Poet and librettist, Giovanni Filippo Apolloni first worked in Innsbruck, for the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand Charles. Then, from 1660 onwards, he worked in Rome for Cardinal Flavio Chigi. He was also a member of the Accademia dei Percossi, a literary circle in Florence based around satirical poet Salvator Rosa.

He collaborated with many musicians, including Alessandro Melani, Bernardo Pasquini, Pietro Simone Agostini and Antonio Masini, writing the libretti for their opera and oratorios. He co-wrote Novello Giasone with Filippo Acciaiuoli and versified L’Empio punito, another work by Acciaiuoli (with music by Alessandro Melani) and the first stage adaptation in music of the story of Dom Juan, which Tirso de Molina had taken up in Burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (1630).