Lorenzo da Ponte: Rezeption und Distrib...

Das Da Ponte-Projekt findet im Rahmen der Co-Beantragung des Projektes Horizon 2020, Programmschiene Creative Europe statt. Koordinierender Antragsteller ist die Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata".

Projektbeschreibung:

The decisive point for the chosen perspective is based on the consideration that the significance of the European „Kristallisationsfigur”(monumental figure) ‚Lorenzo da Ponte‘ lies not only on his function as Mozart’s librettist. Instead, the selected approach takes Da Ponte’s literary achievement into account.

Given this context, the project aims at examining the subject of ‚reception and distribution of the literary works of Lorenzo da Ponte in France and Italy’. The focus of the discussion is thereby addressed to diffusion, reception as well as to remarkably wide-ranging topographic and intertextual influences of Da Ponte’s literary works, notably his autobiography Memorie. So far, the main focus of the research has been solely on two central ideas:

1. During the French Revolution, Da Ponte stayed in Paris. It is generally suggested that he developed a highly, ambivalent relationship to the capital of France ever since. This statement is mostly referred to within the scope of the following consideration: Why is the association between Da Ponte and France as well as the significance of Da Ponte’s literary production in France not as established as in many other European countries?

2. Instead, Da Ponte’s personal perception of Beaumarchais’ „The Marriage of Figaro” is particularly emphasized as the decisive factor of his role in the process of cultural transfer between France and Italy.

Today, these statements should no longer be considered as valid for the research on cultural transfer. In the activities envisaged, the first idea should be methodically reconsidered and the significance of the second one examined from a broader perspective. The focal point of the research should rather be on the explicit studying of the instances and conditions of the transfer that have strengthened or limited the expansion of Da Ponte’s works in and to several European countries, notably concerning France, as well as in and to North-America. Given this context, almost no thematically relevant works have been published so far. Only some aspects of the transfer as regards Da Ponte’s literary production are available (see ‘Selected bibliography’).

As part of the project, I intend to prepare a monographic study that attempts, on the one hand, to analyse the distribution of Da Ponte’s works in general and the (literary) reception (especially of the Memorie) in France and Italy. On the other hand, I am planning to contextualize intertextual references to French literature that can be found in Da Ponte’s works and to present features of reception of Da Ponte’s texts found in the French literature of the early 19^th century. Given this context, also articles and reportings published in French, Italian and North-American cultural reviews of the 19^th century should be studied.

The outcomes of the monographic study will be presented to the public at the second study meeting.