Subject: "The Genius of Mozart" Recent BBC Programme
From: Tony Hearne
To: All
Date Posted: 16:18:35 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: tonyjohnhearne@aol.com
 

Message:
I am a passionate and devout follower of Mozart, hence was utterly dismayed to have missed the first and third programmes in, judging by number
two which I have on video, the superlative series 'The Genius Of Mozart'on BBC I would be prepared to pay pretty much anything to get copies of, or at least to see, the two episodes I missed. Can anyone anywhere help?

Many thanks

Tony Hearne (in London)

Subject: Re: "The Genius of Mozart" Recent BBC Programme
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 13:27:38 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I tried several routes in vain to get copies of these shows. Look on the bright side, at least you got to see one show.

One of the routes I tried was to have a sister company location in London record tapes for me and send back to LA. They refused to help, but did indicate that the BBC often releases DVD's of shows such as this. Perhaps if you stay on top of them it will encourage such a release. If it does happen please post the info here, so we all can get a look at the show.

Regards

Steve in Los Angeles

Subject: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Joe Dorazio
To: All
Date Posted: 07:51:13 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: joedorazio@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes, et al:

Living near Philadelphia, PA., I enjoyed reading the bio on DaPonte, which tells us he lived for a while in Sunbury, PA., which is just north of Harrisburg.

Agnes: Do you know where in Sunbury the house he lived in is located (built in 1814)? I would love to drive up there and check it out.

Thinking about the recent post concerning Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the Mozart connection there, and the fact that one of the first (if not the first) American performance of Don Giovanni took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would seem to be the State most associated w/ Mozart. Very cool.
Joe

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 15:00:03 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Joe, considering the enormous musical interests of the Moravians, the fact that they influenced the culture of the area is not surprising. The Bethlehem Bach festival is still the earliest and oldest Bach festival in the U.S. And I believe that some of the earliest performances of Haydn's masses were done in Bethlehem by the Moravian choirs.

I do hope you will go up to Bethlehem and have dinner at the Hotel Bethlehem which has the mural in dining room showing Count Zinzendorf (and also a plaque on the outside of the hotel). I lived in Bethlehem for about a year in 1959. Played with the Allentown Band. Loved it. We once did the overture to Figaro with 4 baritone saxes. It was (ugh, barf) glorious.

With respect to another house of Da Ponte, I can point you to an interesting book about a General Sickels (or Sickles) who distinguished himself in the Civil War but who knew Da Ponte about 1830 and who, allegedly, impregnated both his daughter and his granddaughter. But Da Ponte was living in New York at the time.

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:17:52 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Joe,

A descendant of Da Ponte was at Haverford College when my daughter was at Bryn Mawr College. He hailed from New Orleans.

I thought it might interest you.

Kind regards,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 13:38:31 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Joe,

Nice to hear from you again. I have never been to Sunbury. However, if you live in Phili you may like to visit the Pennsylvania Historical Society. In the back of the Historical Society there used to be a "Da Ponte Produce" delivery carriage. There is also a Mozart letter there, kept under glass, donated by one of the wealthy families of Philadelphia.

How is the new concert venue shaping up? And what happened to the old Academy of Music? Are the Concerto Soloists still around and do they still perform in the church in Rittenhouse Square?

In any case, give my love to Philadelphia and to Haverford where we spent 12 happy years.

Kind Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Joe Dorazio
To: All
Date Posted: 19:07:16 04/30/04 ()
Email Address: joedorazio@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes:

The Academy of Music is still going strong! And yes, the concerts at the church on Rittenhouse Square still take place. We have a new performance hall now, just a block away from the venerable Academy called "The Kimmel Center". It is an amazingly modern concert hall. I went to an all Mozart concert there a couple of years ago. I also saw "Cosi" at the Academy last year. It was wonderful.

Hope this finds you well.

Cheers!

Joe Dorazio

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 08:45:29 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I visited Sunbury las year. The house Da Ponte lived in has been demolished.

ML

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Joe Dorazio
To: All
Date Posted: 19:08:26 04/30/04 ()
Email Address: joedorazio@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Oh, that's too bad. Thanks for letting me know, Michael.

Best regards,

Joe Dorazio

Subject: What appears to be a new play
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 12:03:35 04/28/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Does anyone know anything about this play?? This is a very long URL but it leads to a picture of a play put on in Ontario, Canada entitled, "Mozart Requiem."

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3a//images.search.yahoo.com/search/images%3fp=Mozart%2bRequiem&h=180&w=403&imgcurl=www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/Mozart%2520Requiem.JPG&imgurl=www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/Mozart%2520Requiem.JPG&name=%3cb%3eMozart%3c/b%3e+Requiem.JPG&p=Mozart+Requiem&rurl=http%3a//www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/requiem.html&rcurl=http%3a//www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/requiem.html&type=jpeg&no=1&tt=465

Subject: Re: What appears to be a new play
From: Catherine
To: All
Date Posted: 15:42:25 04/28/04 ()
Email Address: ccarl@lacera.com
 

Message:
Dan,

(Not all that new--appears to have been written in 1995.) I tried a web search, and the link below is about all I could find. With words like "absurdist" and "ahistoricity" in the description, it doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

Looking at the synopsis, it sounds like the playwright is presenting "Anna" as an answer to "Amadeus", with Nannerl crying, "I coulda been a contender...(if it weren't for my stupid brother and the stupid sexism of my time)!" Was Nannerl's talent as a musician overlooked? Quite possibly--as were the talents of hundreds of other women of her time who did NOT have famous brothers, (which means Nannerl was not particularly special in this regard). What seems to be missing from this who-might-have-been-the-greater-success "examination", however, is the glaring fact that we remember Wolfgang far less as a musician than as an, um, COMPOSER. There may be some, but I've yet to come across any evidence that Nannerl ever wrote a bar of music in her life.

