Casanova's Women

by Judith Summers

  Casanova has achieved the seemingly impossible by becoming both a male role model who is the very essence of machismo and, at the same time, a post-Feminist icon praised for his liberated attitude to women’s sexuality. His name garners more than three million hits on the internet search engine Google, and has its own place in the Oxford English Dictionary as a term describing ‘a man notorious for seducing women’.

  And in Dux (now Duchcov in the Czech Republic) where for many years he felt so scorned and despised, Casanova is now the town’s most famous celebrity and its main claim to fame. Academics come from around the world to consult the remarkable Casanova archive in the town’s museum. Tourists who know little about the eighteenth century flock to Duchcov’s annual Casanova festival, and visit Waldstein’s grand baroque castle just to photograph their hero’s armchair or touch the bed where he slept. And after they have searched for his unmarked grave and photographed the simple plaque to him in the church, they toast his memory at the eponymous Café Casanova in the market square.

  How amazed Casanova would be if he knew a fraction of all this! But as he lies dying he knows only that he has not a single friend at his bedside; that although his blood runs in the veins of at least three daughters and two sons he communicates with none of them; that the world which once fêted him has forgotten him; and that he has failed to find a publisher for his great work - at one point he even contemplated burning it. Having no legitimate heir, he has left the manuscript of Histoire de Ma Vie to his niece’s husband Carlo Angiolini, who arrived in Dux recently to look after him in his dying days; and in 1821 Carlo’s son will sell it to the German printer Brockhaus for the paltry sum of 200 thalers.

  Tonight Casanova is beyond caring. An opportunist to the very end, his last words are reputed to be ‘I have lived as a philosopher, but die as a Christian’. Will he be pulled down into the flames of Hell for his compulsive womanising like the anti-hero of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the premiere of which he almost certainly attended in Prague in October 1787 and the libretto of which he is rumoured to have collaborated on? Casanova thinks not. For despite his loneliness and his pain, his poverty and his bitter predicament, he is convinced that he has done good in the world, particularly to women, and he remains an optimist at heart. There are misfortunes in life, of course, as he is the first to know. But their very existence has proved to him over the last seventy-three years that the sum of good is greater. If pleasure exists, then life is a joy. And where there are women, there is always pleasure to be found.

  ‘I am infinitely happy when I am in a dark room and see the light coming through a window which opens on to a vast horizon,’ Casanova has written. Now, with a final, terrible effort that takes every last shred of his energy, he suddenly raises his head and gazes through his bedroom window, beyond the reflection of the old, gaunt, hollow-eyed stranger staring back at him, and out into the blank, black horizon of the Bohemian night. There are no stars out there but, instead, a galaxy of women. The women who nurtured him. The women who toyed with him. The women he flirted with and seduced. The women who adored him. The women whose fortunes he made, and those whose fortunes he plundered, and the women whose lives he all but ruined. The women who, for better or for worse, have made Casanova the man he is.

  Leaving his aching limbs behind him, Casanova rises from his bed and walks towards them. Here is Marina Morosini, propositioning him from behind her convent grating. And Bettina, holding up those unforgettable knitted stockings that started it all. There are Nanetta and Marta, giggling at him from their big bed on the top floor of their aunt’s palazzo. And Marcia, his loving grandmother, come to rescue him from yet another debacle.

  Here is Lucia, dancing her way to an early death in a sordid Amsterdam brothel. And there Marianne de Charpillon, still turning her back on him after all these years. And his mother Zanetta, as beautiful as she is impossible to please. And the mad, lonely Marquise d’Urfé, weeping secret tears over his betrayal of her.

  Here is Sophia Williams sleeping the peaceful sleep of the self-righteous whilst her mother Teresa, the one-time famous London celebrity, dies alone and in agony in gaol. And Donna Lucrezia, resigned to being supplanted in his affections by their daughter Leonilda. And Leonilda, the mother of her own half-brother.

  And here, waiting for him, is Henriette - his wondrous, mysterious Henriette - standing in front of Casanova on the windswept path to the unknown just as she once stood before him on the road leading up to her château, her body obscured by her hooded cloak and her face turned away from him.

  BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

  1697: birth of Gaetano Giacomo Casanova, Casanova’s father.

