Memoirs of Lorenzo da Ponte

Philadelphia, PA: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1929. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First English Edition. Large 8vo. 512 pp, stated first edition, list of b&w illustrations, introduction, The Memoirs of Lorenzo da Ponte: 5 Parts; index. Translated from the Italian by Elisabeth Abbott: First English Edition, 1929. 6.6" x 9.6" boards. Lightly frayed at fore-edge corner tips with minor edge wear to top and bottom spine edge, and age-toned text block edges. Clean, tight and strong binding with no underlining, highlighting or marginalia. Royal-blue cloth with gilt lettering to front board and spine. "Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838) was an Italian, later American opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte. With the death of Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1790, Da Ponte lost his patron. He was formally dismissed from the Imperial Service in 1791, due to intrigues, receiving no support from the new Emperor, Leopold. In August 1792, not being able to return to Venice, from which he had been banished until the end of 1794, he set off for Paris via Prague and Dresden armed with a letter of recommendation to Queen Marie Antoinette her brother, the late Emperor, had given Da Ponte before his death. On the road to Paris, on learning about the worsening political situation in France and the arrest of the king and queen, he decided to head for London instead, accompanied by his companion Nancy Grahl (with whom he eventually had four children).[7] After a precarious start in England, exercising a number of jobs including that of grocer and Italian teacher, he became librettist at the King's Theatre, London, in 1803. He remained based in London undertaking various theatrical and publishing activities until 1805, when debt and bankruptcy caused him to flee to the United States in 1805 with Grahl and their children." .