Don Giovanni

"Madamina, il catalogo è questo delle belle che amò padron mio… In Italia seicento e quaranta; in Allemagna duecento e trentuna; cento in Francia; in Turchia novantuna; ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre!"

Translation:"My dear lady, this is a list of all the beautiful women my master has loved… In Italy, six hundred and forty; in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one; a hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one; but in Spain there are already a thousand and three!"

Plot Synopsis

Plot synopsis was provided courtesy of my friend Katronette!

Act 1

In 17th century Seville, Leporello, a cynical yet humorous servant, waits outside the palace of the Commendatore. He complains of his hard, unfulfilling and unappreciated work for his master, Don Giovanni, whom Leporello mildly mocks. Donna Anna, the Commendatore's daughter, appears, with a masked Don Giovanni in tow. She screams for help, but he, trying to rape her, demands her to be quiet and insists that she will never discover who he is.

The Commendatore answers Donna Anna's screams, and comes after Giovanni with drawn sword. Donna Anna flees, and the two men duel. Don Giovanni fatally stabs the Commendatore and leaves his body. After some brief and shaken conference, he and Leporello leave.

Donna Anna returns with her fiancé, Don Ottavio, and a handful of servants, and finds the Commendatore's dead body. Donna Anna faints and is revived, and, furious after waking, makes Ottavio swear vengeance to her anonymous attacker.

At dawn, Giovanni and Leporello overhear a woman talking to herself about her despicable and faithless lover. When Giovanni goes to take advantage of her, they recognize each other: the woman is Donna Elvira, a woman he once slept with in Burgos. Giovanni is, needless to say, her faithless lover.

The Don slips away while Leporello sings to Donna Elvira about his master's many lovers. The servant states that a list is kept of Giovanni's lovers (thus the famous "catalogue aria"), and Giovanni seduces women, be they old or young, rich or poor, married or unmarried, to add them to his list. An excerpt from his aria is quoted above. The total number of Don Giovanni's lovers, Donna Elvira one of them, is 2065. Shocked, the angered Donna Elvira vows revenge for her own heartbreak.

There is joyous singing and dancing as Zerlina and Masetto, a pair of peasant lovers, celebrate their wedding, looking very forward to their bridal chamber. Don Giovanni and Leporello stumble across their party. Don Giovanni sees only the pretty girl and pretends to make friends with the couple, inviting them to his villa for a party. He orders Masetto to go first to the villa, leaving Zerlina with Giovanni. Masetto and Giovanni argue, and the bridegroom guesses Giovanni's intentions. He curses Zerlina and leaves with Leporello. Zerlina is shaken, but the Don consoles her and, vowing to marry her, he begins to seduce her. Donna Elvira enters, catching Giovanni with Zerlina, and protectively takes the girl away.

Donna Anna and Don Ottavio enter, with Anna now in mourning for her murdered father and looking for the killer. As he did with Zerlina and Masetto, Don Giovanni acts as a shoulder to cry on for the pair. Before they can ask him to help them find the attacker, Elvira enters again and confronts her former lover a second time, cursing him. Giovanni tries to convince the couple that Elvira is mad, but they do not believe this. Donna Elvira and Don Giovanni leave separately. After hearing Giovanni's voice, Anna realizes that he was her attacker.

With some probing, Donna Anna relates the story: she was in her room when a cloaked man entered. Thinking it was Ottavio, she was not originally worried, but the man embraced her. After some struggle, she broke loose. Donna Anna never admits if Giovanni succeeded in his efforts to rape her or not. Ottavio shares her justified anger.

Don Giovanni and Leporello meet. Leporello relates how he hosted the party for the peasants and Masetto, and Donna Elvira and Zerlina arrived in the middle. Donna Elvira screamed insults about Giovanni during the party. Leporello quietly removed her and locked the door behind her. For some reason, this is all to Giovanni's liking. He tells Leporello the countrywomen are beautiful and that Leporello should serve everyone at the party wine. "Let the dancing be wild," he says, "To my list, tomorrow morning you shall have to add at least ten names!" They exit.

In Don Giovanni's garden, Masetto is seething at Zerlina, who seeks his forgiveness. He eventually scares the other passerby away by threatening his fiancée. Zerlina insists that she was tricked and says that if he wishes to beat her, she will not protest-- on the contrary, she will kiss his bloodied hands. Masetto is not convinced. Hearing the Don's voice, Masetto hides to observe Giovanni's advances on Zerlina. Giovanni calls to Zerlina and tries to pull her away, but she resists passively. Masetto comes out of hiding and the Don reconsiders, saying that Zerlina is lovesick for her husband. Masetto pretends to agree. They go into the dancing.

Donnas Elvira and Anna arrive, along with Ottavio. All three of them are masked, and they plan to expose Giovanni. Leporello invites them in.

