The Figaro Murders
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In 1786 Vienna, Lorenzo Da Ponte is the court librettist for the Italian Theatre during the height of the enlightened reign of Emperor Joseph II. This exalted position doesn't mean he's particularly well paid, or even out of reach of the endless intrigues of the opera world. In fact, far from it.
One morning, Da Ponte stops off at his barber, only to find the man being taken away to debtor's prison. Da Ponte impetuously agrees to carry a message to his barber's fiancée and try to help her set him free, even though he's facing pressures of his own. He's got one week to finish the libretto for The Marriage of Figaro for Mozart before the opera is premiered for the Emperor himself.
Da Ponte visits the house where the barber's fiancée works—the home of a nobleman, high in the Vienna's diplomatic circles—and then returns to his own apartments, only to be dragged from his rooms in the middle of the night. It seems the young protégé of the diplomat was killed right about the time Da Ponte was visiting, and he happens to be their main suspect. Now he's given a choice—go undercover into the household and uncover the murderer, or be hanged for the crime himself.
Brilliantly recreating the cultural world of late 18th century Vienna, the epicenter of the Enlightenment, Lebow brings to life some of the most famous figures of music, theatre, and politics.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ably evoking the vital, music-obsessed Vienna of 1786, Lebow's debut finds theater poet Lorenzo Da Ponte working with Mozart to finish the libretto for The Marriage of Figaro. When an attempt to save a friend from debtor's prison takes Da Ponte to the home of politician Christof Gabler, he has a contentious encounter with Gabler's young page, Florian Auerstein. After Florian is pushed from a window to his death hours later, Da Ponte is arrested. The police offer him a choice: face certain conviction, or live in the Palais Gabler to unmask the murderer. Once in residence at the Palais as a poetry teacher, he falls in love with Gabler's beguiling wife, Caroline. Threats and assaults don't deter his investigations into the household's many intrigues. Meanwhile, rivals sabotage his career as a librettist, and inquiries for his bankrupt friend uncover dark secrets. The likable Da Ponte offers an insider's perspective on a fascinating world, though overelaborate subplots muddle the main story line.
