librettist

noun

li·​bret·​tist lə-ˈbre-tist How to pronounce librettist (audio)
: the writer of a libretto

Examples of librettist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web After a standing ovation, Jackson, Smith, some of the performers, the director, the librettist, the composer, the conductor, and Godsey came back onstage and answered questions. Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024 Rather than dig into humanity for material, composer Elizabeth Gartman and librettist Melisa Tien dispose of it altogether, opting instead for a world populated by humanistic petrochemicals and tenacious microorganisms. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 21 Jan. 2024 Anaïs Mitchell, its composer and librettist, calls her this too, as DiFranco discovered during a recent publicity event. Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2024 The 2019 mariachi opera by Mexican composer and bandleader Javier Martínez and librettist Leonard Foglia drew a capacity crowd of both San Diego Opera’s regular, mostly White and older season-ticket holders and a large number of Mexican and Mexican American ticketholders of all ages. Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Dec. 2023 Off Broadway Jerome Weidman and the composer Harold Rome’s garment-district musical, from 1962—thoughtfully reshaped by Weidman’s librettist son, John, and directed by Trip Cullman—feels like being walloped by a roll of velvet. Condé Nast, The New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2023 Its composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, lost much of his work, and its librettist, Adrian Piotrovsky, was shot. Alice Robb, The New Republic, 16 Oct. 2023 Staging operas in times and places very different from those imagined by their composers and librettists can be revelatory — or needlessly confusing, if not downright destructive. Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 8 Aug. 2023 Watch Night Choreographer Bill T. Jones works with librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and composer Tamar-kali to create a multimedia dramatization of the all-too-common convergence of hatred, violence, and collective rage. Vulture, 25 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'librettist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1862, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of librettist was in 1862

Dictionary Entries Near librettist

Cite this Entry

“Librettist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/librettist. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

librettist

noun
li·​bret·​tist lə-ˈbret-əst How to pronounce librettist (audio)
: the writer of a libretto

More from Merriam-Webster on librettist

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