The party is in full swing. Giovanni flirts with Zerlina, and Masetto watches, ready to attack the Don if he seduces the girl. Donna Anna is faint seeing Giovanni flirt with the girl, but Ottavio calms her.

Giovanni dances with Zerlina, guiding her toward the exit of the ballroom and offstage towards his bedroom. Leporello hears Zerlina despair and runs after the couple. Zerlina cries for help. Masetto, Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio go to help the girl, but she screams again, this time from a different place offstage. Don Giovanni enters clutching his sword, dragging Leporello with him. He accuses Leporello of seducing Zerlina. No one is convinced. Anna, Ottavio, and Elvira unmask. Thunder and lightning start as Elvira, Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina, and Masetto confront Giovanni, Ottavio with sword drawn. Giovanni flees.

Act II

Don Giovanni admits to Leporello that he is attracted to Donna Elvira's maid. So that he can get Elvira out of the way to get to the maid, he commands Leporello to exchange cloaks with him. Dressed as Giovanni, Leporello sings to Donna Elvira under her balcony and succeeds in tempting her downstairs to him, where he, as the Don, promises fidelity.

Giovanni jumps out and scares them away by pretending to be a thief. With the two gone, he serenades the maid (whom we never meet). Masetto arrives with a handful of armed friends, looking to kill Giovanni. As Leporello, Giovanni pretends to help by sending the peasants in a false direction, and then beats Masetto. Zerlina arrives and consoles her love.

Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto, who, believing Leporello to be Don Giovanni, find the pair. They threaten Leporello with death. Elvira begs for their mercy. They are not calmed and continue calling for his blood. The terrified servant unmasks, and Donna Elvira, angry she was tricked, join the other number. Leporello is tied to a chair, and Zerlina, with a razor in hand, drags him into a house and threatens to cut him up. She leaves for a moment. Leporello, unable to free himself from the ropes, jumps out the window, chair and all. (This scene is often cut when the opera is performed, so that Leporello runs after he is unmasked.)

In a cemetery, Leporello and Giovanni meet again. Leporello complains of his near death, while Giovanni gleefully admits that he has just seduced a woman. A girl met him in the street and, believing him to be Leporello, embraced him before she realized her mistake. Angry, Leporello asks, "What if that woman had been my wife?" After laughing, Giovanni replies exuberantly, "Even better!"

A ghostly voice threatens Giovanni. Believing it to be someone playing a joke, the master is not worried, but Leporello is fearful. He finds the statue of the Commendatore, and reads its inscription: "Here I await vengeance on my assassin." Unafraid, Giovanni sarcastically orders Leporello to invite the statue to dinner. Leporello shakily gives the statue an invitation, to which the Commendatore's statue nods. Giovanni is still skeptical, believing that Leporello's eyes failed him.

In Donna Anna's house, Don Ottavio tries to console his fiancée by asking if he may marry her the next day. Donna Anna cries that she is too sad to marry now.

Leporello serves dinner while Giovanni listens to an orchestra play several pieces of music for Don Giovanni's pleasure: an aria from Martin's "Una cosa rara", a selection from Paisello's "Fra I due litiganti il terzo gode", and Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro", to which Leporello groans, "Not Figaro again!" Leporello sneaks some of Giovanni's food, and Don Giovanni commands him to speak and whistle. Unable to with his mouth full, Leporello confesses.

Donna Elvira enters, begging once more for the Don's love. Giovanni mocks her, and she mournfully insults him. When she runs to the front door to leave, she screams, recoils, and leaves through another exit. Giovanni commands Leporello to find what she was frightened of, and Leporello checks, returns yelling and babbling, terrified. The Commendatore's statue enters just as Leporello hides under the table.

The statue says that since Giovanni has invited him to dinner, he's come. Flustered and confused, Giovanni orders more food brought in, but the statue refuses, saying that he doesn't need to eat and has come for more important reasons. The statue in turn invites Giovanni to dine with him, mentioning that he only eats heavenly food. Never a coward, Giovanni accepts.

The statue takes Giovanni's hand in his own and commands him to repent for his wicked ways. Giovanni, loyal to his lifestyle and hot blood, refuses. The Statue disappears, and flames surround Giovanni. A chorus of demons drag him down to hell. Giovanni screams one last time, and Leporello echoes the scream. The scene returns to normal.

The other characters appear, still demanding Giovanni's blood. Leporello relates the story haltingly. Elvira identifies the Commendatore's statue, and all is well. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio decide to get married in a year's time, Donna Elvira decides to go to a convent, Zerlina and Masetto will go home together, and Leporello will find a new master at the tavern. Together they sing: "This is the end which befalls evildoers, and in this life, scoundrels always receive their just deserts."

This is a very fun opera, so long as you don't mind the fact that it's a little sick. It's very dramatic--Mozart at his scariest, which is pretty scary, surprisingly enough. I enjoyed it a lot, especially the part when Giovanni gets dragged into hell. Hah, he deserves it.