On March 10 -- of the year 1749, but it doesn't really matter because his art is still so present and his genius is still so new -- Emanuele Conegliano was born, son of Rachele and Geremia, brother of Baruch and Anania, the future Lorenzo Da Ponte, Abate Da Ponte, lecherous priest, brothel owner, poet, court librettist for Mozart and Salieri, writer of that trilogy, naturalized American citizen and New Yorker (he used to call his adoptive city "Nova Iorca", which Opera Chic finds terribly cool), impresario, Bowery grocer, Columbia University professor, memoirist, Greatest Italian Playwright Who Ever Lived (and that includes Goldoni and Pirandello).
