Meeting Mozart - by Howard Jay Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

Meeting Mozart is a rich historical novel that spans generations and brings to light the incredible life story of Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Jewish-born priest.

Book Synopsis

Meeting Mozart: A Novel Drawn From the Secret Diaries of Lorenzo Da Ponte is a deftly plotted and richly detailed historical novel that spans generations and involves Mozart, mysteries, masquerades, opera, and spies. It brings to light the incredible life story of Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, the Jewish-born priest who created The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi Fan Tutte. According to one reviewer, Meeting Mozart is "the musical equivalent of The Da Vinci Code."

The novel opens in the shadows of a war-torn Jewish ghetto in Italy, with the discovery of Lorenzo Da Ponte's secret diaries by his descendent, an opera-loving, Jewish/Italian-American G.I. stationed outside Venice. In the diaries, Da Ponte reveals how he had to live as a Converso in order to survive the anti-Semitism of his era. Over the course of his colorful lifetime, Da Ponte is a gambler, a poet, a womanizer, a murder suspect. He is a friend to Casanova, Mozart's collaborator, an insider at the Hapsburg Court of Vienna, and, eventually, the owner of a deli in New Jersey. An associate of such luminaries as James Fenimore Cooper and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he also became the first professor of Italian at Columbia University in New York, as well as the first priest to teach there and, more significantly, the first Jew. Throughout his life, he continued to practice his Jewish faith in secret.

In this multi-generational, historical saga, Da Ponte's struggles parallel those of his descendent, Jake Conegliano, and three generations of the Conegliano family in post-war New York. Like his famous relation, Jake must also hide his Jewishness in order to work for the C.I.A. tracking down escaped Nazis, including those who murdered many of his Italian relatives.

Meeting Mozart: A Novel Drawn From the Secret Diaries of Lorenzo Da Ponte is a follow-up to Smith's award-winning novel, Beethoven in Love; Opus 139. Both books are wonderfully imagined stories set in the world of musical giants. The result are splendid literary novels that incorporate both mystery and historical fiction. Smith takes readers from the stylish streets of Europe's most important musical cities to a Jewish deli in early modern New York. And he reintroduces us to captivating historical figures as varied as Mozart, Casanova, and Clement Moore in a complex and often-riveting tale about creativity, identity, and purpose.

Review Quotes

"Howard Jay Smith has written the musical equivalent of The Da Vinci Code. Deftly plotted and richly detailed, the novel spans generations and involves Mozart, mysteries, masquerades, opera, spies, and much more. How Smith managed to pull it all together is a mystery in itself. But he does, and he's written a deeply satisfying ending." -Patricia Morrisroe, author, The Woman in the Moonlight

"Smith writes beautifully and with a wonderful command of language and a deep knowledge of history, music and opera. This is a fantastic story and an absolute delight to read." -Nir Kabaretti, Music Director and Conductor of The Israel Sinfonietta Beersheba and the Santa Barbara Symphony

"Meeting Mozart is a journey of transcendence, an exquisitely constructed novel crafted by a compelling storyteller." -Alan Riche, Producer of Duets, The Legend of Tarzan, Bodies at Rest, Family Man, Mod Squad, Starsky & Hutch

"In this tour de force, Smith vividly brings to life not only Da Ponte's challenges in navigating the challenges of life for Jews, but also those of his descendants who must also face the horrors of the Holocaust and eloquently rise above them. A warm and heart-felt novel." -Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy, author, Night in Jerusalem

"Howard Jay Smith brilliantly juggles, with bravura and virtuosity, Da Ponte's fascinating and epic life-. And for the first time he brings to the forefront how Da Ponte's Jewish DNA helped to catapult him into immortality." -Tom Greene writer/producer, Wildside, Magnum, P.I., Knight Rider, Star Trek

"A mesmerizing story with substantial impact. Deftly written with sensitivity and insight." -Grant Gochin, author, Malice, Murder & Manipulation, The Lithuanian Holocaust

Howard Jay Smith's splendid literary novels incorporate mystery and historical fiction. With Meeting Mozart, Smith takes readers from the stylish streets of Europe's most important musical cities to a Jewish deli in early modern New York. And he reintroduces us to captivating historical figures as varied as Mozart, Casanova and Clement Moore in a complex and often-riveting tale about creativity, identity, and purpose." -Russell Martin, author, Beethoven's Hair, Out of Silence, The Sorrow of Archaeology

"An entertaining tale inspired by Mozart and his opera aimed especially toward Mozart lovers. The book's mingling of fact and fancy includes a memorable portrait of Mozart's raffish and brilliant librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte." -Jan Swafford, author, Mozart, The Reign of Love; Beethoven; Anguish & Triumph; Brahms, A Biography