Giovanni Ruffini (1807–81) was an Italian writer, librettist, and patriot. He is remembered mainly for writing the draft of the libretto of the opera Don Pasquale for its composer Gaetano Donizetti.
Born in Genoa, Ruffini was a follower of Giuseppe Mazzini, the spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. Ruffini went into exile in 1833 and lived for most of the rest of his life in London and Paris. He returned to Italy after its unification.
Ruffini wrote the libretti for Donizetti’s Don Sebastiano (1842) and Don Pasquale (1847.) Donizetti changed much of Ruffini’s version of Don Pasquale; Ruffini became annoyed and refused to allow his name to be cited in the program at its 1843 première at Paris’s Théâtre Italien.
Ruffini additionally wrote novels and stories in English to draw the sympathy of people in England and France for the struggles of the Italian people during the Risorgimento. His notable works include the autobiographical Lorenzo Benoni (1853) and the historically instructive Don Antonio (1855.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Giovanni Ruffini
Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.
—Giovanni Ruffini
Topics: Class
Anxiety never yet successfully bridged any chasm.
—Giovanni Ruffini
Topics: Worry
Stories first heard at a mother’s knee are never wholly forgotten,—a little spring that never quite dries up in our journey through scorching years.
—Giovanni Ruffini
Topics: Mother
The teacher is like the candle which lights others in consuming itself.
—Giovanni Ruffini
Topics: Dedication, Commitment
Selfishness, if but reasonably tempered with wisdom, is not such an evil trait.
—Giovanni Ruffini
Topics: Selfishness
If country life be healthful to the body, it is no less so to the mind.
—Giovanni Ruffini
Topics: Country
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