I think I'd rather spend the 45 minutes that this play lasts listening the Requeim itself than sitting throught the play. It would be interesting, however, to hear from anyone who has actually seen it.

My best regards to all,
Catherine

Subject: Re: What appears to be a new play
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:16:38 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I had a look, I have read it and Oh! Dear Me!

Agnes.

Subject: A Case for the Symphony K98
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 10:57:23 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Of the 49 symphonies and 4 individual symphony movements
printed in the AMA edition of Mozart's works from 1879 to 1910,
all have been recorded but one. In addition in the past 100 years
or so six originally believed lost symphonies have been found--all
recorded. In addition to this a few symphonies misattributed to
Mozart have been recorded. This posting attempts to make a case
for some record company to rectify this omission.

The Symphony in question is the F-major Symphony, listed by
Köchel in his Mozart Thematic Catalogue as K98. This is a 4-
movement symphony consisting of an Allegro, Andante, Menuetto
with Trio, Presto. Ludwig Köchel did not know the symphony in
orchestral form, only in an arrangement for 2-pianos made in
Vienna by Ludwig Gall. Köchel accepted the symphony as
authentic on the word of Aloys Fuchs and Gall, claiming the
symphony had "the instrumentation, the size and possibly also the
thought content of similar works of about 1770".

In Series 24 (Supplement) of the AMA issued in 1888 the
symphony was considered authentic and published from a set of
parts in the possession of the Steiermärk Musical Society in Graz.
It was instrumented for 2 Violins, Viola, Bass, 2 Oboes and 2
Horns. The editor, Paul Graf Waldersee, noted "the tuneful, catchy
shapes of the melodies are characteristic only of him [Mozart].
Rounded in form it is however not free of a few irregularities in the
part-writing, which shows then that this work belongs to a period
in which Wolfgang had not yet acquired the security which even
the most gifted attain only through practice. It is a youthful work,
but even as such it will be not unwelcome to the devoted admires
of the Mozartean muse."

In 1912 Wyzewa/St.Foix published the first volumes of their
monumental Mozart biography. The French scholars not only saw
Italian characteristics in the symphony, but also the influence of
Joseph Haydn--especially in the finale--and thought it was
sketched before the trip to Italy, thus before Aug 13, 1771, and
was completed in Milan in autumn 1771.

In 1919 Abert, in his revision of the Jahn-Mozart biography, stated
the symphony appeared doubtful. He was not convinced by the
theory of Wyzewa/St.Foix. Abert listed many things that did not
correspond to other Mozart works, and found too many
characteristics of the Mannheim composers. He even saw a
favorite phrase of Stamitz in the beginning of the Trio of the
Minuet.

in 1927 C.B.Oldman purchased an anonymous manuscript
catalogue of Mozart works which probably was made up in the
early to middle 19th Century. By our symphony in F-major is a
note "1771, Milan, Nov". [Neal Zaslaw in his 1989 book on
Mozart's Symphonies believes it possible the writer of this note
got the idea from Nissen's biography on Mozart in which a letter
of Leopold Mozart's was reproduced that tells of a concert on
November 22 or 23, 1771 in Milan in which Mozart participated,
and speculated Mozart composed a symphony for this occasion].

Einstein summarized all this in K3, and added that the type of the
theme used in the finale of the symphony could be compared to
the spurious String Quartet K.Anh 210. He decided not to put the
work in the main portion of his edition of the Köchel Catalogue,
placing it in the Anhang (223b) for Doubtful Works.

By the time of K6 in 1964 nothing new had been discovered on the
symphony, except a few more copies of the orchestral score in the
Berlin State Library and in Brünn. With the reorganization of the
Anhang C section of K6 our symphony landed under Anh C11.04.

In his 1982 book on Mozart's symphonies, Robert Dearling gave
us one paragraph describing K98. He wrote of a "superficial
similarity between the equally doubtful Neuer Lambacher
Symphony in the opening of the first movement". He further tells
of the untypical (for Mozart) reliance of triplets in the 1st and 4th
movements of the work. Also the Trio is in the tonic key of the
Menuet, an indication perhaps that the symphony is not a work of
Mozart. Dearling doubts "that Mozart would have been so
unimaginative" as the author of this symphony was.

Back in 1978 the Hoboken Catalogue of the works of F.J. Haydn
listed this symphony in the Addenda under the misattributed
symphonies as Group I:F16. In the Pfarrkirche in Weyarn a copy
was found headed "Symphonia del Signore Haydn". This score
lacks Oboes. Zaslaw in his book on Mozart's symphonies believed
it likely this attribution is to Michael Haydn, rather than Joseph.
But as Zaslaw points out, Michael Haydn's symphonic output is
about as well documented as his brother's, and it does not appear
to have originated directly from him or his circle. And Charles
Sherman, the Michael Haydn catalogue editor, communicated "it is
not even remotely possible that the work is by Michael Haydn"
because of the shaping of the themes and the regular rhythmic
structure of the symphony. Zaslaw states the work does not
resemble Mozart's symphonies of any period either.

In his 1986 dissertation on the Symphonies of Leopold Mozart.
Cliff Eisen gives an account of the manuscripts available of K98.
The copy in the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst und
Landesmusikschule in Graz (that which the AMA used as a model)
was once part of the collection of Heinrich Eduard Josef von
Lannoy. This copy derives from the Vienesse music dealer Johann
Traeg. It is possibly one of the "14 Sinfonias by Mozart" advertised
by Traeg in the Wiener Zeitung on April 21, 1792, or the "15
Sinfonias" advertised on August 11, 1792. Traeg had offered a
number of Mozart symphonies in 1784, but then none until 1792.
It is quite possible Traeg purchased some works by Mozart from
Constanze Mozart after her husband's death. When Leopold
Mozart died in 1787, Nannerl Mozart had sent her brother almost
all of Wolfgang's compositions still in Salzburg. Now in 1792
Constanze could send numerous symphonies to Traeg from
Mozart's Salzburg period, accounting for this high number of
symphonies offered. Unfortunately, even if K98 was one of the
works Traeg received from Constanze, it does not guarantee its
authenticity, as she was not sufficiently expert to distinguish
Mozart's works from others that she found in his library--we do
know a symphony in Bb by Leopold Mozart derived from Mozart's
estate, as did the autographs of some songs. As a matter of fact in
a 1989 article regarding the Symphonies K16a and K76 we find
the original attribution to the Symphony K98 in Graz was only to
"Mozart", and later changed to "W.A. Mozart". Eisen does not see
our Symphony in F being by Leopold Mozart though.

