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The Librettist of Venice: The Remarkable Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte--Mozart's Poet, Casanova's Friend, and Italian Opera's Impre | 
| Author: Rodney Bolt
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $1.92
You Save: $28.03 (94%)
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 475867
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 1596911182
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.1092
EAN: 9781596911185
ASIN: 1596911182
Publication Date: July 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Library overstock, clean text with no marks, appears unread, nice d/j as pictured in mylar cover.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The operatic life of the librettist for Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.
In 1805, Lorenzo Da Ponte was the proprietor of a small grocery store in New York. But since his birth into an Italian Jewish family in 1749, he had already been a priest, a poet, the lover of many women, a scandalous Enlightenment thinker banned from teaching in Venice, the librettist for three of Mozart’s most sublime operas, a collaborator with Salieri, a friend of Casanova, and a favorite of Emperor Joseph II. He would go on to establish New York City’s first opera house and be the first professor of Italian at Columbia University. An inspired innovator but a hopeless businessman, who loved with wholehearted loyalty and recklessness, Da Ponte was one of the early immigrants to live out the American dream.
In Rodney Bolt’s rollicking and extensively researched biography, Da Ponte’s picaresque life takes readers from Old World courts and the back streets of Venice, Vienna, and London to the New World promise of New York City. Two hundred and fifty years after Mozart’s birth, the life and legacy of his librettist Da Ponte are as astonishing as ever.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 An adventurous life! May 26, 2008
ravennamoon (Naples, Italy)
Lorenzo Da Ponte was a courageous, adventurous and passionate man--
and a brilliant poet and librettist. Reading about his life and travels,
his trials and failures, is exciting and inspiring!
This is one of the most riveting biographies I have read.
I recommend it highly to anyone---even if you are not an opera lover.
This is the story of a man who had to reinvent himself again and again.
A man who took risks, which sometimes brought him acclaim and money,
and sometimes left him having to start again. He never gave up.
Beautifully written, and so evocative, it is as if you are there for it all. Enjoy this book!
 Opera-maniac's delight February 5, 2008
K. Harvey (Gloucester, MA USA)
This is a wonderful book about the fascinating and sexy late 1700s & early 1800s music world. Who new that Father Da Ponte came to the US in 1805 and jump started opera in America (after running a grocery store in Sunbury, PA)? Well researched and amusingly written, The Librettist of Venice is great fun from start to finish.
A Passionate Life February 25, 2007
Loves the View (Hawaii)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Lorenzo da Ponte defied his time, and later, his age. In his era, most people stayed put, and if they moved, they stayed in the new place. People generally had one career- that of their father(s). Having relocated and reinvented himself, several times, da Ponte lived two generations beyond his contemporaries. At his death he was more than twice Mozart's final age. He outlived his wife by a generation, and he was a generation her senior!
He was busy every moment with optimistic plans and schemes. When things worked out he had high highs. He had low lows when they didn't. Nothing deterred him - ever. He died a risk taking octogenarian. Something about his personality garnered great friends and stirred up enemies.
Bolt is wonderful in describing places da Ponte lived in their time. In Vienna, through the largesse of the Emperor Joseph, a theater could operate independent of the crown, a privilege easily rescinded. I read and re-read the different parts about how the words of Thomas Jefferson resounded in Europe. Like the descriptions of late 18th century Vienna, Prague, the Italian cities and London, the descriptions of early 19th century Philadelphia and NYC are marvelous.
Don Giovani played here in Hawaii to a sold out crowd last week. I wonder how many of those in attendance knew the librettists' name? How many this wonderful story of his life?
Everything you Wanted to Know about Lorenzo DaPonte and More November 9, 2006
Jose Ruiz (Irving, TX USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
My initial interest in this book was to learn more about the person who wrote those exquisite librettos for Mozart's Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Cosi Fan Tutte. I was initially somewhat disappointed that the author did not dedicate more space to his relationship with Mozart, but this disappointment dissipated after reading about the rest of DaPonte's life and how he reinvented himself over and over again, in Venice, in Vienna, in London, and finally in New York City. He was a man born way before his time and certainly someone we should read about in admiration, despite his many flaws. The book is very well written and holds your interest from beginning to end.
Great for music lovers November 7, 2006
aw (lewisville, tx United States)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I got this for my parents, who are opera fans and know classical music, and they really enjoyed this book.
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