Don Giovanni forms the climax of Mozart's operatic work. The music depicts a libertine who offends the prevailing moral code but who is capable of deep passion. .
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 part of the harlequin taken from the old popular comedy.
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 .
Anna, the Commendatore's daughter, whom he has tried to seduce. When the Commendatore himself answers Anna's cries, he is killed in a duel by Giovanni, who escapes. Anna now returns with her fiancé, Don ottavio. Finding her father dead, she makes ottavio swear vengeance on the assassin.
At dawn, Giovanni flirts with a high-strung traveler outside a tavern. She turns out to be Donna Elvira, a women he once seduces in Burgos, who is on his trail.
The Classical Period began in 1750, the year of J.S. Bach's death and carried through to the 1820's. During this period people started undermining the social and religious traditions by putting more of their faith in the power of reason. Philosophers and writers of the time believed in ongoing progr...
"Don Giovanni." ... Mozart's "Don Giovanni" is seen as being a great music-drama, as it took place in and about Seville during the seventeenth century. ... First played in Prague on October 29, 1787, "Don Giovanni" includes many arias such as Vedrai, carino. ... She is singing to him in hopes to soothe his wounds as he was just beaten by Don Giovanni. ...
Later he"d also compose "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni". ... Marries Constanze Weber. 1786: "The Marriage of Figaro" premieres. 1787: The death of Leopold Mozart (Mozart's father), "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and "Don Giovanni" written. 1788: "Don Giovanni" premieres. 1790: "Cosi Fan Tutte" premieres. 1791: Writes "La Clemenza di Tito", "The Magic Flute" and "The Requiem". ...
Romantic Period A New Step in Music Since the beginning of organized music in the Middle Ages, like all the other fields of creativity and study, such as art, philosophy, and architecture, music has made leaps and bounds in the flow of progression. The Romantic period was a time...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born: Salzburg, January 27, 1756 Died: Baden, December 5, 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was often considered the "most complete genius of all composers." Mozart was a very gifted child. He started showing his intelligence at about the age...
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus who was born in Salzburg in 1756 was a composer in the classic period, which is considered one of the most brilliant composers that ever lived. He worked in all musical types of his era; in each type of work he was always inspired by something he ...
Born in Salzburg on January 27, 1756, Mozart began his interest in music at a very early age. He began composing at the young age of five years old, and at six, was playing before the Bavarian elector and the Austrian empress. His father, Leopold Mozart, believed that it would be profitable to ex...
The Classical Period The term classical music applies to music that is composed in a certain style between the years of 1740 and 1820. Music composed during this time contained a well-defined sense of proportion. Classical music was difficult for listeners to enjoy, but after time it dominated...