Admittedly there is no proof that the Symphony in F K98 is by
Mozart. However the source location for this symphony is no
worse, and probably even better than a number of symphonies
listed in the main part of the 6th edition of the Köchel
Catalogue--and more to the point of this posting, a number of
symphonies that have been recorded numerous times. K76/42a,
K81/73l, K97/73m, K75, K96/111b are all in main portion of K6
with only one source attributing them to Mozart. K74g, even
though it had a similar source situation, was banished to Anh C
status. K84/73q has two sources attributed to Wolfgang, but
others attributed to Leopold and one attributed to Dittersdorf. The
recently found K16a in a-minor has only one copy attributed to
Mozart, and not even Wolfgang--only Signor Mozart.. All these
symphonies have been recorded at least 2 to 5 times.

The Symphony in F K98 has two copies attributed to Mozart, and a
catalogue entry attributing the composition to him and even
giving a date and location. Even though all the copies and
catalogue entry are suspect, that should be enough for a least one
record company to see fit to record it. I imagine if it was in a
minor key, had some sort of nickname, or would be rediscovered
in some dusty attic by an aspiring conductor or musicologist of
this century it would get a chance. But as it was catalogued over
150 years ago and out of favor for almost 100, it stands little or
no chance. Too bad. Anyone out there with connections to the
recording industry willing to take up the gauntlet?

dennis

Subject: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 15:48:46 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
I just received an e-mail from an Austrian lady who read one of my Mozart and Weber family webpages.
Cooking, especially Austrian cooking, is a hobby of hers and she wanted to know what Mozart's favorite food (Lieblingsspeise) was, and whether Sophie Weber Haibl, Mozart's sister-in-law, knew what that was.
I can't help her here, as this is one facet of Mozart's life that I need to study further.
Does anyone know what Mozart's favorite food was?
I can imagine that Sophie certainly knew what that was, as she and her mother had frequent get-togethers with Mozart, and Sophie and her sister, Constanze, were very close.
Best regards,
Marti :-)

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Priya Werahera
To: All
Date Posted: 12:07:32 04/30/04 ()
Email Address: priya@aspen.uchsc.edu
 

Message:
I read this somewhere (not sure which book) that Mozart's favorite foods were Dumplings and Sauerkraut. The same article said Brahms favorite was Sardines (for breakfast).

Priya

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 17:27:22 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Marti,

I wish I could help. I read that it was paprika chicken. It was in an Austrian recipe book my mother
held dear as it belonged to my grandmother. I no longer have the recipe book as it was in pieces when my mother died. How true this is, I don't really know, nor do I know where the lady who wrote the book got the information.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 21:04:06 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
In late 1778 or possibly early 1779, when Leopold Mozart was trying, by a combination of browbeating and sweet talk, to lure his reluctant son back to Salzburg after the disasterous trip to Mannheim and Paris, he tried to tempt his son by saying that they would celebrate his return by cooking his favorite dish: uccellini. I'm quoting this from memory, so I hope I got it right.

Neal Zaslaw

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Donovan
To: All
Date Posted: 22:11:02 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: donovan@magmadesign.co.nz
 

Message:
I don't know about his adult tastes - but there is his letter from Dec 1770 - where after the Premiere of his opera (Mitridates, King of Pontus - I think) he says that he celebrated and their hostess made him his favourite dish - sauerkraut and liver dumplings - ummmmm :-)

He was also very fond of punch as attested to by the singer Michael Kelly and from a poem he wrote for his sisters birthday - which his gift for her was some lovely punch.

Cheers
Donovan

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 23:52:24 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
Thanks very much Agnes, Neal, and Donovan for your input!
This is very interesting!
And I can't resist thinking aloud on how Mozart himself might have enjoyed Mozartkugeln - and Konstanzekugeln!
I wonder what uccellini is.
It sounds like an Italian pasta dish.
Very best regards,
Marti :-)

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 06:38:46 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Not pasta, dear, but this marvelous dish:

Uccellini di Vitello alla Griglia
(Grilled Veal Birds)

Serves 4, 3 birds each

1 pound veal scaloppine, preferably cut from the leg, pounded thin (about 6 cutlets)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 large leaves fresh sage
1/4 pound prosciutto, sliced paper-thin
1/4 pound pancetta, sliced paper-thin
12 1/2-inch thick by about 2-inch wide or diameter slices Italian bread,
preferably day-old
2 small onions, each cut in sixths
Extra virgin olive oil

Cut the slices of veal in half or thirds, depending on their size. You should have 12 pieces of about 2 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches long. Arrange all the ingredients in front of you.

Sprinkle each slice of veal lightly with salt and a little more generously with pepper. Place a sage leaf on each slice of veal, then top with a piece of prosciutto, trimming or tucking in the sides of the prosciutto so it covers the veal without going over the edges.

Roll up the veal tightly tucking in the sides, to make a neat roll

And just to add a bit of interest, Uccelini (Marco) was also a composer of the time! Bon appetit!
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 14:03:22 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Gurn,

Once you have done all of the above and have your neatly rolled up veal birds ready for cooking, what do you do? Do you fry them in oil or cook them in the oven?

