Diplomat, theatre director and librettist. Durazzo, active in Vienna from 1749 in a diplomatic capacity, is chiefly known for his role in reforming eighteenth-century opera. As Intendant des spectacles from 1754, he was responsible for the personnel, finances and repertories at both the Burgtheater and the Kärntnerthortheater. His reforms included the introduction of public concerts and Gluck's involvement as unofficial stage director. He strengthened the ballet in Vienna and from 1755 introduced opéra comique into the repertory. It was with Gluck and Calzabigi that he collaborated on a new kind of musical drama embodied, first of all, in Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). Durazzo was frequently at loggerheads with the court and members of the musical establishment, and for various reasons was relieved of his post in 1764 and made ambassador to Venice; it was there that he met the Mozarts in March 1771. Lit.: Brown, Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna; Cattelan, Mozart. Un mese a Venezia; Basso, I Mozart in Italia, 550-551; Oxford Music Online.