Lorenzo Da Ponte

Engraving by Michele Pekenino after Nathaniel Rogers (c. 1822)

Lorenzo Da Ponte[a] (né Emanuele Conegliano; 10 March 1749 – 17 August 1838[4]) was an Italian, later American, opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas: The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790).

He was the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University, and with Manuel Garcia, the first to introduce Italian opera to America.[5][6] Da Ponte was also a close friend of Mozart and Casanova.[5][7]

  1. ^ "Da Ponte, Lorenzo". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021.
  2. ^ "Da Ponte". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Da Ponte". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Signor Lorenzo Daponte died on Friday". The Baltimore Sun. August 21, 1838.
  5. ^ a b Music View, Did Casanova Lend a Helping Hand?, The New York Times, Donald Henahan, Nov. 10, 1985
  6. ^ Smith, Howard Jay (2022). The Man Who Brought Opera to America, American Heritage Magazine, Vol. 67, Issue 3.
  7. ^ Dumazet de Pontigny, Victor (1900). "Ponte, Lorenzo da" . A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 3. p. 15.


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