WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–91)
Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni (The Libertine Punished, or Don Giovanni), K. 527
Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, mandolin and strings. In addition, the score calls for onstage ensembles comprising various combinations of two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, three trombones and strings.
After living in the European musical capital—Vienna—for six years, Mozart still craved success in Italian opera theater. Sixteen dramatic scores composed since the age of 11 had honed his musico-dramatic craft to near perfection. Viennese audiences, though, had experienced only a small measure of his theatrical talent in two German-language comic singspiels: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio, premiered on July 16, 1782, at the Burgtheater) and Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario, premiered on February 7, 1786, in the Orangery at Schönbrunn Palace).
Attempts to procure an Italian opera commission from the emperor had so far failed, and a long queue of more established, predominantly Italian-born composers refused to step aside for the celebrated young Austrian. Mozart’s official court appointment as Kammermusicus on December 7, 1787, did not include opera composition for the court theater. Over time it became apparent that Mozart’s entry into the exclusive Italian operatic society required a collaborator capable of surmounting the political and bureaucratic obstacles set in his path, an individual practiced in rhetoric and diplomacy, and a wordsmith capable of tooling libretti characterized by Classical grace and contemporary relevance.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, the Italian poet who had never written an opera libretto before accepting a position at the imperial court theater in 1783 (“Good. Good! We shall have a virgin muse,” Emperor Joseph II allegedly joked), became that sought-after ally. His imperial influence and skillful editing opened doors for the first Mozart/Da Ponte opera—Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro, 1786)—based on a controversial, banned play by Beaumarchais. One year later their second operatic collaboration couched the Don Juan legend within a semi-comic setting. Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni (The Libertine Punished, or Don Giovanni, 1787) arose from a commission for the National Theater in Prague, where Figaro had triumphed spectacularly. The successful Viennese revival of Figaro in the fall of 1789 prompted the very rapid composition of their final collaboration, Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (Thus Do They All, or The School of Lovers, 1790). These three Italian works, created within a four-year period, account for one of the most celebrated composer/librettist collaborations in the history of opera.
Consciously or not, this operatic trilogy tackled three major social issues of the Enlightenment: classism and individual determination, sexual freedom and human relations, and gender stereotypes and chauvinism. Le nozze di Figaro engages characters from lower and higher social strata in a clever battle of wits, with the servants outwitting their masters. Uncontrolled and unrepentant sexuality wreaks havoc in Don Giovanni, until degeneracy earns eternal damnation and righteousness prevails. Two misguided men, operating incognito, test the presumed fickleness of their fiancées—all women, in fact—by luring them into illicit romances in Così fan tutte. These topics merited serious treatment, yet Da Ponte and Mozart addressed each one with comic wit.
Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte descended from the standard Italian comic opera tradition, and are appropriately called “opere buffe.” The comic element is handled quite differently in Don Giovanni, which Da Ponte designated a “dramma giocoso.” Far from being a term of his own invention, dramma giocoso represented a special subclassification of opera that mixed comic and serious styles. Carlo Goldoni, another Italian playwright, had developed the dramma giocoso around the middle of the century for Venetian opera houses, a repertoire Da Ponte would have known and likely would have transported with him to Vienna. Characters in Don Giovanni reflect this multifaceted dramatic genre. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio represent the stereotypical opera seria soprano and tenor couple. Zerlina and Masetto are similarly typecast opera buffo peasant lovers. Don Giovanni and Leporello occupy a complex middle-ground, as each possesses moral and wicked intentions to varying degrees.