  1707: 27 August: birth of Casanova’s mother, Zuanna (Giovanna) Maria Farussi, known as Zanetta.

  1709: marriage of Marcia Baldissera to Girolamo Farussi.

  1724: 27 February: marriage of Zanetta Farussi to Gaetano Casanova. Death of Girolamo Farussi, Zanetta’s father.

  1725: 2 April: birth of Giacomo Girolamo Casanova in Venice. 5 May: Giacomo baptised in church of San Samuele.

  1726/7: Zanetta and Gaetano go to London, leaving Casanova with his grandmother.

  1727: 1 June: birth of Casanova’s brother Francesco in London.

  1728: Zanetta and Gaetano return to Venice.

  1730: 4 November: birth of Casanova’s brother Giovanni Battista.

  1731: 28 December: birth of Casanova’s sister Faustina Maddelena.

  1732: 25 December: birth of Casanova’s youngest sister Maria Maddelena Antonia Stella.

  1733: 18 December: death of Gaetano Casanova, aged thirty-six.

  1734: 16 February: birth of Casanova’s youngest brother Gaetano Alviso. 2 April: Zanetta takes Casanova to Padua and leaves him with Signora Mida. She spends the summer in Verona with the San Samuele theatre company. 24 November Goldoni’s play, Belisario, is premiered in Venice, followed by La Pupilla, a play inspired by Zanetta. During the summer Casanova moves to Dr Antonio Gozzi’s house in Padua and meets Bettina.

  1735: Easter: Zanetta leaves for St Petersburg, leaving her children with her mother.

  1736: 20 August: death of Casanova’s four-year-old sister Faustina.

  1737: Zanetta returns from St Petersburg. 1737/1738: she leaves for Dresden. Casanova enrolled at Padua University.

  1739: Marcia brings Casanova back to Venice.

  1740: 14 February: Casanova takes the tonsure at the church of San Samuele. Meets Senator Malipiero and Teresa Imer.

  1741: 22 January: Patriarch of Venice confers four minor orders on Casanova. He meets Angela Tosello, and Marta and Nanetta Savorgnan. Possible first trip to Corfu.

  1742: Casanova returns to Venice by 2 April. May: he meets Lucia on visit to Friuli.

  1743: 18 March: death of Marcia Farussi. Casanova stays at the seminary on Murano for two weeks.

  1744: Casanova goes to Martirano, Naples and Rome where he enters service of Cardinal Acquaviva. Affairs with Donna Lucrezia and Bellino/Teresa Lanti.

  1745: 17 January: marriage of Lucrezia d’Antoni, the sister of Casanova’s ‘Donna Lucrezia’. End January-beginning February: Casanova leaves Rome and returns to Venice. Teresa Imer leaves Venice for Vienna where she marries Angelo Pompeati. Marriage of Nanetta Savorgnan. Marta Savorgnan enters convent. Birth of Cesarino, Casanova’s son by Teresa Lanti; and of Leonilda, his daughter by Donna Lucrezia. Casanova leaves for Corfu, travelling on to Constantinople in July and returning to Corfu in October. Leaves for Venice on the twenty-fifth where he is employed as a lawyer in the office of Manzoni.

  1746: Casanova employed as a violinist at San Samuele theatre during the carnival. April: meets Senator Matteo Bragadin.

  1748: 6 November: premiere in Dresden of Zanetta Casanova’s play Le Contese di Mestre e Malghera per il Trono.

  1749: early in year, Casanova compelled to leave Venice. Financed by Bragadin, he travels to Milan where he meets Marina (Teresa Lanti’s sister) and Antonio Balletti. In the autumn he meets Henriette in Cesena and trav
els with her to Parma and Milan.

  1750: February: Henriette returns to France via Geneva. April/May: Casanova is in Venice. June leaves for Paris, meeting up with Antonio Balletti en route. He is initiated into freemasonry in Lyon. July/August: Casanova arrives in Paris. His first meeting with Silvia and Mario Balletti and their young daughter Manon.

  1751: Casanova translates Zoroastre for the Dresden court.

  1752: October: Casanova and his brother Francesco leave Paris for Dresden to visit Zanetta.

  1753: April: Casanova leaves Dresden and returns to Venice via Prague and Vienna. Love affairs with Teresa Imer, Caterina Capretta, and the nun M.M. (Marina Morosini). December meets the French ambassador, the Abbé Joachim de Bernis.

