Lorenzo da Ponte

Lorenzo da Ponte (born Emmanuele Conegliano, at Ceneda, near Venice, 1749 - New York, 1838) was a librettist who worked at the Court Opera in Vienna. He provided librettos for many composers, but he is famous for his librettos for Mozart's operas The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, and Don Giovanni. After a time in London, teaching Italian and providing librettos to an Italian opera company, he emigrated to New York in 1805, where he made a living as a tobacco dealer and grocer, worked to establish an opera season, and taught Italian at Columbia University.