In October 1787, the ageing rake Giacomo Casanova and Wolfgang Mozart, then near the height of his powers, met in Prague to discuss a revolutionary new opera based on the scandalous life of Don Juan. The composer and his librettist, poet Lorenzo Da Ponte, were to stage the work later that month, but major sections of the plot and music still hadn't been finished. In this book, Anthony Rudel expands upon this provocative footnote in history to unite Mozart and Casanova in a tempestuous race to complete the masterpiece.
Bursting with operatic gusto, this is a panoramic story of love, friendship, artistic passion and philosophical awakening set against the background of the society balls, grand opera houses and inns of eighteenth-century Prague. It is a sumptuous debut that resurrects three fascinating personalities and evokes a glittering world of romance and imagination.
