His spy missions were well-paid, but his sudden rise in fortune only increased his gambling and wild spending. Soon, Casanova was in debt once again and imprisoned for four days. When he was released, he had too many enemies who wanted to harm him and he had to reallocate again.
Casanova went from Germany to Switzerland and continued to bounce around Europe. In each new country, he had dicey ventures and flirtations with women. He made money only to los e it again and move on to a new place.
Casanova the Writer. At the age of seventy-three, it was too late for Casanova to travel to Italy to see home one last time. He died on June 4th, Throughout his life, Casanova wrote and translated plays, satire, and stories. The autobiography helped make him the compelling and shocking Venetian icon he is today. Casanova in Venice Today. Palazzo Pesaro Papafava. When visiting Venice, wander the magical streets and hypothesize about which aspects of his birthplace most influenced him to embody so many professions and personas.
What propelled Casanova to continue seeking out danger in work, life, and love? Was it simply the potential for absolute euphoria? After sunset, the canals, which are constantly bustling during the day, are quieter and more mysterious. There are undeniable hints of the same exciting energy that Casanova felt.
Venice enticed Casanova to repeatedly seek out thrilling escapades and diverse pursuits. Venice At Night. From all of us at Roman Candle Tours enjoy seeing Venice through the eyes of the rambunctious and extraordinary Giacomo Casanova, one of the original Venetians.
You may also like Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Giovanni Giacomo Casanova Italian Adventurer. Now 21 years old, Casanova became a violinist. There, he caught the eye of a senator—being in the right place at the right time and saving his life certainly helped—who invited Casanova into his house and became his patron.
But Casanova ran into trouble again. He fled Venice, escaped to Parma, fell in love, and had his heart broken. He went on a Grand Tour and seduced dozens of women. He became a Freemason, wrote a play, and finally, on , returned to Venice. The cell, so-nicknamed because of the lead plates covering the roof, was thought to be completely inescapable. Like the rest of the prisons, it was heavily guarded.
Escaping seemed impossible. Escaping and not being seen on the roof of the most famous building in Venice… or not being heard while clattering down the lead tiles? Even more so. His patron, Count Bragadin, finally convinced his keepers to move him. And Casanova was heartbroken. Because he had been thisclose to breaking out. But he never got the chance. Instead, just three days before he planned to escape, he was moved into his new, larger, and more lit cell.
It was time for Plan B. A priest lived in the cell right above Casanova. The priest liked to read, and the jailers were okay if the two educated prisoners exchanged books. The two started writing back and forth. Casanova told the priest he planned to escape—and asked for his help. Then Casanova would spirit them both away. The priest, Balbi, agreed. After weeks of work, the priest broke through. But there was a new problem. I was the only passenger on the decrepit platform. The air was heavy with the scent of burnt coal.
It seemed less a suitable residence for Casanova than Kafka. The historic center turned out to be a few grim streets lined with abandoned mansions, their heraldic crests crumbling over splintered doors. Drunks passed me by, muttering to themselves. Castle Dux, set behind iron gates next to the town square, was a welcome sight.
The Baroque chateau, home to the Waldstein family for centuries, is still magnificent despite decades of Communist-era neglect. A wooden door was answered by the director, Marian Hochel, who resides in the castle year-round. Sporting a ginger goatee and wearing a duck-egg-blue shirt and green scarf, he looked more like an Off Broadway producer than a museum chief. He was also a man of the world, so Duchcov was very small for him. But Casanova made many enemies in Duchcov, and they made his life miserable.
Count Waldstein traveled constantly, and the ill-tempered old librarian fought with the other staff—even over how to cook pasta. Villagers taunted him. Once he was struck while walking in town. It was a dismal last act for the aging bon vivant, and he became depressed to the point of contemplating suicide.
In , his doctor suggested that he write his memoirs to stave off melancholy. Casanova threw himself into the task, and the therapy worked. It amuses me because I am inventing nothing. His joie de vivre is contagious on the page, as are his darker observations. He is unstinting about his disappointments, and how sad his life became. The manuscript ends in mid-adventure—in fact, mid-sentence—when Casanova is 49 and visiting Trieste.
Nobody knows exactly why. It appears that he planned to end his narrative before he turned 50, when, he felt, he ceased enjoying life, but was interrupted when recopying the final draft.
Casanova had also received news in Duchcov in that his beloved Venice had been captured by Napoleon, which seemed to rekindle his wanderlust.
He was planning a journey home when he fell ill from a kidney infection. Claiming to reveal evidence of Casanova's involvement in the preparation of the opera's libretto, Kelly argues that two drafts of a revised section of the libretto in Casanova's hand and on presentation paper are evidence of an involvement the hasty revisions of the opera prior to its first performance in Prague, However, this document and the possibility of Casanova's involvement with the libretto has been studied extensively by musicologists who have all concluded the link to be unlikely.
Julian Rushton, author of a study of Don Giovanni and emeritus professor of music at Liverpool University, says the purpose of Casanova's redrafting of the libretto was indeed a mystery, but that he knew "of no evidence to suppose that they were made before the opera was composed. The relevant scene was composed earlier in Vienna and if any improvisation took place in Prague it concerned the second finale [and not the passage in question].
But if Casanova's involvement in the final version of Da Ponte's libretto for Don Giovanni is wishful thinking, his own literary output is nonetheless extraordinary. In addition to the vast History of My Life, he wrote a total of 42 books and plays, including a translation of the Iliad, a five-volume science-fiction novel, mathematical treatises and opera libretti.
He was also a committed follower of the Kabbalah, the mystical Jewish cult holding a deep fascination for him to the extent that he attributed his life's successes to its power. Kelly's researches in the Prague and other archives, and among the records of the Venetian inquisition, which investigated Casanova, have also uncovered recipe books, evidence of self-prostitution, the development in later life of a sexual interest in young girls, and hitherto undiscussed journals relating the content of his dream life.
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