The Man Who Wrote Mozart: The Extraordinary Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte

by Anthony Holden

In June 1805, a 56-year-old Italian immigrant disembarked in Philadelphia carrying only a violin. Before dying in New York 23 years later, in his ninetieth year, he would find New World respectability as a bookseller, then as the first professor of Italian at Columbia University. Abbé Lorenzo da Ponte, a scholarly poet, teacher and priest, with a devoted wife, also had a reputation as a womanizer. He charmed all he met, pioneering the place of Italian music in American life. But his self-assurance also excited mistrust. When the first Italian opera was performed in New York in 1825, he had the nerve to claim he had written it. He had, so he said, known Mozart. Like the memoirs he had recently written to pay off more debts, the old man was so full of tall stories. The many lives of Lorenzo da Ponte—librettist of Mozart's three great operas, The Marriage of Figaro , Don Giovanni , and Cosi Fan Tutte —begin in Venice, linger in Vienna and London and wind up in New York, where today he lies buried in an unmarked grave in one of the world's largest cemeteries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Music, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Anthony Holden is an English writer, broadcaster and critic, particularly known as a biographer of artists.

Reviews

[Paul Doody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly readable account of one of the greatest librettists of all. Da Ponte collaborated with Mozart of three of his greatest operas, but that was only a small part of a long life filled with danger, adventure and surprise. A legendary lover, he became the first professor of Italian in the USA. A wonderful account of an extraordinary life.

[Nicholas Story, solicitor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst there's no doubting that Da Ponte 'wrote'Mozart (well, the libretti to three of his operas anyway), and that he had an extraordinary and very long life, the book was so much more dull than it should have been. Born Jewish, converting to Christianity, becoming a priest (and a dissolute one at that), exiled from Venice for his depravities, travelling around Europe, settling in London until bankruptcy forced him to flee to the US: it all sounds riveting. But somehow it fails to transcend the subject matter.

The biggest disappointment for me was the small matter of Mozart. I was hoping for insights into the mind of a genius, how the pair of them worked together, and how he wrote what I think is the wittiest and best opera of the lot (La Nozze di Figaro). I got none of this. Instead, there were lengthy quotes from the libretto and some rather sketchy passages from Da Ponte's own memoirs. I can't help but feel that there must be plenty of sources out there which could have been tapped into, and that this was just a bit lazy. Best stick to the music!

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

a decent historical/biography of a truly fascinating man. If you like music, mozart, history and truly odd people...you'll enjoy this one.