In writing his Don Giovanni libretto, Da Ponte built upon a centuries-old Don Juan theatrical tradition culminating in Carlo Goldoni’s recent play Don Giovanni Tenorio ossia Il dissoluto (Don Giovanni Tenorista, or The Libertine, 1736). Precursors included Juan de la Cueva’s El imfamador (The Slanderer, 1581), Tirso de Molina’s El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedro (The Libertine from Seville and the Stone Guest, c. 1630), Molière’s Don Juan ou Le festin de pierre (Don Juan, or the Stone Banquet, 1665) and Thomas Shadwell’s The Libertine Destroyed (1676). Earlier operatic settings included Vincenzo Righini’s Il convitato di pietra ossia Il dissoluto punito (The Stone Guest, or The Libertine Punished, 1776) and Giuseppe Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni Tenorio ossia Il convitato di pietra (Don Giovanni, or The Stone Guest, 1787).
Da Ponte also drew character material from his conversations with the notorious Giacomo Casanova, whom he had known in Venice and who now lived outside Prague, host of the Don Giovanni premiere. The librettist himself possessed a well-known reputation for loose morals. Born in a Jewish ghetto in the Republic of Venice, Da Ponte converted to Catholicism and eventually became a priest. His weakness for married women led to several affairs, one producing three illegitimate children, and a 15-year exile from Venice. Womanizing continued in Vienna, even after a jealous dentist used nitric acid to dissolve his teeth. Leopold II, the new emperor, quickly tired of Da Ponte’s personality flaws—his informal manner of addressing the emperor and, particularly, his frank letters to the new ruler—and dismissed the court poet in 1791.
The Mozart/Da Ponte operas may have pleased Viennese audiences, but they entirely captivated opera-goers in Prague. In 1787 Mozart and his wife Constanze traveled to Prague for the local premiere of Le nozze di Figaro. The opera’s astonishing popularity overwhelmed the composer. “For here nothing is talked about except Figaro,” Mozart wrote to Baron Gottfried von Jacquin on January 15, 1787. “Nothing is played, blown, sung and whistled except Figaro; no opera draws the crowds like Figaro—it’s always Figaro.” Soon after, impresario Pasquali Bondini, who leased the National Theater for his Italian opera troupe, commissioned Mozart to compose a new opera for the following October. Already engaged in writing two librettos, Da Ponte recommended the familiar Don Juan story. Mozart completed most of the opera during the summer months.
Again traveling with his wife, Mozart arrived in Prague on October 4—10 days before the scheduled premiere—with an incomplete score in hand. Da Ponte reached the Bohemian capital three days later to oversee the staging. The National Theater was not ready in time for the announced opening date, and performances were postponed twice; as Mozart described to Jacquin, “It was fixed [again] for the 24th, but a further postponement has been caused by the illness of one of the singers. As the company is so small, the impresario is in a perpetual state of anxiety and has to spare his people as much as possible, lest some unexpected indisposition should plunge him into the most awkward of all situations, that of not being able to produce any show whatsoever! So everything dawdles along here because the singers, who are lazy, refuse to rehearse on opera days and the manager, who is anxious and timid, will not force them.”
Don Giovanni eventually reached the stage of Prague’s National Theater on October 29. Anxious audience members began arriving an hour before curtain. Still, demand for tickets was so high that many were turned away. The audience greeted Mozart with three cheers as he entered the orchestra pit to conduct. Again, after the much-delayed and taxing performance concluded, there was enthusiastic applause. “Long live Da Ponte! Long live Mozart!” exclaimed Domenic Guardasoni, the impresario who succeeded Bondini at the National Theater. “All impresarios, all virtuosi should bless their names. So long as they live, we shall never know what theatrical poverty means!”
SYNOPSIS
Overture. According to various accounts, Mozart composed the overture one or two days before the first performance, which delighted the Prague audience. Listeners immediately confront a major/minor-key conflict that tonally underscores the approaching contest between good and evil.
Act One. Seated in a darkened courtyard, Leporello enumerates his master’s numerous conquests—2,065 total—while waiting for Don Giovanni to emerge from the palace after his most recent encounter (“Notte e giorno faticar”). Don Giovanni struggles down the stairs, trying to hide his face behind a cloak and fighting off the frantic young Donna Anna. Unexpectedly, the Commendatore appears with torch and sword in hand to defend his daughter’s honor. Don Giovanni first refuses to fight. When the two finally engage, the end comes swiftly and decisively as the libertine slays the Commendatore. Soon after Don Giovanni and Leporello leave the scene, Donna Anna and her betrothed, Don Ottavio, discover the lifeless body and swear revenge (“Fuggi, crudele, fuggi!”).