Many thanks,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 15:32:53 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Agnes,
Well, I don't know! That is the entire recipe as it was printed. My own instinct was to pop them in the oven, but the "fry them up" concept sounds very appealing now that you mention it. The only other recipes I could find were written in Italian, and since I barely have a grasp on English, I feared to venture into "foreign territory"! ;-)
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:20:00 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Gurn,

I will let my hair down and try frying the "birds". I will let you know how they turn out. The oven might just dry them out well and proper.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 19:00:43 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Agnes,
Please, yes, let me know how that works out! In carefully reading my original post, I suddenly realized that the title had the answer, it was "Grilled... etc.", so perhaps I will attempt to dine like Amadé by pulling out my grille and doing it outdoors. Mmmm... then, as Bill points out, some black coffee and a pipe! Life is really no worse now than it was then, and this proves it! ;-)
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 17:38:35 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Marti, Gurn, and Agnes,

I read your posts about the veal birds and I'm hungry! Actually, on the subject of what Mozart liked to eat, I think he was fond of veal - or at least meats like pork. In my copy of "Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life", by Robert Spaethling, Mozart mentions black coffee and cutlets. Specifically speaking, pages 439 and 440, in a letter dated October 7 and 8, 1791 he writes to Constanze in Baden: "after that I had Joseph get Primus to fetch me some black coffee, with that I smoked a glorious pipe of tobacco." Later, in the same letter he says, "At half past five in the afternoon I went through the Stubenthor - and took my favorite walk along the Glacis to the theater. But hold on, what do I see? - what do I smell? - it's Don Primus with the Cutlets! - che gusto! I am now eating to your health."

I would really like to see discovered, some book, diary, or letters between third parties shedding light on what Mozart and Constanze liked to eat. Especially pastries!

In "Kaffeehaus", Rick Rodgers speaks of how Constanze enjoyed Kipfli or Kipflern, a crescent-shaped cookie - or in some circles, bread. My wife and I made these from the book and they are "lights-out"!

They are making Constanzekuglen now?

Bill

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 22:52:58 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Bill and Gurn,

There are two types of kipfli. One could be a substitute for bread, like a bread roll the other is a cake with almond mixture filling. They are rather small and crescent shaped. I think I sent you the recipe, Bill. It is delicious, sprinkled lightly with icing sugar. It is a Hungarian recipe that my Mother often made. It is sinful. It is known in Vienna for when we were in Vienna we had coffee with cream and kipfli for afternoon tea.

I hope Steve Ralston reads this posting. I seem to have a vague recollection that in the Novellos' diaries "A Mozart Pilgrimage", there appears something about Mozart's food preference. I do not have the book anymore. I have returned it to the University of New South Wales once my book on Constanze was completed. But Steve Ralston does have the book.

Gurn I will try grilling the "birds". I will let you know.

Kind regards,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 20:30:31 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
The recipe for "little birds" of veal sounds great. My understanding, however, is that "Uccellini," which one will occasionally see on a menu in a restaurant of a rural sort in Italy, means "little birds" -- and that's what it is: small wild birds cooked whole and sauced or baked in a pie. As in the old nursery rhyme:

Sing a song of sixpence,
Pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty black birds
Baked in a pie

Etc.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 10:24:13 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dr. Z,
That may well be the case, I Googled the term and 99% of the hits were in Italian which is beyond me, but this one in English looked darn good whether right or wrong! ;-) What occurred to me is that they are rather "mock birds", a not uncommon idea in any cuisine. Well, if, after grilling them this weekend, they turn out to be as good as they appear, I shall declare them to be correct in any case. ;-))
Regards,
Gurn

PS - Did you ever receive an email from me with a question about "The Compleat Mozart"?

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 21:01:15 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Professor Zaslaw,

I have discussed this most important subject with my son-in-law, Simon Della Marta. He is an expert Italian cook, beside being a great lawyer. He also said that these are indeed little birds. However, for anyone interested, Simon suggested that the breast of chicken be used instead of veal. He is "surprising" me with this delicious Mozart meal on Mother's Day.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 12:08:22 04/28/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
In the Open Mozart list around Feb. 2001, I described a meeting of the Mozart Society held in Las Vegas and during which a professional cook gave an extensive seminar (including cooking things) that deal with Mozart's favorite dishes. Everyone present got a pancake (made with lard which was the only grease used then, so it was authentic) and there were discussions of other foods enjoyed by other composers. Beethoven, for example, loved an eintopf and several people posted recipes for eintopf that are probably still in the archvies.

I still have heartburn in remembrance of that event.

Subject: a few points
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 03:12:44 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Although all these topics have been discussed extensively last year on openmozart.net a number of recent postings show that there seems to be absolutely no chance to erase a few misunderstandings and errors. A few points that shouldn't go unchallenged:

1) Katarina, Charlotte and Therese von Auernhammer were daughters of Johann Peter von Auernhammer and were not related to the pianist Josepha Auernhammer.

2) The entry on Lichnowsky's lawsuit against Mozart was not discovered in a "Logbook of the Special Court of Aristocrats" (all of the indices of the Landrechte Faszikel 5 files burned in 1927) but in the Cameral-Index (vol. 96) of the Vienna Court Chamber. The correct date of the engrossment signed by Johann Peter von Bolza was November 14th, 1791 (the date as published by Brauneis is wrong).

3) The statement about Süssmayr "About a year before his death, he seems to have mentioned in a letter an intention to do so, but no name was ever forthcoming" is contradicted by primary sources all of which have been published about 60 years ago. Süssmayr definitely intended to marry because in a letter to his friend Glöggl in Linz dated October 27th 1802 he referred to his future wife: "Meiner zukünftigen Gattinn einer meinigen Landsmannin wird nicht - vergessen!!!" His fiancé was a relative of the Postmeister Gschaider who lived in Strengberg, and Süssmayer wanted Glöggl to pay the family a visit on his way home. Süssmayr's sister Anna died on 27 January 1840 at an age of 67.

I will not return to these topics because as it seems some facts will never be accepted and the fight against some fairy tales is futile.