  1754: birth in Bayreuth of Teresa Imer’s daughter Sophia.

  1755: April/May: De Bernis leaves Venice. 25/26: July Casanova arrested and imprisoned under The Leads in the Doge’s Palace.

  1756: 31 October/1 November: Casanova escapes from The Leads and heads for Paris via Munich, Augsburg and Strasbourg.

  1757: 5 January: Casanova arrives in Paris, talks his way into a job with the finance ministry and organises a state lottery in conjunctionwith Cazalbigi. His flirtation with Manon Balletti begins. August-September Casanova sent on secret mission for French Government.

  1757-1758: Casanova meets the Marquise d’Urfé.

  1758: 18 April: the first lottery draw. 16 September: death of Silvia Balletti. October: Casanova sent to Holland where he runs into Teresa Imer and their daughter, Sophia.

  1758/1759: Casanova opens a wallpaper factory.

  1759: January: Casanova returns to Paris with Giuseppe Pompeati. He adopts the name the Chevalier de Seingault, and rents a country house on the outskirts of Paris. First meeting with Marianne de Charpillon in the Palais Marchand. August brief imprisonment for debt in the Fors L’Evêque. Late September Casanova leaves Paris for Holland. October: Teresa Imer and Sophia leave Holland for England.

  1760: 5 February: last love letter from Manon Balletti. Casanova travels to Cologne, Stuttgart and, by April, Zurich. 6-8 July: meets Voltaire in Geneva. 20 July: marriage of Manon Balletti to Blondel. November: Casanova meets Teresa Lanti/Bellino and their son Cesarino in Florence.

  1761: January: Meeting with Donna Lucrezia and their daughter Leonilda in Naples. Later he travels via Rome, Florence, Bologna, Modena, and Parma to Turin, returning briefly to Paris in July before leaving for Strasbourg, Augsburg and Munich.

  1762: early January: Casanova arrives in Paris. Mid-January: He leaves Paris to prepare for the Marquise d’Urfé’s regeneration operation. February: he meets Marianna Corticelli in Metz. April: the Marquise d’Urfé’s first regeneration operation in Pontcarré. By May Casanova is in Aix-la-Chapelle. From there he travels to Liège, Metz, Basle, Geneva and Turin. November: Casanova expelled from Turin.

  1763: January: Casanova is back in Turin. March/April: meeting with Marcolina. The Marquise d’Urfé’s second regeneration operation. May: second encounter with Henriette. Early June: brief visit to Paris. 11 June: Casanova crosses the Channel to England with his servant Clairmont and Giuseppe Pompeati. 14 June: He arrives in London. Teresa Imer, Sophia, Pauline and Marianne de Charpillon. 27 November: Casanova is arrested on the orders of Charpillon.

  1764: mid-March: Casanova flees London, and travels to Wesel via Calais, Dunkirk and Brussels. By July he is in Berlin where he meets Frederick the Great. September/October: leaves for St Petersburg via Riga.

  1765: May excursion from St Petersburg to Moscow. September: leaves St Petersburg for Poland, arriving in Warsaw in October.

  1766: 5 March: Casanova loses Polish king’s favour over duel with Branicki. 8 July: He is forced to leave Warsaw. Travels to Vienna via Breslau, Dresden and Prague.

  1767: January 23: Casanova banished from Vienna. He travels to Augsburg, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Spa (August-September), Paris (by October). 14 October: Death of Senator Bragadin in Venice. November: Casanova expelled from France by Louis XV. Leaves for Madrid via Bordeaux and Pamplona.

  1768: Casanova accused of illegal possession of weapons in Madrid. September: leaves for Barcelona. 16 November: imprisoned in Barcelona after a love affair. 28 December: released from prison, he leaves for France.

  1769: February-May: in Aix-en-Provence, where he falls ill. Third encounter with Henriette. To Marseille via the Croix d’Or, then on to Antibes, Nice, Turin, Lugano and Turin.

  1770: 15 March: Casanova leaves Turin for Parma, Bologna, Florence (by April), Sienna, Rome, Naples (June to mid-August). In Salerno in late August, with Leonilda and Donna Lucrezia. Naples. Rome.

