When and where did Don Giovanni by Mozart premiere?
Don Giovanni premiered on the 29th of October 1787 at the National Theatre of Bohemia in Prague, now called the Estates Theatre. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart conducted the performance himself.
Questions about Don Giovanni
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who wrote the libretto for Don Giovanni?
Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote the Italian libretto for Don Giovanni. He based it on Giovanni Bertati's libretto for the opera Don Giovanni Tenorio, which had premiered in Venice earlier in 1787.
What is the historical legend behind Don Giovanni?
Don Giovanni is based on a centuries-old Spanish legend about the libertine Don Juan, as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra. The story centers on a nobleman who murders a father figure and later defiantly faces supernatural punishment.
What changes did Mozart make to Don Giovanni for the Vienna premiere?
For the Vienna premiere on the 7th of May 1788, Mozart composed two new arias and a new comic duet. These included Don Ottavio's aria 'Dalla sua pace' (K. 540a) for tenor Francesco Morella, Elvira's aria 'Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata' (K. 540c) for soprano Caterina Cavalieri, and the duet 'Per queste tue manine' (K. 540b). He also cut a section of the finale where the surviving characters announce their future plans.
How many women does Leporello's Catalogue Aria claim Don Giovanni has seduced?
In the Catalogue Aria, Leporello lists 640 conquests in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey, and 1,003 in Spain. The aria also gave the word 'Leporello' to several Germanic languages as a term for folded pamphlets and continuous stationery.
What famous writers and philosophers have written about Don Giovanni?
Søren Kierkegaard called it the greatest of all classic works in his book Enten - Eller. Charles Gounod described it as 'a work without blemish, of uninterrupted perfection.' Gustave Flaubert ranked it alongside Hamlet and the sea as 'the three finest things God ever made.' George Bernard Shaw parodied it in Man and Superman, and E. T. A. Hoffmann derived a short story from it.