DON JUAN or The Punished Passenger

Comic opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto - Lorenzo da Ponte

First performance: on 29 October 1787 in Prague.

First performance in Bulgaria: 12 April 1930, Sofia, conductor - Hermann Stange, director - Nikolay Vekov.

First performance in Ruse: 11 June 1963. Conductor - Romeo Raichev, director - Mikhail Hadjimishev, artist - Ani Hadjimisheva, choirmaster - Nikolai Nikolaev.

Main characters:

Don Giovanni, an extremely dissolute young aristocrat - baritone

Leporello, his servant - bass

Commander, a noble warlord - bass

Donna Anna, his daughter - soprano

Don Ottavio, her tenor fiancé

Donna Elvira, Lady of Burgos - soprano

Cerlina, the peasant soprano

Mazetto, Cerlina's fiancé - baritone

Peasants, servants.

The action takes place in Spain in the 17th century.

Synopsis:

First act

Night in Seville.

Leporello, Don Juan's servant, is again standing guard outside the Commander's home, where his master has secretly slipped in. Leporello describes his hard life full of trials with bitter discontent. A noise is heard from the house. A masked stranger has entered Donna Anna's house and is trying to seduce her. She puts up a desperate resistance. The Commander comes to his daughter's rescue and they enter into a duel with the stranger. After a brief duel, the Commander falls mortally pierced by Don Juan. Leporello and his master flee the scene. Donna Anna's cries are answered by her fiancé Don Ottavio, but it is too late - her father is dead. The two vow revenge on the murderer.

Morning, street in Seville.

Don Juan has quickly forgotten about his mishaps with the Commander and is ready to embark on adventures again. Leporello asks him to change his ways. Donna Elvira approaches them. The irrepressible seducer immediately begins to woo the unknown lady. However, when he discovers that she is his jilted lover, he hurries away and slips away unnoticed. Leporello tells the deceived woman of his master's countless adventures and advises her not to grieve for him. Outraged by her former lover's treachery, Donna Elvira vows revenge.

The edge of Seville.

On the way, a cheerful village wedding looms. The happy newlyweds are Cerlina and Mazetto. Don Juan is attracted by the bride's beauty and decides to have some fun by seducing her. He invites all the wedding guests to a feast at his palace and orders Leporello to lead them. They all leave, but Don Juan keeps Cerlina. Mazzetto is embarrassed to leave his young wife, but the exhortations of the nobleman and the urgings of Cerlina persuade him to go with the others. It is not difficult for Don Juan to captivate the naive Cerlina, but moments before he achieves his success, Donna Elvira appears. She attempts to rescue the innocent maiden from the treacherous seducer. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio appear. They ask their old friend to help them in their search for the Commander's murderer. But in her conversation with Don Giovanni, Donna Anna is horrified to recognize the voice of her father's long-sought killer.

Don Juan has not given up seducing Cerlina and orders Leporello to treat the guests generously, sparing no wine or delicacies. In the meantime, Cerlina appeases the jealous Mazzetto. Don Giovanni looms and Zerlina wants to avoid the encounter, but Mazzetto persuades her to stay and he hides. Don Juan begins to urgently woo the young woman, but suddenly the enraged Mazzetto appears. With his inherent eloquence, the nobleman manages to calm him down and invites them both to his castle. Three masked figures appear. These are Donna Elvira, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, who have come with the intention of avenging the murderer. Without recognizing them, Don Juan orders Leporello to invite them to the castle.

A hall in Don Juan's house.

Everyone is having fun, here are the three masked figures. Masetto is overwhelmed by heavy thoughts and is constantly watching his cheerful wife. In the midst of the dancing, Don Juan takes advantage of the commotion and drags Cerlina out of the hall. Soon her cries for help are heard and Mazzetto bravely rushes to her rescue. Don Juan gets out of the embarrassing situation by blaming his servant for the treacherous attack on Cerlina. Donna Anna, Don Ottavio and Donna Elvira remove their masks and denounce Don Giovanni. He and Leporello manage to escape.

Second act

Below Donna Elvira's balcony.

Leporello has decided to leave his master after the latest scandal. The purse of money that Don Juan tosses him dissuades him from his intention. Now Don Juan is here not for his former lover, but for her beautiful maid. But out on the balcony comes Donna Elvira. The cunning adventurer immediately comes up with a plan of action - he invites Elvira to come down to ask her forgiveness, and in the meantime he changes his clothes with those of Leporello. The faithful servant skillfully plays the role of his master and takes Donna Elvira for a walk, assuring her of his love. Left alone, Don Juan serenades the maid. Unexpectedly, a group of peasants, led by Mazzetto, approach. They are looking for Don Juan to avenge the insult inflicted on Cerlina. They do not recognize the adventurer, dressed in the clothes of a servant. When everyone descends to look for the supposed Don Juan, the real one detains Mazzetto, beats him up, and escapes. Cerlina comes running to comfort her abused husband.

Bleak garden.

