“The Man Who Wrote Mozart’s Words: Lorenzo da Ponte’s Scandalous Life” with Simon Rees

Mozart’s World: Da Ponte and the Birth of Modern Opera

The Real Don Giovanni? Lorenzo da Ponte and the Seductions of Genius

Following the success of The Marriage of Figaro, Da Ponte and Mozart were commissioned to write another opera, this time for Prague (part of the Austrian empire) and for this city they wrote Don Giovanni. Court life in Vienna irritated both of them, and their work continued to satirise the aristocracy and its manners. In Don Giovanni they took an old Jesuit teaching parable as the basis for what became one of the greatest operas ever written – a dramma giocoso that incorporated tragedy and comedy, rape, murder, marriage and gluttony, in a work that became a lasting success.

In the series:
Jan. 22: From Venetian Seminary to Scandal and Exile
Jan. 29: Love, Lies & Opera: The Double Life of Lorenzo da Ponte
Feb. 5: Mozart’s World: Da Ponte and the Birth of Modern Opera
Feb. 19: From Venice to Broadway: Lorenzo da Ponte Invents Himself (Again)