Don Giovanni facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Don Giovanni |
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| by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
Mozart, 1789
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| Genre | Opera in 2 acts |
| Librettist | Lorenzo da Ponte |
| Language | Italian |
| Premiere | National Theatre Prague, Bohemia 29 October 1787 |
| Other |
Operas by Mozart
Idomeneo (1781)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) The Marriage of Figaro (1786) Don Giovanni (1787) Così fan tutte (1790) The Magic Flute (1791) |
Don Giovanni is a famous Italian opera with two main parts, called acts. It tells the story of a character known as Don Juan. The amazing music was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The words, or libretto, were written by Lorenzo da Ponte.
This opera was first shown in Prague on October 29, 1787. It was a huge success right away! Don Giovanni is about a main character who does bad things and refuses to change. Because of his actions, he faces serious consequences. The story of Don Juan was an old folktale even before Mozart wrote his opera. Many plays, operas, and ballets had already been made about this character.
After its big success in Prague, Don Giovanni was performed all over Europe. It even came to the United States in 1826. Lorenzo da Ponte himself helped put on the show there. In 1979, a movie was made based on the opera by Joseph Losey. In 2013, Don Giovanni was one of the top ten most-performed operas in the world.
Contents
Main Characters
Here are the main characters in Don Giovanni and the types of voices they sing with:
- Don Giovanni - baritone (a medium-low male voice)
- Donna Anna - soprano (a high female voice)
- Donna Elvira - soprano
- Zerlina - soprano
- Don Ottavio - tenor (a high male voice)
- Leporello - bass (a low male voice)
- Masetto - bass
- Commendatore - bass
The Story Behind the Opera
Don Giovanni is based on a very old character from European folklore called Don Juan. The first play about Don Juan was written in Spanish in 1581. Many other plays followed.
Traveling actors performed these Don Juan plays in France and Italy. This made the Don Juan character very well known. There were plays in French, German, and Italian. Famous writers like Molière wrote their own versions. Mozart and da Ponte probably knew about these older plays when they created their opera.
The first opera about Don Juan was a funny French one from 1713. Later, a famous composer named Gluck created a ballet about him in 1761. Other operas about Don Juan were also written before Mozart's. One popular opera by Giovanni Bertati and Giuseppe Gazzaniga was performed in Venice in 1787. Da Ponte knew this opera and used some ideas from its story when he wrote Don Giovanni.
Mozart and da Ponte's Partnership
Mozart and da Ponte first met in Vienna in 1783. Da Ponte promised to write a story for an opera for Mozart. Three years later, he changed a French play called The Marriage of Figaro into an opera story for Mozart. Mozart finished the music in just three months. The Marriage of Figaro was first performed in Vienna on May 1, 1786, and it was a big hit!
In January 1787, Mozart went to Prague for the first performance of Figaro there. The opera was incredibly popular in Prague. Because of this success, the manager of the opera house asked Mozart to write a new opera just for Prague. Back in Vienna, Mozart asked da Ponte for a new story. Da Ponte gave him the story for Don Giovanni. Mozart then started writing the music for this new opera.
Mozart wrote most of Don Giovanni during the summer of 1787 in Vienna. In early October, he traveled to Prague. He finished the opera there at Villa Bertramka, which was the home of some friends. The first performance of the opera was delayed a little. Finally, Don Giovanni had its world premiere at the National Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787. It was a huge success!
One person who saw it wrote: "Music lovers and musicians say that nothing to equal it has ever been seen before in Prague... Mozart himself conducted and he was given three cheers... The opera is unusually difficult to perform... The large audience shows how much everyone loved it."
There are many fun stories about how Don Giovanni was created. One story says that Luigi Bassi, the young singer playing Don Giovanni, wanted more music to sing. He supposedly made Mozart rewrite a song for two voices five times! Another story says Mozart's wife, Constanze, kept him awake with funny stories the night before the first performance. This helped him finish the overture (the music played at the very beginning) for the opera.
Performances in Vienna
Mozart left Prague and went back to Vienna in November 1787. People in Vienna had heard good things about Don Giovanni. The Emperor of Austria then ordered the opera to be performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Mozart wrote some new music for the characters Elvira and Ottavio. He also wrote a new song for Zerlina and Leporello. Don Giovanni was first performed in Vienna on May 7, 1788. Mozart's sister-in-law, Aloysia Lange, sang the role of Donna Anna.
It is said that the Vienna performance ended with Don Giovanni going to a bad place. The final scene, which included Anna, Elvira, Zerlina, Ottavio, Masetto, and Leporello, was probably cut. Mozart might have had to cut this last scene to keep the show from being too long. The opera was not as successful in Vienna as it was in Prague. It was only performed fifteen times at the Burgtheater.
Other Performances Around the World
Don Giovanni was performed all over Germany. It was also performed in Poland in 1789. It was even performed in German in places like Amsterdam and St Petersburg. The opera was very popular in France, in both Italian and French versions. The first time Don Giovanni was performed in Italy was in Bergamo in 1811. It was also performed in Rome that same year.
Its first performance in England might have been by amateur groups. But in 1817, it was presented professionally in both English and Italian. Lorenzo da Ponte, who wrote the story, produced the first American performance of Don Giovanni in New York City in 1826.
Joseph Losey's Movie
In 1979, Joseph Losey made a movie version of the opera. Ruggero Raimondi played Don Giovanni. Edda Moser, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Teresa Berganza played the three female lead roles. The movie was filmed in Venice, Italy, instead of Spain, where the story is set. It used a beautiful old building called Villa Capra, designed by the famous Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, as its main setting.
A critic named Vincent Canby wrote in New York Times in 1979: "...the movie is a busy, confusing show, but it is sung wonderfully..."
Images for kids
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The Estates Theatre in Prague, where Don Giovanni was first performed in 1787. It was then called the Comital Nostitz National Theatre.
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A poster for the 1788 Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni.
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Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival in 2014.
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Luigi Bassi in the main role of Don Giovanni in 1787.
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Don Juan and the Commander, a painting by Francisco Goya.
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A drawing for the cover of an opera story book (19th century).
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See also
In Spanish: Don Giovanni para niños
