresario to run their opera businesses. The S. Angelo theater saw the premiere of Aureli's 1687 Eliogabalo.