Subject: Re: Fairy Tales
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 22:29:42 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
Dear Mr. Lorenz,

Just a couple of lines on your posting above.

First, I’m afraid that mistakes DO occur from time to time in other people’s postings. Apologies for this. One must realize that the great majority of us do not have full access to all the primary documents in existence concerning Mozart. We have to make do with good secondary sources, which may (or may not) have known about the primary sources, but in any event did not end up using them. It is to be welcomed that persons such as yourself are able to direct us to more correct sources, as it is in the best interests of all to see that the facts are made available to interested readers.

In the first example above, it was in fact I that made that mistake. Mea culpa. I shall try hard not to make errors again, though I regret that I cannot promise to be free of them in the future. However, I rest better at night knowing that such errors that do occur will have corrections posted on this site. Believe me, we all want to supply accurate information to everyone stopping in.

What I wanted to finally address was your gratuitous slap at folks at this site perpetrating “fairy tales” in the pursuit of providing information on Mozart. It’s always interesting to see people who ought to know better making silly comments in the belief that they are in fact attempting putdowns of others. The facts, sir, are always accepted here; however, the ability to always find them is the lacking point. To blithely condemn the enthusiasts at this site for failing to adhere to your standards simply yet directly shows that lack of “touch” some paid researchers have in dealing with enthusiasts who enjoy writing on a subject.

Forums and discussion sites are open to all and sundry, in the hopes that everyone will contribute ideas and information we can use, debate, examine or ignore as we choose. When they work right, they are a wonderful mix of researchers, enthusiasts, performers, amateurs and writers, all of whom feed off of each others postings, add their own information and spin, and so produce a greater whole out of the sum of the parts. The old openmozart site was that way once. The facts may get inadvertently omitted or mis-stated, but in the spirit of cooperative exploration on the subject, those problems get resolved. The good sports involved though, do not take gratuitous slaps to resolve them. For, if they did, they needlessly reduce the sum of the parts, not expand them for the betterment of all.

To close, I’m sorry you chose to take the swipe that you did. It’s unfair, needless, and petty. Anyone with an open mind reading this site would know whom existed in a fairy tale land by your comment, and I doubt they would conclude it was the rest of us here.

Nominal regards,

Gary Smith

Subject: Re: Fairy Tales
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 12:57:43 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I think by accusing me of a "gratuitous slap" and "taking a swipe" you broke your own board rules of etiquette. I do think that suppression of published(!) sources on Süssmayer's heterosexual private life leads to the propagation of fairy tales and I chose this term with good reason.

ML

Subject: Re: a few points
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 10:28:38 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
With respect to the third item in Michael's interesting posting, I may be the one to whom he is referring though I don't remember using those exact words. However, I suspect that Michael may be using the argument about Süssmayr's intention to marry as evidence against his being a homosexual. His sexual preference is one about which I have made an assertion in the past and one that will appear in the 2003 Jahrbuch paper under my name. The evidence in support of the assertion comes directly from Mozart's own mouth, though I agree that what he said is cryptic and can be interpreted many ways, as can any statement.

There is not the slightest doubt that Süssmayr stated his intentions to marry (and I may have even said "an unknown woman"), but this statement, even if it represents Süssmayr's real intentions, cannot be used to argue against what I believe to have been his exclusive homosexual interests. Gay men have been marrying and even fathering children for a long time in order to hide their real sexual preferences from the public. A very short list of these men would include Oscar Wilde, Leonard Bernstein, and even Rock Hudson who married early in his career to defuse accusations and rumors about his homosexuality. It was and still is a not uncommon practice among homosexual males who are ashamed about their interests or who want to disguise them to avoid the political issues that arise from a homosexual life style. In fact, Rock Hudson is suggested to have encouraged the rumor that he was quite a lothario in Hollywood with many seductions under his belt in order to turn attention away from his sexual preferences. Perhaps a more dramatic case was the alleged homosexuality of Adolf Hitler and the bizarre efforts he is alleged to have made to disguise his early life sexual preference.

As for Süssmayr, since he never married, his statement and its implications are moot.

Subject: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 22:45:27 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.

On 20th August 1838, while the trees in the Roman Catholic cemetery swayed gently in the breeze, a distinguished group of New York citizens gathered around an open grave bidding farewell to the scholarly old gentleman who had died peacefully in his ninetieth year. He had been the first Professor of Italian Literature at Columbia University and had endowed Columbia's library with a large collection of rare Italian books.

Exceedingly handsome even in his old age, he had looked patriarchal with a mane of glistening white hair and piercing eyes. He had been a popular citizen of New York, his children had married into the best American families, and his wife, who had died before him, was remembered as a gentle, ladylike creature of exquisite beauty.

The distinguished citizens did not mourn the old man too deeply. He had died of old age and had lived a long and fruitful life. Some even smiled to themselves as they remembered his little lies, boasting of writing librettos for the immortal Mozart, counting the Emperor Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire amongst his friends and knowing Casanova intimately. Oh, he could tell some stories... and added to his little fibs was the gossip that he had once been a practicing priest. This gossip, they believed, was spread by his Italian enemies. On top of all that, the gossips said he had been born a Jew.

A large laurel wreath, as befitted a poet, was placed on the freshly covered grave. The distinguished citizens departed the cemetery with the knowledge of having been blessed to meet such a remarkable man, a man whom they loved and whom they had known so well, and who had touched their lives with his own magical presence.

But they knew him not at all. Not even his name!

He was born in Ceneda, a solitary Venetian outpost, on 10th March 1749, in the Jewish ghetto. His name was Emanuele, the son of Geremia and Rachele Conegliano. He was the oldest child, soon to be followed by brothers Baruch and Anania. The family had a history of scholars and doctors amongst its members, notably a Dr. Israel Conegliano who was a physician and statesman involved in the Venetian and Turkish diplomatic sqabbles. He was rewarded for his services to the Venetian state by being exempted from their harsh anti-Semitic regulations. Emanuele's father, however, was a humble tanner by trade without any intellectual pretensions.

