Editing Libretto (section)

==Status==
[[File:Adolfo De Karolis (1874-1928), La figlia di Iorio (1914).jpg|thumb|upright|Poster for ''[[La figlia di Iorio]]'' where the librettist, [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]], is given top billing]]
Librettists have historically received less prominent credit than the composer. In some 17th-century operas still being performed, the name of the librettist was not even recorded. As the printing of libretti for sale at performances became more common, these records often survive better than music left in manuscript. But even in late 18th century London, reviews rarely mentioned the name of the librettist, as [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]] lamented in his memoirs.

By the 20th century some librettists became recognised as part of famous collaborations, as with [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] or [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]. Today the composer (past or present) of the musical score to an opera or operetta is usually given top billing for the completed work, and the writer of the lyrics relegated to second place or a mere footnote, a notable exception being [[Gertrude Stein]], who received top billing for ''[[Four Saints in Three Acts]]''. Another exception was [[Alberto Franchetti]]'s 1906 opera ''[[La figlia di Iorio]]'' which was a close rendering of a highly successful play by its librettist, [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]], a celebrated Italian poet, novelist and dramatist of the day. In some cases, the operatic adaptation has become more famous than the literary text on which it was based, as with [[Claude Debussy]]'s ''[[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|Pelléas et Mélisande]]'' after a play by [[Maurice Maeterlinck]].

The question of which is more important in opera – the music or the words – has been debated over time, and forms the basis of at least two operas, [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Capriccio (opera)|Capriccio]]'' and [[Antonio Salieri]]'s ''[[Prima la musica e poi le parole]]''.