Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte (New York Review Books Classics)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.34 (692 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0940322358 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 472 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-04-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
--David Olivenbaum. Da Ponte doesn't interrupt his tale to ask probing questions. His philosophy grows bitter--"I trusted in him blindly and was, as usual, barbarously tricked by him"--yet he always has another idea for making cash and, in later years, spreading the gospel of Italian literature in the New World. His life, stretching from 1749 to 1838, practically defines the term "picaresque." Don't expect a trustworthy account, though. At the Italian Opera in London, on the way to being forced out of another position, he juggles the egos of two rapacious divas: "The Lord help you if Morichelli gets a better reception in Martini's opera than I do in mine!" says one. He wrote much else for the opera company of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna (until his enemies got him di
His Memoirs record a fantastic variety of romantic, political, and professional intrigues, and tell of meetings with a host of remarkable men. Plot and counterplot lie at the heart of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro, the three brilliant libretti that Lorenzo Da Ponte prepared for Mozart. In a life that took him from the canals of Venice to the streets of New York, Da Ponte was at different times priest, professional gambler, proprietor of a bordello, political agitator, court poet, impresario, grocery store owner, and the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University. His Memoirs, a minor classic of Italian literature, are the picaresque and engrossing story of a man of enormous talent and unsurpassed flair who was, above all, an indefatigable survivor."I shall speak of things so singular in their oddity as in some manner to instruct, or at least entertain, without wearying." —Lorenzo da Ponte. They were also central to Da Ponte's own extraordinary life
"Interesting Book, Shameful Presentation" according to Buce. Da Ponte's Memoirs are a worthy, if eccentric, addition to the NYRB catalog, but the NYRB provides almost no help in situating it. This translation first appeared, I believe, in 1929 and has been available in recent years from both Dover and Da Capo. One, (or was it both?), carried an excellent preface by the distinguished scholar of the Renaissance, Thomas Bergin. NYRB does not republish Bergin. It does republish the original 1929 introduction (by Arthur Livingston, once a teacher of Italian at Columbia) but with no hint of its provenance and, so far as I can discern, no mention of the date (the bibli. Five Stars It's nice to have a translation to check when you're reading the original in Italian!. richard fineo said Mozart's Librettist. The intrigues of Italian life in the late 1700's rival the intrigues of a Mozart opera. What a tale! The scullduggery is endless-and shameless-and makes for compulsive reading.