Leporello is already bothered by Donna Elvira's presence and wonders how to get rid of her. Unexpectedly, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio appear, followed shortly by Cerlina and Mazetto. Everyone thinks Leporello is Don Juan and wants to punish him immediately. Donna Elvira begs them in vain for mercy. The offended are implacable. Worried by the circumstances, Leporello takes off his cloak and reveals himself. The servant begs for mercy, then, taking advantage of the others' hesitation, flees.

At midnight in the cemetery of Seville.

After their countless adventures, master and servant meet here. Don Juan cheerfully tells the anxious Leporello yet another racy story. Suddenly a terrible voice is heard warning Don Juan not to desecrate the peace of the dead. The two look around and find themselves standing next to the stone statue of the Commander. Don Juan mocks Leporello's fright and even invites the statue to dinner at his home. To Leporello's horror, the statue accepts the invitation.

A hall in Don Juan's castle.

Don Juan is sitting at the dinner table in his home. An orchestra plays pleasant music, and he eats and drinks carelessly in the company of young and pretty women. Donna Elvira arrives and begs him to change his life, but the charming lover and adventurer won't hear of it and even invites her to dinner. Outraged, Donna Elvira walks away. There is a rap on the door and to Leporello's horror, the stone statue of the Commander enters the room. Don Juan is also embarrassed, but quickly composes himself and orders Leporello to fetch another device for the guest. The statue refuses food and invites Don Juan to repent of his sins. Don Giovanni flatly refuses. The statue then extends his hand and Don Juan, without fear, extends his as well. The handshake is disastrous - gradually Don Juan loses his strength, taken to the afterlife by the statue of the Commander. Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Cerlina and Mazzetto, who have come to seek reckoning, rush into the hall. Leporello tells them the strange events that have taken place in this house.

Additional information

There are not a few who are completely convinced that Don Giovanni is the greatest opera not only of Mozart but of all time. At least three eminent artists have already spoken out in support of this thesis, and they are certainly entitled to have their opinion heard on this matter - Gioachino Rossini, Charles Gounod and Richard Wagner. And what did contemporaries, the other two Viennese classical composers, think of Don Giovanni? Haydn said to Mozart: "Even if you had written nothing but Don Giovanni, you would still be a great composer!" We may note with a smile that Beethoven, it is true, preferred "The Magic Flute," but that was only because he thought the plot of "Don Giovanni" immoral.

The splendid reception in Prague of The Marriage of Figaro had a positive effect on Mozart, who set about a new composition for the following season. The choice of the subject was given to him, and Lorenzo da Ponte was given the responsibility of composing the libretto.

The intentions of both the author of the libretto and the composer were certainly, at least at first sight, absolutely moral. This is suggested by the fact that the present title of the opera was not the main title, but only a subtitle. The opera was originally entitled Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni (The Punished Passenger, or Don Giovanni). It is evident that over time, the image of the Spanish seducer prevailed with its charm and the moral element in the title is remembered by almost no one today. It is also interesting to note that both Mozart and Da Ponte originally classified their work as a "dramma giocoso" (lit. - "merry play", i.e. a comic opera).

Two well-known anecdotes connected with the preparation of the opera vividly illustrate the fact that the work on it was carried out in a lively and cheerful mood, not with a pretentious philosophical attitude.

The first of these anecdotes is told in the engaging and very frank memoirs of the librettist Da Ponte. Recalling the few weeks it took him to create the libretto for Don Giovanni and, incidentally, two others simultaneously, he writes:

"As soon as I got home, I immediately got to work... Bottle of Tokay on the right, inkwell right in front of me, snuffbox with Seville tobacco on the left. A young beauty of sixteen (whom I'd like to love as a daughter, but ...) brought me cookies, then a cup of coffee, then just brought the glow of her face ... designed only to awaken poetic fervor and inspire witty ideas ... At first I let her visit me often, but then I had to cut those visits short so as not to waste too much time in caresses, of which she was a skilled master ..."

Another anecdote concerns the antics of the composer himself during one of the opera's rehearsals. Mozart was not pleased with the way the performer of the part of Zerlina reacted to the proposal that Don Giovanni made to seduce her. He approached the singer and said something to her himself, while patting her... In response, he received a kick from her. To this he replied with satisfaction that such a reaction was much more natural and so he already liked her game.

After the huge success of The Marriage of Figaro in Prague, Mozart received a commission from the Prague Theatre for a new opera. The composer's choice fell on the subject of Don Giovanni. He began composing the music in May 1787, and it premiered in Prague on 29 October that year. For the Viennese production (7 May 1788) some changes were made in the music of the opera by the composer. The libretto, written by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838) in Italian, is rendered in a comic manner. Mozart's music, however, takes the opera beyond comedy. The composer created a remarkably profound work full of great passion and sharp character clashes.

Mozart's Don Giovanni is a complex, multifaceted image. By condemning his hero to death, the composer simultaneously poeticizes and ennobles his image: Mozart's Don Giovanni is brave, charming, full of boundless vitality. The other characters in the opera - Don Giovanni's inseparable companion Leporello, who both admires and reprimands his master, the proud Donna Anna, the passionate Donna Elvira, the coquettish Zerlina, Ottavio, Mazzetto - occupy a subordinate position. Their actions, thoughts and feelings are linked to Don Juan's actions.