  1771: July: Casanova leaves Rome for Florence. Late December: banished from Florence, he goes to Bologna.

  1772: early October: Casanova leaves Bologna. 15 November: settles in Trieste. Bankruptcy of Teresa Imer in London.

  1773: 14 December: death of Marianna Corticelli in Turin.

  1774: 3 September: Casanova pardoned by the Venetian government. 14 September: he returns to Venice after an absence of eighteen years.

  1775: publication of the first volume of his translation of Homer’s Iliad. 13 November: death of the Marquise d’Urfe in Paris.

  1776: November: Casanova undertakes occasional work for the Venetian Inquisitors. Death of Zanetta Casanova (29 November) and of Manon Balletti (December).

  1779: Casanova starts a three-year affair with seamstress Francesca Buschini.

  1780: January-July: Casanova publishes a monthly magazine. 7 October: he begins to file regular reports for the Inquisitors.

  1782: August publication of Casanova’s pamphlet Ne’ Amore, Ne’ donne leads to his disgrace. September: flees to Trieste.

  1783: 13 January: Casanova returns to Venice for a few hours, then leaves for Vienna. 16 June: revisits Venice briefly before going into permanent exile. Travels to Augsburg, Aix-la-Chapelle, Spa, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt and Vienna in search of employment, then on to Dresden, Berlin, Brno.

  1784: in mid-February he returns to Vienna, where he meets Mozart’s librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Accepts post as a secretary in the service of the Venetian ambassador, Sebastiano Foscarini. First meeting with Count Waldstein, who offers him a post as his librarian at Dux. Casanova declines.

  1785: 23 April: death of Foscarini. Casanova travels to Brno, Carlsbad and Teplitz where, in September, he meets Waldstein again. This time he accepts Waldstein’s offer of employment and travels to Dux.

  1786: publication of Casanova’s Soliloque d’un penseur.

  1787: voyage to Prague. Publication of Histoire de Ma Fuite.

  1788: voyage to Dresden and Leipzig. Publication of Icosameron.

  1788/1789: possibly starts writing Histoire de Ma Vie.

  1792: July: finishes first draft of Histoire de Ma Vie and begins revising it.

  1797: 19 August: death of Teresa Imer in London.

  1798: April: Casanova falls ill. 4 June: he dies. His nephew Carlo Angiolini takes the manuscript of Histore de Ma Vie to Dresden.

  1820: 24 June: Casanova’s daughter Sophia Williams opens the Adult Orphan Institution in London.

  1821: January: manuscript of Histoire de Ma Vie is sold to the Leipzig publisher Brockhaus. 1822-1828: Publication of first edition of Histoire de Ma Vie, in an edited German translation.

  1823: 23 June: death of Sophia Williams in London.

  1826-1838: first French edition of Histoire de Ma Vie, edited and much revised.

  1960-1962: first edition of the original text of Histoire de Ma Vie is published.

  NOTES

  PREFACE

  Casanova’s twelve-volume Histoire de Ma Vie has appeared in countless editions. All quotations from it in this book are taken from the original French text, published in 1993 by Robert Laffont/Bouquins in a three-volume paperback edition, edited by Francis Lacassin. For simplicity, references in the endnotes refer to HDMV, followed by the Bouquins volume number (I, II, or III) followed by the page number in that volume.
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  PREFACE 2 APRIL 1798

  1 Anon., Onania – or the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, and all its frightful consequences in both sexes, considered. With spiritual and physical advice, etc. London, 1737, p.137

  2 HDMV, Bouquins III, p.672

  3 HDMV, Bouquins I, p.346

  4 HDMV, Bouquins I, p.847

  5 Abbé Taruffi, cited in J. Rives Childs, Casanova – A Biography Based on New Documents, George Allen and Unwin, London 1961, p.220

  6 Giacomo Casanova, cited in Arthur Symons, Casanova at Dux, An Unpublished Chapter of History

  1 ZANETTA

  1 HDMV, Bouquins I, p.171

  2 HDMV, Bouquins I, p.23

  3 HDMV, Bouquins I, p.20

  4 Helmut Watzlawick, ‘Les Vrais Débuts d’une Actrice, Naissance et Baptême de Zanetta Casanova’, Intermédiare des Casanovistes, 2003, p.51, note 3