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— CH. 1 · FROM CENEDA TO THE SEMINARY —

Lorenzo Da Ponte

~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
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  • Emanuele Conegliano entered the world on the 10th of March 1749 in Ceneda, a town within the Republic of Venice. He was born into a Jewish family as the eldest of three sons. His father Geronimo Conegliano converted himself and his children to Roman Catholicism in 1764. This conversion allowed the widower to marry a Catholic woman. Emanuele took the name Lorenzo Da Ponte during his baptism by the bishop of Ceneda. The bishop provided education for all three Conegliano brothers at the local seminary. When the bishop died in 1768, Lorenzo moved to the seminary at Portogruaro. He received Minor Orders in 1770 and became Professor of Literature there. He was ordained a priest in 1773. This period marked the beginning of his writing career in Italian and Latin poetry.

  • Lorenzo Da Ponte lived a dissolute life despite his status as a Catholic priest. While serving as priest of the Church of San Luca he took a mistress with whom he had two children. In 1777 he met Giacomo Casanova who became a close friend for over twenty years. Their relationship appeared in Da Ponte's memoirs as both were Venetian adventurers and seducers. The year 1779 brought a trial where he faced charges of public concubinage and abduction of a respectable woman. Prosecutors alleged that he had been living in a brothel and organizing entertainments there. A court found him guilty and banished him from Venice for fifteen years. This legal disaster forced him to leave his home city and seek refuge elsewhere. He moved to Gorizia which was then part of Austria. There he lived as a writer attached to leading noblemen and cultural patrons.

  • Da Ponte arrived in Vienna seeking new opportunities after his exile from Italy. He obtained the post of librettist to the Italian Theatre with help from Antonio Salieri. A banker named Raimund Wetzlar von Plankenstern served as his patron. This banker also supported Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart whom Da Ponte met in 1783. They collaborated on three major operas including The Marriage of Figaro in 1786. Don Giovanni followed in 1787 and Così fan tutte arrived in 1790. Da Ponte wrote the text for these works by adapting pre-existing plots. His approach involved reducing sixteen original characters down to eleven for The Marriage of Figaro. He omitted an entire act and many effective scenes to create variety. The opera became one of the shortest yet offered rich dramatic development. Their partnership produced vivid dramatic shapes that combined different idioms effectively.

  • The death of Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1790 caused Da Ponte to lose his position as court theater poet. He was formally dismissed from Imperial Service in 1791 due to political intrigues. He remained banished from Venice until the end of 1794 so he traveled elsewhere. In Trieste he met Nancy Grahl who was the English daughter of a Jewish chemist. They eventually had four children together though they never married. August 1792 marked his departure for Paris via Prague and Dresden. He carried a letter of recommendation to Queen Marie Antoinette given by her late brother. News of the worsening political situation in France changed his plans. He decided to head for London instead accompanied by his companion and their two children. During this time he met Casanova again in Vienna but chose not to recall a debt owed to him. After a precarious start in England working various jobs including grocer and teacher he became librettist at the King's Theatre in 1803. Debt and bankruptcy forced him to flee to the United States with Grahl and their children in 1805.

  • Having moved to the United States in 1805 Da Ponte settled first in New York City then Sunbury Pennsylvania. He briefly ran a grocery store and gave private Italian lessons while entertaining in Philadelphia. He returned to New York to open a bookstore. Through Clement Clarke Moore he gained an unpaid appointment as the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia College. He was the first Roman Catholic priest appointed to the faculty and also the first raised a Jew. In New York he introduced opera and produced the first full performance of Don Giovanni in the United States in 1825. Maria García sang Zerlina in that production. He also introduced Gioachino Rossini's music through a concert tour with his niece Giulia Da Ponte. In 1807 he began writing his Memoirs which were published in 1823. At age seventy-nine he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1828.

  • At the age of eighty-four Da Ponte founded the first purpose-built opera theater in the United States. The Italian Opera House stood on the northwest corner of Leonard and Church Streets in New York City. It was far superior to any theater the city had yet seen. Owing to his lack of business acumen however it lasted only two seasons before disbanding. The company had to be disbanded and the theater sold to pay debts. In 1836 the opera house became the National Theater. In 1839 the building burned to the ground but was speedily rebuilt and reopened. On the 29th of May 1841 it was destroyed by fire again. Da Ponte's opera house served as the predecessor of the New York Academy of Music and the New York Metropolitan Opera. He died in 1838 in New York where an enormous funeral ceremony was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Records indicate he was originally buried in a Catholic Cemetery on 11th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. That cemetery was later paved over and remains removed to Calvary Cemetery in 1909.

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Common questions

When and where was Lorenzo Da Ponte born?

Emanuele Conegliano entered the world on the 10th of March 1749 in Ceneda, a town within the Republic of Venice. He was born into a Jewish family as the eldest of three sons.

Why did Lorenzo Da Ponte leave Venice for Austria?

A court found him guilty of public concubinage and abduction of a respectable woman in 1779 and banished him from Venice for fifteen years. This legal disaster forced him to leave his home city and seek refuge elsewhere in Gorizia which was then part of Austria.

Which operas did Lorenzo Da Ponte write with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

They collaborated on three major operas including The Marriage of Figaro in 1786, Don Giovanni in 1787, and Così fan tutte in 1790. Da Ponte wrote the text for these works by adapting pre-existing plots.

How did Lorenzo Da Ponte die and when did he pass away?

He died in 1838 in New York where an enormous funeral ceremony was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Records indicate he was originally buried in a Catholic Cemetery on 11th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A before remains were moved to Calvary Cemetery in 1909.

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