There's a (relatively) new Da Ponte biography I mean to read, and which was extensively reviewed in the New Yorker. What fascinates me is his longevity. He ends up in New York basically laying down the foundations of the current Met patron,age (for good or ill.)
I have a theory on the staging of Cosi, and it's that it should end with the two new couples finally getting married, because the music throughout makes it painfully obvious that Fiordeligi will suit Ferrando far better, and that the shallower Dorabella and Guglielmo will deal extremely well together. I've never seen it done like that, although I have read the libretto attentively, and nothing in the words precludes it. That's the only possible happy ending; the other one is a regression.
What's amusing in Da Ponte's Don Giovanni libretto is that the Don doesn't pull a single time - it's really a study in frustration. I'd have to go back to Molière, but I'm pretty sure he does score during the play's time span.
Re: Thank you!
I have a theory on the staging of Cosi, and it's that it should end with the two new couples finally getting married, because the music throughout makes it painfully obvious that Fiordeligi will suit Ferrando far better, and that the shallower Dorabella and Guglielmo will deal extremely well together. I've never seen it done like that, although I have read the libretto attentively, and nothing in the words precludes it. That's the only possible happy ending; the other one is a regression.
What's amusing in Da Ponte's Don Giovanni libretto is that the Don doesn't pull a single time - it's really a study in frustration. I'd have to go back to Molière, but I'm pretty sure he does score during the play's time span.