Traveling the road to Seville, Leporello decries Don Giovanni’s shameful ways. His words have little effect, as Giovanni describes his latest victim so Leporello can add her name to his list of conquests. Donna Elvira enters, bemoaning her abandonment by a rogue (“Ah, chi mi dice mai”). Don Giovanni consoles Donna Elvira—neither recognizing the other at first. Leporello comments sarcastically on his master’s special type of comfort. When the Don kisses Donna Elvira’s hand, she realizes he is the offender. Don Giovanni flees, leaving Leporello to outline a long history of seductions (“Madamina, il catalogo è questa”). Having done nothing to cheer up Donna Elvira, Leporello departs.
The scene shifts to the countryside, where a peasant wedding is under way. Beautiful village girls pique the interest of both Don Giovanni and Leporello. Don Giovanni sets his sights on Zerlina, the bride-to-be, and convinces Leporello to occupy her intended, Masetto, while he charms the maiden (“La cì darem la mano”). An enraged Donna Elvira arrives, warns Zerlina about Giovanni, and whisks the peasant girl away to safety (“Ah, fuggi il traditor!”). The situation grows even more complicated for Don Giovanni when Donna Anna, dressed in black mourning garb, and Don Ottavio seek his help in tracking down the villain who killed her father. Giovanni explains away Donna Elvira’s ramblings as madness. However, Donna Anna soon recognizes his voice as that of her recent attacker and her father’s killer (“Or sai chi l’onore”). Don Ottavio confesses his love and his desire to make Donna Anna happy (“Dalla sua pace”). Don Giovanni and Leporello retreat to the seclusion of his castle and prepare a party for the villagers (“Fin ch’han dal vino caldo la testa”).
In the garden outside Don Giovanni’s castle, Masetto accuses Zerlina of unfaithfulness. She protests her innocence and, out of desperation, invites Masetto to beat her, if he must, to restore peace between them (“Batti, batti, o bel Masetto”). Don Giovanni arrives, and the suspicious Masetto hides in the bushes to watch how Zerlina handles the lecherous nobleman. Donna Anna, Don Ottavia and Donna Elvira enter the garden—wearing masks for the ball—to play dominoes. As the music begins Leporello summons the gathered party-goers into the ballroom.
The brightly lit ballroom resounds with the mild cacophony of three orchestras playing different styles of music simultaneously. Don Giovanni continues his pursuit of Zerlina, to Masetto’s obvious consternation. Leporello dances with Masetto as Giovanni attempts to ravage Zerlina in a side room. The peasant maiden lets out a scream, sending the party into turmoil. Giovanni blames Leporello for the transgression, but Donna Anna, Don Ottavio and Donna Elvira see through his lie. With gun in hand, Ottavio confronts Giovanni, who draws his sword and escapes by hiding behind Leporello.
Act Two. Not long after, Leporello and Don Giovanni stagger into a wooded square outside Donna Elvira’s abode. Leporello again expresses his desire to leave Giovanni’s service, an issue soon silenced by a bag of coins and a failed attempt to reform his master’s lecherous ways. Enraged, Don Giovanni spouts that remaining faithful to one woman would make so many others unhappy. He convinces Leporello to exchange cloaks and stand in the open square while Don Giovanni sings a serenade to Donna Elvira. The music soothes, and Donna Elvira descends from her room when the suitor threatens suicide. Making like a robber, Giovanni frightens the cloaked Leporello and Donna Elvira away. Giovanni picks up the mandolin and serenades Elvira’s maid (“Deh, vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro”). Masetto leads an angry crowd in search of Don Giovanni, whom they mistake for Leporello. The disguised Don directs the men on a wild goose chase, seizes the gun from Masetto and mercilessly beats the peasant. After Giovanni flees, Zerlina discovers her injured fiancé and nurses him back to health (“Vedrai, carino”).