When Emanuele was five years old, his mother died. For the next nine years the child ran wild. He barely learned to read and write. He nonetheless became bar mitzvah (the Jewish rite of initiation into manhood); but soon thereafter, his father, now forty, fell in love with a sixteen-year-old gentile girl, Orsola Pasqua Paietta, and decided to marry her.

In order to get permission for the marriage, the father and his three sons were baptised into the Catholic faith on 29th August 1763. The ceremony was performed by Monsignor Lorenzo Da Ponte, and Geremia, according to the custom of the day, adopted the name of his sponsor and became Gaspare Da Ponte. His sons Buruch and Anania changed their names to Girolamo and Luigi respectively, while Emanuele took the bishop's name as well. From this moment on, he was known as Lorenzo Da Ponte. Despite his strong Jewish beliefs at this time, coming so soon after his bar mitzvah, he very seldom referred to his Jewish background. There were others, however, who were only too happy to remind him of it.

Lorenzo's father eventually sired ten more children with his new bride. He dedicated his three sons by his first wife to the Church in gratitude for the blessings brought to him by his conversion to Catholicism. Lorenzo never quite forgave his father for dedicating him to the Church. In his autobiography
he said, that this decision led him "to embrace a way of life entirely opposed to my temperament, character, principles and studies, thus opening the door to a thousand strange happenings and perils, in the course of which the envy, hypocrisy and malice of my enemies made me a pitiable victim for more than twenty years". Nevertheless, he financially supported
his father's ever-growing family until his move to the New World and his struggles in America distanced him from his family in Italy.

He was ordained a priest in the seminary of Portogruaro. Although the priesthood did not suit Lorenzo Da Ponte's temperament, he profited greatly
from his monastic education. Already in 1770 he was made instructor, in the following year professor of languages and in 1772 vice-rector of the seminary.

In 1773 he threw up his post and moved to Venice where he began a life of debauchery, fathering a number of children, gambling, and even running a dance hall which was merely a front for a brothel. Da Ponte was a man of conflicting personalities: on one hand he delighted in the life of pleasure which characterised Venice in her last years as a republic, on the other hand he loved poetry and literature and there is no doubt that he was a teacher of genius. His life of dissipation came to an end when the Venetian ruling Council of Ten finally expelled him.

During his sojourn in Venice he had met the great poet Caterino Mazzola, who was the official poet to the Dresden court. Mazzola promised Da Ponte to let him know if a similar position became available at the court, and when shortly thereafter Da Ponte received a letter from Mazzola inviting him to Dresden, Da Ponte arrived full of expectations at Mazzola's residence. To his astonishment, Mazzola denied ever having written a letter of invitation to him; Da Ponte then attributed the letter to the machinations of his enemies.

For a short time Da Ponte remained in Dresden, closely studying Mozzola's art of writing librettos for operas and even trying his hand at writing some librettos himself. Mazzola watched with growing trepidation Da Ponte's machinations at the Dresden court and made it clear to Da Ponte that his presence in Dresden was no longer welcome. Da Ponte decided to try his luck in Vienna. On the day of his departure from Dresden, Mozzola, perhaps feeling a little guilty, handed him a letter which was to change Da Ponte's life forever. It read: "Friend Salieri, my good friend Da Ponte will bring you these few lines. Do for him everything that you would do fo me. His heart and his talent merit whatever help you can give him..."

Da Ponte arrived in Vienna late in 1781. He could not have arrived at a better time nor chosen a better patron than Salieri. The Emperor, Joseph II, was personally involved with the daily running of the opera. An enlightened despot, Joseph II believed in intellectual freedom, religious tolerance and equal justice for all. Under the reign of his mother Maria Theresa, Da Ponte would not have had the chance to succeed in his chosen profession. Maria Theresa would not have tolerated a Jew as poet at her court, albeit a baptised one. Her Jewish advisers and financiers could speak with her only separated by a screen, for fear that she might be exposed to the evil in their eyes. Joseph II, however, considered all his citizens equal as long as their actions profited the state. Da Ponte's patron, Antonio Salieri, was influential at court, having been Joseph II's chamber music partner from the time he had come to Vienna at the age of forteen.

Through the good offices of Salieri, Da Ponte secured the position of poet to the Viennese Italian opera. Da Ponte's first interview with Joseph II was not to ask a favour but to thank him for the appointment. Da Ponte wrote: "He asked me how many plays I have written, and when I said frankly, 'None Sire', he replied with a smile, 'Good, good! We shall have a virgin muse'!"

When Da Ponte met the little man whose genius would inspire him to write his masterpieces is not known. They probably met at a dinner given by Baron Wetzlar von Pinkenstern, himself a baptised Jew. The young Mozarts when first married occupied an apartment in Baron Wetzlar's house and the family remained friends until Mozart's death and beyond.

Mozart and Da Ponte were two of the most unlikely collaborators in the history of music, yet together they created the most enduring and beautiful masterpieces of the operatic repertoire. History remains silent on the subject of their friendship and their artistic collaboration. In Da Ponte, Mozart found a poet whose mind was perfectly attuned to his own. Da Ponte responded to Mozart's music as he did to no other composer. Essentially, when it came to their collaboration they were kindred spirits. Mozart wrote to his father on 13th October 1781, well before his collaboration with Da Ponte had begun:
"The best thing of all is when a composer, who understands the stage and is able to make suggestions, meets an able poet, that true phoenix; in that case no fears need be entertained as to the applause even of the ignorant. In Da Ponte, Mozart found such an "able poet".

Their first collaboration was on "The Marriage of Figaro". Beaumarchais' comedy had been banned in Paris for three years, as it quite openly attacked the "ancien regime". In Vienna the staging of the play was prohibited, although the play was freely available in bookshops and Mozart himself owned a copy, listed among his possessions at the time of his death. Mozart suggested the play as a possible text and the composer and librettist completed the opera in six weeks. (Da Ponte claimed this short period for the writing of the opera but historians formerly dismissed his claim as pure fantasy. Most modern scholars now agree that Da Ponte's claim was correct.)

