Da Ponte, Lorenzo (EN)

Da Ponte Lorenzo, Emmanuele Conegliano, *10 March 1749 Ceneda (now Vittorio Veneto), †17 August 1838 New York, Italian librettist. He was born into a Jewish family and, after converting, adopted the surname of the Bishop of Ceneda. In the years 1769–73 he studied at a seminary and was ordained as a priest. In 1774 he became a teacher of rhetoric and music at the seminary in Treviso, from which he was expelled in 1776, reportedly for spreading progressive views; due to an overly free lifestyle, he was also forced to leave the Venetian Republic in 1779. He stayed briefly in Dresden, then went to Vienna, where in 1783 he obtained the position of court poet. In Vienna he wrote his first opera libretto, Il ricco d’un giorno, performed with music by A. Salieri in 1784. It was also there, in the years 1786–90, that he created his three famous librettos for Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. In 1790 Da Ponte left Vienna and traveled to Paris and the Netherlands. He settled in London, where he worked in the theater, writing original librettos and translating Italian ones into English; there he also established an Italian bookstore and printing house. From 1804 until his death he lived in New York, teaching languages, translating librettos, and lecturing on Italian literature at Columbia College. He wrote about 58 librettos (including translations and adaptations) for A. Salieri, W.A. Mozart, V. Martín y Soler, G. Paisiello, F. Bianchi, P. Winter, and others.

Literature: L. da Ponte Memorie, 2 vols., eds. G. Gambarin, F. Nicolini, Bari 1918, New York 1923–27, 2nd ed. 1929–30, English ed. London 1929, Philadelphia 1929, repr. 1967, Polish ed. Pamiętniki after the ed. from 1918, trans. J. Popiel, Krakow 1977; A. Marchesan Della vita e delle opere di Lorenzo Da Ponte, Treviso 1900; H. Boas Lorenzo da Ponte als Wiener Theaterdichter, “Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft” XV, 1913/14; J.L. Russo Lorenzo Da Ponte, Poet and Adventurer, New York 1922; G. Gugitz Denkwürdigkeiten des Venezianers Lorenzo Da Ponte, Dresden 1924; A. Loewenberg Lorenzo Da Ponte in London, “The Music Review” IV, 1943; A. Einstein Mozart. His Charakter. His Work, New York 1945, German ed. Stockholm 1947, Polish ed. Mozart. Człowiek i dzieło, trans. A. Rieger, Krakow 1975; A. Fitzlyon The Libertine Librettist. A Biography of Mozart’s Librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, London 1955, repr. 1982 titled Lorenzo Da Ponte. A Biography of Mozart’s Librettist; W. Freitag Lorenzo Da Ponte in Amerika, “Musica” XIV, 1960; C. Pagnini Bibliographia Dapontiana, Triest 1960; H. Abert W.A. Mozart, Leipzig 8th ed. 1973; D. Goldin Mozart, Da Ponte e il linguaggio dell’opera buffa, S. Kunze Elementi veneziani nella librettistica di Lorenzo Da Ponte, L. Zorzi „Teatralità” di Lorenzo Da Ponte tra „Memorie” e libretti d’opera, in: Venezia e il melodramma nel settecento. Venice 1975, vol. 2; H.L. Scheel „Le Mariage de Figaro” von Beaumarchais und das Libretto der „Nozze di Figaro” von Lorenzo Da Ponte, “Die Musikforschung” XXVIII, 1975; D. Goldin Da Ponte. librettista fra Goldoni e Casti, “Giornale storico della letteratura italiana” CLVIII, 1981; H. Goertz Mozarts Dichter Lorenzo Da Ponte, Vienna 1985; S. Hodges Lorenzo Da Ponte. The Life and Times of Mozart’s Librettist, London 1985 (contains a list of works of Lorenzo Da Ponte); A. Steptoe The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas. The Cultural and Musical Background to ,,Le nozze di Figaro”, „Don Giovanni”, and „Così fan tutte”, Oxford 1988.