Lorenzo da Ponte, born on March 10, 1749, would go on to become one of the great librettists in the history of opera. He was born Emanuele Conegliano, but when his father converted from Judaism to Catholicism to marry a Catholic woman, he took the name of Lorenza da Ponte. He studied at the Ceneda seminary and eventually moved to the seminary at Portogruaro, receiving Minor Orders in 1770 and becoming a Professor of Literature. He was ordained a priest in 1773.

In 1773, he moved to Venice and led a life that went against priesthood, taking a mistress and having children. At a subsequent trial he was found guilty of public concubinage, abduction of a respectable woman, and was thus banished from Venice for 15 years.