Don Giovanni

DON GIOVANNI in Brief

Act I

The overture in D minor sets the first, portentous part of the mood for this dark comedy; the comic aspect is supplied by the wry opening aria of DON GIOVANNI’s long-suffering servant, LEPORELLO, who keeps watch for Giovanni. Giovanni, his face concealed, enters, detained by DONNA ANNA, whom he has just assaulted and who demands to know who he is. Anna’s father, the COMMENDATORE, enters; Giovanni kills him in the ensuing fight. Anna returns with DON OTTAVIO; after fainting over her father’s body, she demands Ottavio help her seek revenge.

DONNA ELVIRA, one of Giovanni’s former conquests, pursues him, sincerely; Leporello seeks to reveal his master’s true character to her via the vast catalogue of his “conquests” (640 in Italy, 230 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey, and 1003 in Spain).

Having escaped, Giovanni attempts to seduce the peasant ZERLINA at her own wedding party. Donna Elvira attempts to intervene. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio enter; only as Elvira impugns Giovanni’s character does Anna recognize Giovanni as the man who assaulted her and killed her father.

As part of his plan to seduce her, Giovanni has invited Zerlina and her fiancé MASETTO’s wedding party to his villa to celebrate. Donnas Anna and Elvira and Don Ottavio join the party, masked. During the busy ballroom finale Giovanni attempts to drag Zerlina away; when she screams, he unsuccessfully attempts to blame Leporello, offering to kill him on the spot.

Act II

Leporello claims to have had enough, but Giovanni blithely convinces him to stay (in cash). At Elvira’s, Leporello changes into Giovanni’s clothes to lure Elvira away while Giovanni seduces her maid. Masetto and his friends enter, seeking blood. Leporello sends the friends off to search; meanwhile he beats up Masetto. Zerlina comforts Masetto.

Leporello fears discovery and attempts to elude Elvira, who still thinks he’s Giovanni. Anna and Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto, descend upon Leporello; in terror, he reveals his identity, then escapes.

Giovanni and Leporello reunite in a graveyard. Giovanni’s glibness at Leporello’s consternation is interrupted by the voice of the Commendatore. They find his statue at his gravesite: the inscription reads, “On the ungodly villain who slew me, here I await vengeance.” Giovanni demands Leporello invite the Statue to dinner, or he’ll kill him and bury him on the spot.

Don Ottavio once again tries to convince Donna Anna to marry him right away; she resolves to continue to pursue justice for her father.

The final scene: Don Giovanni eats a sumptuous meal from which Leporello steals scraps. An onstage band accompanies the meal (with excerpts from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and other familiar tunes of the day). Elvira rushes in, still hoping to win Giovanni and demanding that he amend his life. When he refuses, she disowns him and leaves. She screams offstage, then rushes back through the room. Terrified, Leporello discovers that the invited Statue has arrived. Giovanni is nonplussed. Defiantly, he agrees to go with the statue. Upon feeling its cold hand, he tries to free himself, but can’t; he nonetheless refuses to repent. Flames engulf Giovanni as demon voices chide him.

Elvira, Anna, Zerlina, Masetto, and Ottavio enter, seeking Giovanni. Leporello tells them of the wondrous event, and the ensemble sings of moral resolution.