W.A. Mozart
Don Giovanni K.527

Opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after “Don Giovanni Tenorio ossia Il convitato di pietra” by Giuseppe Gazzaniga and Giovanni Bertati

Don Giovanni, the tragic hero of this opera, is the epitome of an irresistible seducer, carelessly rushing from one conquest to the next, stopping at nothing. As quickly as he can become enthusiastic about a woman, he can just as quickly lose all interest in her. Was love ever a factor in his work? Who knows. But do the women who are fixated on him truly love him? Or is he not, rather, a mirror and projection surface for their own needs? They make it all too easy for the charismatic womanizer, but develop into true Erinyes when they realize that they cannot possess him forever.

Mozart's "Don Giovanni" is arguably the pinnacle of his musical-theatrical oeuvre, and Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto is one of the most accomplished in all of operatic literature. Classical formal flair, compositional mastery, and an expressive intensity that seems to anticipate the Romantic era are perfectly fused in this score.

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Photo @Dirk Rückschloß