Mozart’s operas are among the most celebrated in the repertoire. But as spectacular as the music they contain may be, half the secret to the success of works like The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni may be the engaging characters and artfully woven storylines created by Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. “A poet, priest and womaniser, who ended his days as a grocer, he also wrote the words to some of the greatest operas.”