.jpg?w=1)
Details
DA PONTE, Lorenzo (1749-1838). Document signed ('L:Da Ponte') 15 January & 15 March 1816, summoning the parties concerned to arbitration at the Prothonotary's office in the Borough of Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, the outline of the summons printed with details of the dates written in black ink, with a further 12 lines in black ink binding the parties 'to leave all matters in variance' to the decision of the arbitrators and noting the decision of arbitrators to find in favour of the plaintiff, 1 page, (390 x 202mm.) (some minor discolouration and minor tears at creases and outer edges).
Documents signed by Da Ponte are rare at auction.
Da Ponte's life and career were chequered in the extreme. Renowned now for his libretti for Mozart's operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte, Da Ponte also provided libretti for some of the most popular operas produced in the Vienna of Joseph II, his imperial patron. After the emperor's death, Da Ponte left Vienna and travelled to Trieste, Prague, Dresden and the low countries without great success. At the end of 1793, he became librettist to the Italian Opera in London, a position he had lost by the end of 1798. He then tried to establish an Italian bookshop in London and became a partner in a printing works, not by any means the last of his business ventures that ended in debt and ignomy. By 1805, his situation was so desparate that he and his companion, Nancy Grahl, emigrated to America.
The demand for Italian opera in New York at that time was non-existent and attempts at being a grocer in New Jersey, a partnership in a distilling business and at teaching Italian to wealthy New Yorkers all failed. In 1811 he and Nancy Grahl moved to Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where a number of her family had already settled. For a couple of years, Da Ponte's business as a general merchant was successful. By the time that the present documents appeared, his economic position had worsened and in 1818 he was forced to leave Sunbury. He returned to New York where from 1825 he taught at Columbia University, staged the first production of Don Giovanni in America and was instrumental in building the first opera house in New York, a fitting end to a turbulent life.
Sold with Chuck Ungar, " Majestic Solitude" Mozart's Librettist in Sunbury, Northumberland County Historical Society, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, 1994.
(2)
Documents signed by Da Ponte are rare at auction.
Da Ponte's life and career were chequered in the extreme. Renowned now for his libretti for Mozart's operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte, Da Ponte also provided libretti for some of the most popular operas produced in the Vienna of Joseph II, his imperial patron. After the emperor's death, Da Ponte left Vienna and travelled to Trieste, Prague, Dresden and the low countries without great success. At the end of 1793, he became librettist to the Italian Opera in London, a position he had lost by the end of 1798. He then tried to establish an Italian bookshop in London and became a partner in a printing works, not by any means the last of his business ventures that ended in debt and ignomy. By 1805, his situation was so desparate that he and his companion, Nancy Grahl, emigrated to America.
The demand for Italian opera in New York at that time was non-existent and attempts at being a grocer in New Jersey, a partnership in a distilling business and at teaching Italian to wealthy New Yorkers all failed. In 1811 he and Nancy Grahl moved to Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where a number of her family had already settled. For a couple of years, Da Ponte's business as a general merchant was successful. By the time that the present documents appeared, his economic position had worsened and in 1818 he was forced to leave Sunbury. He returned to New York where from 1825 he taught at Columbia University, staged the first production of Don Giovanni in America and was instrumental in building the first opera house in New York, a fitting end to a turbulent life.
Sold with Chuck Ungar, " Majestic Solitude" Mozart's Librettist in Sunbury, Northumberland County Historical Society, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, 1994.
(2)