At first, Baron Wetzlar offered to finance the production at some place other than Vienna but Da Ponte approached the Emperor in his charming manner and recorded the following conversation:
The emperor: "I fobade the German Company to perform this 'Nozze di Figaro'".
Da Ponte: "Yes, but since I have written an opera and not a play, I have had to omit many scenes and shorten others, and I have omitted and shortened anything which might offend the delicacy and decency of spectacle at which Your Majesty would be present. As for the music, so far as I can judge it seems to me marvellosuly beautiful".

A carriage was sent for Mozart immediately so that the Emperor could hear the music. Soon after this the
libretto and the music were given to copyists. But the cabal within the theatre had just begun. According to Da Ponte, the Italians connected with the opera theatre did not want the opera to succeed.
Joseph II had recently forbidden ballets to be performed at the opera and when the Italians found that "The Marriage of Figaro" contained a ballet scene, they ran to the director of the Opera House, Count Rosenberg who summoned Da Ponte and tore the libretto and music to shreds.

Mozart was in despair. Da Ponte, however, instructed the rehearsal to go ahead in the presence of the Emperor. With no music being played during the dance scene, Count Almaviva's and Susanna's gesticulations made the scene appear like a puppet show. The Emperor was mystified by such bizarre goings on, and when the situation was explained to him by Da Ponte, the Emperor immediately send for the dancers and re-instated the ballet.

Mozart's collaboration with Da Ponte continued with "Don Giovanni". The opera was commissioned by the Prague Opera House, where Mozart's music enjoyed immense popularity. The first perfomance of the opera
was scheduled for mid-October 1787. Both Mozart and Da Ponte were in Prague for the rehearsals. Here Mozart met Casanova, Da Ponte's old gambling friend who no doubt offered advice on the persona of Don Giovanni as his handwriting appears on the original manuscript.

Da Ponte returned to Vienna before the premiere of "Don Giovanni". While writing the libretto for "Don Giovanni", he also wrote "Tarare" for Salieri and "L'Abore di Diana" for Martin y Soler.
When he informed Joseph II of his plan to work simultaneously on these three libretti, the Emperor exclaimed: "You won't succed!"

"Perhaps not," Da Ponte replied, "but I shall try all the same. I shall write for Mozart at night, which will be like reading Dante's "Inferno". In the morning I shall write for Martin, and that will be like studying Petrarch. In the evening I will write for Salieri, and he will be my Tasso."

The last opera Mozart and Da Ponte worked on was "Cosi Fan Tutte". It received its premiere on 26th January 1790. In "Cosi" Da Ponte's skill in the use of rhyme reaches new heights. His libretto is inspired. It is his original work, not based on any other opera or a text by another writer. Designed for a carnival, it is charming, witty and perceptive.

Emperor Joseph II died on 20th February 1790. Da Ponte was shattered by the Emperor's death and it seems he mourned him for the rest of his life. Da Ponte's magical life in Vienna was virtually at an end. During the short reign of Emperor Leopold II, Da Ponte completed three libretti but he sensed a change was coming. Da Ponte's application to the Emperor to join Martin y Soler in St. Petersburg was denied. In the end, however, intrigues in the theatre and his own unfortunate affair with a married opera singer resulted in his reputation being tarnished in the eye of the new Emperor. His Semitic background and his bad reputation in Venice did not help either.

It is not clear whether Da Ponte was dismissed from his post as court poet to the Italian Opera or resigned of his own volition. Da Ponte found himself at the end of 1791 in Trieste where he experienced the bitterest moments of his life. He had fallen on hard times, and it had been a fall from a great height. His beloved Emperor and Mozart were dead and a new era descended upon Europe.

It was in Trieste that Da Ponte met his beautiful Nancy, who remained his great love until her death in America. He describes her in his autobiography:

I was introduced to a young English girl,the daughter of a rich merchand who had lately arrived in Trieste. She was said by everyone to be extremely beautiful, and to unite gentle manners with all the graces of a cultivated mind. Her face was covered with a black veil, which prevented me from seeing her, so, wanting to find out if the reality matched her reputation I said, as if in jest, 'Mademoiselle, the style in which you are wearing your veil is not a la mode'". Not realising what was in my mind, she enquired: 'What is the present fashion?' 'This signorina' and taking her veil by the edge I drew it over her head".

The face he saw beneath the veil must have pleased him immensely, and although Nancy left the room offended by his boldness, she too was impressed by the still handsome man. It seems it was love at first sight.

Nancy's father, John Grahl, was born in Dresden and his wife was French. Grahl had converted from Judaism to Anglicanism and Nancy was born in England where she spent her first sixteen years. It is surprising that her family would have given her hand in marriage
to an ageing, unemployed poet, who by his own admission possessed no more than five piastres in the whole world.

There are no records in Trieste to prove that a marriage actually took place between the former Roman Catholic priest and his "beautiful, fresh and loving companion", only Da Ponte's statement that she became his after "social ceremonies and formalities". From the verses that Da Ponte addressed to her after her death and from the trials and tribulations they faced together throughout their marriage, it seems that the love that bound them remained strong to the end. There is no evidence that Da Ponte was ever defrocked or gave up his priesthood. It is my personal belief that his priestly episode was one he remembered with distaste and it receded in his mind just as one life's experience amongst many.

For a short while they settled in London. After a period of financial difficulties, Da Ponte finally became poet to the King's Theatre in Haymarket. Here again he became embroiled in the theatre's many cabals. Nancy, however, ran the "coffee room" at the theatre so succefully that she amassed a small fortune. A bookselling business Da Ponte established while working at the theatre went bankrupt. The catalogue of his books is today in the British Library. It shows what a remarkable collection he had, with almost every author in the Italian language being represented.

