Mozart Don Giovanni #3

The Opera

First performed in 1787 in Prague, the music is Viennese Classical with recitative.
The plot is by Lorenzo da Ponte, modeled after the legendary Don Juan.  It is called a dramma giocoso and is somewhere between a comedy (opera buffa) and a tragedy (opera seria).  Structurally it is far closer to a buffa than to an opera seria. Throughout the nineteenth century Don Giovanni was considered Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's greatest opera.  In Prague at the time it was composed there was a vogue for Don Juan stories.

The title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni is probably modeled on the legendary Don Juan, or perhaps even the great real life Venetian seducer Giacomo Casanova.  Though everyone seems always to be angry with him, the Don is most reasonably seen as a seducer.  It is not directly stated in the libretto, but many believe that he was only able to seduce Donna Elvira by actually marrying her.  Leporello does his best to dissuade her.

What is this opera about?

This is the original scent of a woman story.  If there are women around, Don Giovanni can smell them.  He seems to be completely cosmopolitan in his taste.  Donna Anna is a noble woman living in her father's house while Zerlina is clearly lower class and on the verge of marriage.  He meets them, attempts to seduce them, succeeds or fails, and moves on.  The libretto seems to condemn him soundly and ends by sending him to hell.  I would imagine that in our time this was far too common for us to react with so much anger. The only woman who may seem to deserve our pity is Donna Elvira who clearly loves the Don.

This opera is very hard to stage due to the many scenes and constant changing of locale.  Recently there was a production from Salzburg which set the opera in a hotel lobby where people of all classes naturally come and go, weddings are held and parties, there's a bar, etc.  This solves everything.

The Story

Act I

Scene 1

While Leporello (buffo bass) stands guard, Don Giovanni (baritone) is inside the home of the Commendatore (bass) and his daughter Donna Anna (spinto soprano) trying we have to assume unsuccessfully to seduce the daughter.  Donna Anna screams for help and goes off while the Don and the Commendatore fight.  Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore and escapes.  Anna finds her fiance Don Ottavio (Mozart tenor) and laments the death of her father.

Scene 2

Donna Elvira (soprano) has followed Don Giovanni to yet another city.  He sees her and at first he does not recognize her.  Instinctively he begins to pay suit, but then sees who it is, that the unfaithful lover is himself.  After Giovanni flees, Leporello sings the Catalog Aria. with its long list of conquests.   "And in Spain there are 1003."

Hit Tune

Luca Pisaroni sings "Madamina."

 

Apparently they are all written down.

Scene 3 

This scene is in the country at the wedding of Zerlina (soubrette) and Masetto (baritone).  Undeterred by her imminent nuptials, Don Giovanni pays suit to Zerlina.

Scene 4

Hit Tune

Scene 5

Act II

 

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

 

Complete Film

Don Giovanni - Cesare Siepi, Leporello - Otto Edelmann, Donna Anna - Elisabeth Grümmer, Don Ottavio - Anton Dermota, Donna Elvira - Lisa della Casa, Zerlina - Erna Berger, Masetto - Walter Berry, Il commendatore - Dezső Ernster, Conductor - Wilhelm Furtwängler