Printed on 9/12/07
This year, Columbia University's Italian Academy for Advanced Studies is honoring the neglected Italian with a recital series, an academic symposium and an exhibition. The colorful Da Ponte was friends with Casanova, almost certainly a role model for Don Giovanni. In a bizarre parallel with Mozart, Da Ponte was also buried in an unmarked grave. Its location in Manhatten's lower East Side has just been recently identified! If your interest is piqued, here's a link to a New York Times article on this fascinating story.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/05/features.php
A BEETHOVENIAN LINK-The autograph manuscript of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, as arranged by the composer for piano four-hands, was discovered last summer at the Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, PA. The find was kept under tight wraps until it could be authenticated and appraised by Beethoven scholars. The 80-page manuscript has been dubbed by the seminary as the "Beethoven blessing". Written just months before the great composer's death, one of the pages even contains fingerings written in the master's own hand.
The rare treasure may sell for upwards of two million dollars when Sotheby's auctions the document in December of 2005. Amazingly, manuscripts by Mozart, Haydn and Strauss were also found in the archives at the same school's library in 1990 ("The Mozart miracle"). For an excellent account of this remarkable find, cut and paste the following link (restriction on direct link useage) to see Sotheby's press release.
http://www.shareholder.com/bid/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=176293
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Beethoven and Mozart in America?
Take Two: Beethoven and Mozart Losts and Founds
A MOZARTIAN LINK-Not only is 2006 the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, 2005 is the bicentennary of Lorenzo Da Ponte's immigration to America. Fans of Mozart opera may recognize the name Da Ponte as librettist for three of Mozart's greatest operas: Marriage of Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutte and Don Giovanni. But few may be aware that Da Ponte moved to America, and taught Italian language and culture at Columbia University(then College) in New York City.This year, Columbia University's Italian Academy for Advanced Studies is honoring the neglected Italian with a recital series, an academic symposium and an exhibition. The colorful Da Ponte was friends with Casanova, almost certainly a role model for Don Giovanni. In a bizarre parallel with Mozart, Da Ponte was also buried in an unmarked grave. Its location in Manhatten's lower East Side has just been recently identified! If your interest is piqued, here's a link to a New York Times article on this fascinating story.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/05/features.php
A BEETHOVENIAN LINK-The autograph manuscript of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, as arranged by the composer for piano four-hands, was discovered last summer at the Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, PA. The find was kept under tight wraps until it could be authenticated and appraised by Beethoven scholars. The 80-page manuscript has been dubbed by the seminary as the "Beethoven blessing". Written just months before the great composer's death, one of the pages even contains fingerings written in the master's own hand.
The rare treasure may sell for upwards of two million dollars when Sotheby's auctions the document in December of 2005. Amazingly, manuscripts by Mozart, Haydn and Strauss were also found in the archives at the same school's library in 1990 ("The Mozart miracle"). For an excellent account of this remarkable find, cut and paste the following link (restriction on direct link useage) to see Sotheby's press release.
http://www.shareholder.com/bid/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=176293
< Back to Grand Pause
