Lorenzo Da Ponte: The Life and Times of Mozart's Librettist

Three of the greatest operas ever written-The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte-join the exquisite music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the perfectly matched libretti of Lorenzo Da Ponte. Da Ponte's own long life (1749-1838), however, was more fantastic than any opera plot. A poor Jew who became a Catholic priest; a priest who became a young gambler and rake; a teacher, poet, and librettist of genius who became a Pennsylvania greengrocer; an impoverished immigrant to Am...