Lorenzo Da Ponte - Millstatt, Austria - Dead Poets' Society Memorials on Waymarking.com

The life-size bronze statue installed in one of the yards of Millstatt Abbey (Jesuiten Platz) in Millstatt represents famous Italian opera librettist, famous mainly for his libretti of Mozart's greatest operas - Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte - Lorenzo Da Ponte. Author of the statue is Italian sculptor Giorgio Igne (1934-). Lorenzo da Ponte is depicted here as sitting on a low chair having a few papers on his lap a holding a pen in his right hand. He wears a typical costume for the late 17th century in Vienna, where he libved between 1781-1791, i.e. long coat, breeche, shirt and scarf around his neck.

Biography

Lorenzo Da Ponte, original name Emmanuele Conegliano (born March 10, 1749, Céneda, near Treviso, Veneto [Italy]—died Aug. 17, 1838, New York, N.Y., U.S.), Italian poet and librettist best known for his collaboration with Mozart.

Jewish by birth, Da Ponte was baptized in 1763 and later became a priest; freethinking (expressing doubts about religious doctrine) and his pursuit of an adulterous relationship, however, eventually led, in 1779, to his expulsion from the Venetian state. Taking up residence in Vienna (probably in 1780), he became official poet to the court of Emperor Joseph II and in that capacity wrote successful librettos for numerous musicians. It was there in 1783 that Da Ponte made the acquaintance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and entered upon the finest period of his literary career. Three masterpieces appeared in rapid succession—Le nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790). During the same period he achieved his greatest popular success with the libretto to Martín y Soler’s Una cosa rara (1787). Da Ponte’s enduring merit derived from his ability to infuse borrowed themes with new life and to interweave tragic and comic elements. His version of the Don Juan legend, in particular, exercised a lasting literary influence.

Left without support after Joseph II’s death in 1790, Da Ponte resumed his wanderings. After a period in London (1792–1805), he emigrated to the United States to escape his creditors, settling finally in New York, where he devoted himself to teaching Italian language and literature at Columbia College and promoting Italian cultural activities. His four-volume Memorie (1823–27; Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte), although mainly concerned with portraying the author as a victim of fate and enemies, is valuable for its portrait of early 19th-century America.

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