| Don Giovanni | |
|---|---|
| Opera by W. A. Mozart | |
 Portrait of Francisco D'Andrade in the title role by Max Slevogt, 1912 | |
| Other title | Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni |
| Librettist | Lorenzo Da Ponte |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | The legend of Don Juan |
| Premiere | 29 October 1787 Estates Theatre, Prague |
Don Giovanni (Italian pronunciation: [ˌdɔn dʒoˈvanni]; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni) is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra. It is a dramma giocoso blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as opera buffa). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theatre (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787.[1] Don Giovanni is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time,[2] and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte".[3]
- ^ The theatre is referred to as the Teatro di Praga in the libretto for the 1787 premiere (Deutsch 1965, pp. 302–303); for the current name of the theatre see "The Estates Theatre" Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine at the Prague National Theatre website.
- ^ "The 20 Greatest Operas of All Time". Classical Music.
- ^ Maddocks, Fiona (19 August 2011). "Top 50 Operas". The Guardian.