Don Giovanni was written for the Prague opera, after Figaro. The 31 years old Mozart conducted the premiere himself. Lorenzo da Ponte had written the libretto for him and had taken the plot from an opera performed in Venice in January 1787. The central figure is the fascinating but unscrupulous seducer from Sevilla. The people around him become his victims: Donna Anna, the Commendatore’s daughter, whom he had tried to seduce and whose father he kills in a duel. Donna Elvira whom he has betrayed and who wavers between love and hatred. Zerline, young peasant girl who almost succumbs to his charm. Don Giovanni represents a force of nature without conscience and sense of responsibility. His sole aim in life is to win the female he has just fallen in love with. Don Giovanni’s opponent is the Commendatore, the representative of morality and justice. The falmes of hell devour Don Giovanni when he invites the stone memorial of the very man he has murdered to his feast and rejects the call for repentance and atonement with a threefold NO. His servant Leporello plays the par

After the transition from D minor to D major, we hear the main theme of this overture, bars 31-35. In this theme Mozart briefly characterizes his hero: driving passion (bars1-4), frivolity (5-6), gallant appearances (Bars 7-8) are reflected. A kind of codetta leads to A major, the dominant key.

On October 1st, When Mozart came to Prague for the second time, the main part of the score was finished. The first night was planned for October 14th, 1787, as a homage to the newly wed couple Archduchess Maria Theresia and Prince anton Clemens of Saxony who were to visit Prague on that day. This date, however, could not be kept because of difficulties during the rehearsals.

Act 1 of the play begins in the 1600’s in Seville. At night, outside the Commendatore’s palace, Leporello grumbles about his duties as servant to Don Giovanni, a dissolute nobleman. Soon the masked Don appears, pursued by donna

The overture for the opera Don Giovanni was written down during the night before the premiere. It consists of 2 parts: a slow introduction, followed by a fast part in sonata form. What is first presented is the series of 4 Commendatore motifs, which form the musical substance of the scene with the Commendatore at the end of the opera in the dinning room of Don Giovanni’s castle. The first 4 bars consist of a powerful syncopated motif, the melodic focus is formed from a descending fourth.

After a general pause the development uses mainly the theme of the closing group. Determination and the power of fate are reflected in the unisono motif, the playful element is expressed by the following eighth note passage. The main theme recurs twice in short form in bars 141-156.

Dressing for the wedding feast he has planned for the peasants, Giovanni exuberantly downs champagne.

Some topics in this essay:
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