Mozart: Don Giovanni Overture

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


Born: 1756 in Salzburg
Died: 1791 in Vienna
Era: Classical


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Two blasting chords announce the beginning Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. The effect is brutal. So, too, is the dramatic silence between them. What better way to begin a dark story of a nobleman who seduces the innocent and murders without regret?

The words for Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni were written by an Italian poet with whom he worked very well, Lorenzo da Ponte. Da Ponte had already written the texts for two of Mozart’s operas: The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte. These operas followed the popular form for sung comedies known as opera buffa.

Don_Giovanni-german_advertBut the story of Don Giovanni was too stark to be a comic opera. Based on the Don Juan legend, it was entitled Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni (The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni). It tells the story of a dissolute man (“rake”) refusing redemption. So, at its premiere (Prague, 1787), it was billed as a dramma giocoso, or “jolly drama.”

An overture is an instrumental piece that opens an opera, ballet, or drama. The term comes from the French verb ouvert = to open. The overture to Don Giovanni followed a typical pattern for the late 18th century. The two thunderous opening chords in D minor started the slow section that people expected to hear in a serious work. But this one was full of surprises!

The music creeps along, broodingly, interrupted by little thrusts of harmonies. The melody is in fragments. Little patterns rise up and down, building energy, only to drop back in intensity.

Suddenly, as if sneaking through a window, the music shifts into an energetic mood (1:51) with a cheerful theme in D major. This new section is known as the “Exposition” and is marked Allegro (happy, lively).

From this point on, the overture is similar to hundreds of overtures in Mozart’s day. There’s a contrasting middle section called “the Development” (3:01) where themes are reworked and varied. Then, Mozart builds a sense of suspense that leads into the final section called “the Recapitulation” (4:18) where the themes of the Exposition return. Most importantly, the overture leaves the audience ready for the curtain to rise. Perhaps they’ve already forgotten those dark opening chords?

But not for long. We quickly meet the cad Giovanni and his cowered servant Leporello. Giovanni sets off to seduce a noble lady. Before the act has ended Giovanni has murdered the lady’s father. Nothing to laugh at here.

don-giovanni-zerlina
Don Giovanni and Zerlina

There are some lovely moments along the way. But much of the opera is dark. The most surprising scene occurs when a stone statue, placed over the tomb of the slain father by a jeering Giovanni, comes to life. This statue is one of the most famous characters in all of Western drama. He mocks the Don, and with a twinkle, invites himself to Giovanni’s house for supper!

Defiantly, Giovanni accepts this macabre proposal. The statue appears later that night, and Giovanni is confronted with the choice to repent or die. He refuses redemption and is dragged off into the flames.

Mozart knew the opera couldn’t end here, not with the theatrical conventions of the day. Operas needed to end happily. Even the most formal style of opera based on Classical mythology (opera seria) had a happy ending, no matter how tragic the plot. In typical comic operas, the plot would get funnier and sillier, until the characters figured out what was going on, and there would be a general celebration.

But not here. So da Ponte and Mozart chose a fresh path and brought the remaining characters back on stage to sing about the wages of sin and the joy of having a second chance. The opera ends on a shaky upbeat feeling.

In retrospect, we see how those thunderous chords of the overture foretell the whole drama. We hear those chords again in the spooky scene where the Statue enters Giovanni’s house, bellowing his name and calling him to account. The rising themes from the overture’s slow introduction return too, tightening like coils of steel as Giovanni refuses to repent and is doomed.

Today Don Giovanni is regarded as a key work in the development of 19th-century German Romanticism. It is admired for its beautiful melodies, its engaging characters, and its dynamic ensembles. All in all, it is a perfectly crafted journey into darkness that is quite capable of gripping a modern audience.


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