Nancy's family emigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania. On 20th Septmber 1804 Nancy also departed for America with their four children. Da Ponte accompanied them as far as Gravesend. As he looked at his wife and children (he writes): "I seemed to feel a hand of ice seize my heart and tear it from my breast". He had given Nancy permission to stay in America for one year. She carried with her a considerable amount of money; it is just possible that Da Ponte wished this money to be kept in a safe place and not fall victim to his own bankruptcy.

Despite Da Ponte's entreaties to his wife to return to London, Nancy remained in America. Da Ponte's situation in London became intolerable and on 4th June
1805 he arrived in Philadelphia having lost all his money gambling with a fellow passenger on the journey.

Da Ponte found his family settled in New York. With the help of Nancy's money, he invested in a grocery shop, at first in New York and later in Elizabethtown in New Jersey, where he and his wife with their four children remained until 1807, by which time he had lost all his money.

Da Ponte returned to New York hoping to make a living for his family. In a bookshop he met Clement Clarke Moore, then a young man, who was later to become America's most distinguished Hebrew scholar and lexicographer, the founder of the General Theological Seminary and the Trustee of Columbia College. He is better remembered today as the author of the classic children's poem, "The Night Before Christmas". At Moore's suggestion, Da Ponte opened the "Manhattan Academy for Young Gentlemen". The school became immensely popular and soon Nacy opened "the Manhattan Academy for Young Ladies". Nancy taught French and Italian as well as the art of artificial flower making and engaged teachers to give lessons in drawing and music.

All in all the academies were a great success. Da ponte, full of intellectual enthusiasm, instructed his students in such an unforgettable way that they remembered his lectures for the rest of their lives.

Arthur Livingston, the American editor of Da Ponte's "Memoirs", wrote:
"There is no doubt that this was an important moment
for the American mind. Da Ponte made Europe, poetry, painting, music the artistic spirit, classical lore, a creative classical education, live for many important Americans as no-one, I venture, had done before".

In 1811, Lorenzo Da Ponte became an American citizen and gave up his lucrative teaching career and the life he so thoroughly enjoyed and moved to Sunbury, Pennsylvania where he again opened a grocery shop. Nancy's aged parents lived in Sunbury, which was then a charming town set in a beautiful countryside. But Da Ponte hated every moment of the seven years he spent in Sunbury, longing for the bookshops and stimulation of New York.

Surprisingly, Da Ponte succeeded in business the second time around. He opened a millinery store, ran a carrier service between Sunbury and Philadelphia, established a distillery in Sunbury and in 1814 built there a thre-storey residence. He became the second highest taxpayer in the county.

By 1818 Da Ponte had wearied of the countryside and moved back to New York where he spent the rest of his life, selling and buying Italian books. In his teaching he had found he was hindered by the lack of good Italian books and imported them from Italy.

In 1825 he received a signal honour by being appointed Professor of Italian at Columbia University.
He retained this title until his death.

On 29th November 1825 the first season of Italian opera in America opened at the Park Theatre. The Garcia family, a Spanish operatic company had just come from a successful opera season in London. On 23rd May 1826 Da Ponte was overjoyed when the Garcia company premiered Mozart's "Don Giovanni".

Following the success of the Garcia company's tour, Da Ponte undertook to provide a permanent home for Italian opera in New York. Da Ponte was able to raise a large amount of money which enabled the city to build its first Opera House. It was opened under Da Ponte's management on 18th November 1833. It was a magnificent theatre. The dome was painted with a represenation of the nine Muses by Italian artists especially brought to New York to execute it. It was a huge success. In 1836 the Italian Opera House was renamed the National Theatre and Da Ponte was replaced as manager. The National Theatre burned to the ground in 1839, but the idea of going to the opera had become so popular in New York that soon the Astor Place Opera House and later the Academy of Music staged many successful opera performances. Finally, the Metropolitan Opera House opened in 1883, in no small measure the result of the enthusiasm generated by Da Ponte's original vision of an opera house in New York.

In August 1838 the old man died. A priest was summoned and Da Ponte made peace with the church. Like Mozart, he was buried in an unmarked grave; in 1912 the coffins from the cemetery where he was laid to rest was removed to Calvary Cemetery to make room for 11th Street in New York.

Copyright Agnes Selby.
By courtesy of "Quadrant". This article was first published by "Quadrant" in January 1997.

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 17:30:16 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@ol.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,
You write so beautifully.
What a fantastic and informative article!
And what a Renaissance Man de Ponte was. He had at least nine lives to boot.
Da Ponte's life read like romanatic fiction - amazing but true.
His life story would certainly make an enlightening and very entertaining movie or mini-series.
And Agnes, I dont believe that there is a webpage devoted to Lorenzo da Ponte.
May I suggest that you create one?
Your wonderful biography of him could be the cornerstone - with hyperlinked chapters (the parts of your article) devoted to each stage of his life, and portraits - plus the Mozart connection, of course.
Just a thought.
A very enlightening article, Agnes!
Very best regards,
Marti :-)

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 18:55:15 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Marti,

Thank you for your nice comments. I find Da Ponte most interesting. I don't think I would open a web-site for him. Daisy has been urging me to open a web-site on Constanze but I just can't see how I could find time to do all that. I am in much "demand" by my four grandkids and I would not take time away from them - ever.

By the way, you owe me a letter.

Love, Agnes.

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 17:36:08 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
Oops!
I hit the wrong button!
I meant to hit the URL function, as I included no photo........

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 15:03:10 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Excellent posting...
Thank you very much...
Kind regards,
Emmanuelle

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 06:22:02 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,

Splendid! Would you believe, I'm devoid of any question to ask. Thanks VERY much for sharing your superb information and saving some of us time from endless research about Da Ponte. Bravo!!!

Best regards,
TEL

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 23:24:05 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
That was a fantastic posting, Agnes! I hav