Later that evening, Leporello maintains his deception of Donna Elvira, though he desperately seeks a way of losing her. Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto confront the cloaked figure, thinking him to be Don Giovanni. General confusion ensues as the characters unravel the truth of this entangled situation. All agree that Leporello deserves some punishment, though he claims innocence and pleads for mercy (“Ah, pietà, signori miei!”). Don Ottavio is now convinced of Don Giovanni’s guilt and, before leaving to seek revenge, asks the others to comfort Donna Anna (“Il mio tesoro intanto”).
Zerlina and Leporello rush into a closed room. She threatens him with a razor and, with the help of a peasant, ties him to a chair. Leporello begs leniency, but Zerlina proclaims that this is the only proper way to handle a man (“Per queste tue manine”). Zerlina leaves. Leporello requests a drink of water from the peasant then escapes through the open window. Zerlina, Masetto and a group of peasants again chase Don Giovanni, certain that he assisted Leporello’s escape. Donna Elvira remains behind to contemplate her mixed feelings toward Giovanni (“In quali eccessi, o Numi … Mi tradì, quell’almo ingrata”).
In the darkness of night, Leporello and Don Giovanni leap over a churchyard wall into the graveyard dominated by a statue of the deceased Commendatore. Giovanni asks how Leporello faired with Donna Elvira and proceeds to recount his latest tryst with a young woman who mistook the Don for his servant. A ghostly voice soon squelches the laughter, ordering Don Giovanni to leave the dead in peace. The two startled fugitives eventually realize that the voice emanates from the Commendatore statue. Leporello reads the inscription on the sculpture: “Here I await vengeance on the wicked man who brought me to my death.” Don Giovanni invites the statue to join him for dinner. The magnificent, eerie figure nods his head in agreement. Don Giovanni and Leporello leave to prepare the palace.
Don Ottavio comforts Donna Anna over the loss of her father and offers his love to fill the void in her heart. Donna Anna rejects her lover’s inappropriate gesture. Don Ottavio calls her cruel, but she is able to confront only one emotion at a time (“Crudele? Ah no, giammai mio ben! … Non mi dir, bell’ idol mio”).
Dinner time has arrived. The banquet hall has been prepared and a table is set with food and wine. Don Giovanni decides to enjoy the festivities. While waiting for the stone guest to arrive, he orders the musicians to play. Leporello can no longer resist the food. As he steals a large mouthful, the band stikes up “Non più andrai” from Le nozze di Figaro. Donna Elvira enters the room and begs Don Giovanni to repent. Giovanni invites Elvira to the table to dine with him and drinks a toast to wine and women. A discouraged Donna Elvira runs toward the door and shrieks when she sees the Commendatore’s stone statue approaching the palace. Don Giovanni is incredulous. He hears a knock and commands the frightened Leporello to open the door. The Commendatore enters, announcing that he has come to accept Don Giovanni’s invitation. After a moment of surprise, Giovanni prepares to host the statue. The Commendatore refuses mortal food but invites Don Giovanni to dine with him. As Giovanni places his hand in the ice-cold statue’s hand, the Commendatore orders Don Giovanni to repent. Time and again the impenitent Don refuses until the statue drags him through smoke and flames into hell. Giovanni screams as demons usher him into the abyss.
In a moralizing epilogue, Leporello, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina and Masetto move on with their lives. Donna Anna agrees to marry Don Ottavio after one year of mourning. Donna Elvira decides to enter a convent. Zerlina and Masetto return to their village together. Leporello announces he will go to the inn to find another master. All six realize that sinners cannot escape punishment for their transgressions.
—Program notes © Todd E. Sullivan 2014
