Father Giambattista Varesco (26 November 1735 – 25 August 1805) was a chaplain, musician, poet and (most famously) librettist to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
He is sometimes referred to with the Italian title Abate or the French Abbé, both used for priests: he was chaplain at the Salzburg court chapel from 1766.
[1] Mozart approach Varesco with the offer after receiving a commission to create an opera for the Munich court in 1780 from Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria.
Varesco translated Danchet's French-language libretto into Italian and rewrote a considerable portion with new text under Mozart's supervision..[1] Leopold Mozart acted as a local intermediary for his son, and [2] their correspondence left many details on the collaboration, and showed the composer's dissatisfaction, primarily with the excessive length of the text.
[2] Beginning in 1783, Mozart and Varesco collaborated again on a lesser known opera, 'L'oca del Cairo, which they ultimately did not complete; abandoning the project in 1784.