author
Nicola Francesco Haym
1678–1729
An Italian-born musician and man of letters, he helped shape London’s early 18th-century opera world and is especially remembered for adapting librettos for Handel. His career ranged from cello playing and composing to theater management, literary editing, and even the study of coins.
1 Audiobook
Amadis of Gaul, an opera As it is perform'd at the King's Theatre in the Hay-market
by Nicola Francesco Haym
About the author
Born in Rome on 6 July 1678 and later active in London, Nicola Francesco Haym built a remarkably varied career. He is known as a cellist, composer, librettist, theater manager, literary editor, and numismatist, with a reputation for bringing both musical skill and literary craft to the opera stage.
Haym played an important part in establishing Italian opera in London. He is best remembered for adapting texts for operas by George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini, helping create works that became central to the city’s operatic life. His gift seems to have been not only in writing, but in reshaping existing material into effective drama for performance.
That mix of practical theater sense and broad scholarship makes him an especially interesting figure today. He stands out as one of those behind-the-scenes creators whose work quietly influenced what audiences heard, saw, and remembered in the golden age of Baroque opera.