Pietro Metastasio was born at Calvi on the Corsican coast in 1729. He was tutored by Domenico Cimarosa, the composer of L'Orfeo, and by Pietro Ottoboni, who helped him obtain his first choral appointment. His first important appointment was that of maestro di capella at the cathedral at Treviso.
When he met Metastasio, the poet had already written over one hundred works of various kinds. He was appointed to the post of professor of poetry at Bologna in 1760 and worked there until 1771
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While in Bologna, Metastasio composed his most famous work, Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), which is considered to be the greatest opera ever written. In 1771 he became music director of the court chapel at Vienna, where he wrote several oratorios and operas and also composed many other works.
Metastasio died in Vienna in 1782 and is buried in the churchyard of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.