The Man Who Wrote Mozart: The Extraordinary Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte

In June 1805 a 56-year-old Italian immigrant disembarked to Philadelphia carrying only a violin. Before dying in New York 23 years later, he would find New World respectability as the first Professor of Italian at Columbia University. For now, he set up shop as a grocer. There was always an air of mystery about the Abbe Lorenzo Da Ponte. A scholarly poet, teacher, and priest with a devoted wife, he also had a reputation as a womanizer. Da Ponte charmed all he met, pioneering the place of Ital…