Giuseppe Carpani

Giuseppe Carpani (28 December 1751 – 22 January 1825) was an Italian man of letters. He is remembered in large part for his role in the history of classical music: he knew Haydn, Salieri, Beethoven, and Rossini, and served them in various ways as poet, translator, and biographer.

He was born at Vill'albese, in Brianza, Duchy of Milan (in what is now Lombardy) and was educated in Milan by the Jesuits. His father wanted him to study law, which he did in Pavia. Already during his studies, he turned to literature on his own time, writing poetry and plays, some in standard Italian and some in Milanese dialect. An early success (1780) was Gli antiquari in Palmira, an opera composed by Giacomo Rust to Carpani's libretto, which led to his being invited to write libretti for the Milanese court, performed in the country residence at Monza. These were translations/revisions of French works, some of which appeared under Carpani's own name.

From 1792 to 1796, Carpani edited the Gazzetta di Milano. This was the historical period in which Napoleon's conquests in Italy began, and Carpani wrote some sharply anti-French pieces in the journal. In 1796, the French occupied Milan, and Carpani, needing to leave, fled to Vienna. In 1797, he was nominated to serve as became censor and stage director in the theaters of Venice, but apparently remained in Vienna.

Carpani was a "passionate royalist", supporting the (at the time, highly repressive) imperial Austrian government by working as an internal spy. He sent his reports (written in French) to his superiors in the Police and Censorship Office, Baron Hager and later Count Sedlnitzky. Eventually, Carpani received a pension from the Emperor.

...
Wikipedia