Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed the two-act opera ‘Don Giovanni’ in 1787. The opera has since been praised by different scholars and critiques as one of the classic works that belong to the very best category of plays to ever be composed. However, the opera is open to various interpretations, while some argue it serves as an excellent example of aesthetic perfection; others, most contemporary scholars, think it lacks depth beyond the dark humor it presents. I personally think that ‘Don Giovanni’ exercises an influence of revelation on a person’s life from its various incarnation of dramatic and musical infallibility. Its composition, both musical and dramatical elements, portrays uninterrupted perfection, although they leave some themes for the audience to interpret.
The opera is ‘drama giocoso’ because of the distinct elements of comedy and drama present, and not just ‘opera buffa’, as initially stated by Mozart. The main character of the opera, Don Giovanni, is portrayed as a salacious Spanish nobleman reputable for unprincipled and promiscuous and a tendency to abuse women. The opera exploits the relationship of Don Giovanni with other characters - Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, and Zerlina. It also chronicles his deceitful nature, attempted murder, rape, and eventually his downfall. It is a retelling of Don Giovanni’s dubious adventures across Spain to seduce different women. He uses wealth and position of power to protect himself from being persecuted for his actions. Although he succeeds for a while, he goes too far to the extent of committing a murder, which eventually causes his downfall. In the opening scene, Don Giovanni kills Don Pedro, Donna Anna's father, and the Commendatore. This action comes to haunt him in the closing scenes of the opera when the Commendatore’s marble statue comes to life to punish him.
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The opera is a dark comedy since it covers tragic themes such as crime and murder but in a surprisingly funny way. The dark comedy has been used in movies like ‘Fargo’ or ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’. Most operas during the time were either pure comic or tragic. However, ‘Don Giovanni’ seems unusual because it presents a tragical theme in a comical way. The opera buffa was popular during the Enlightenment. Audiences, mostly representatives of the middle class, loved such plays since they are entertaining, full of humor, and often poked fun at the aristocracy.
As was common during the era, ‘Don Giovanni’ is introduced with an instrumental overture, which takes. Mozart uses the overture sounds consisting of horns, bassoons, wind octet of oboes, and clarinets, to display the contrasting moods of comedy and drama of the opera. He distinctively uses a slow dramatic introduction to preface the elucidation of the orchestra. The unpropitious, foreboding opening harmonies of the presentation set up for the show's dark, unfortunate, sensational components, which are a stack contrast of the accompanying vigorous ‘giocoso allegro’ that some audience believe is intended to depict the character of Don Giovanni. The differentiation between the opening premonition sounds and the accompanying energetic allegro underline the characteristics of the dramatization giocoso and the antagonism between drama and satire.
The composer’s focus on Don Giovanni and attempt to give the audience a glimpse into his mind, however, is fraught with questions. The musical scene, according to me, does not give the audience a clue of what the actor is thinking. Despite being the main character in the opera and his personality tremendously dominating the act, Mozart does not give him a formal aria. None of the three short solo pieces he performs reveals much about his character. In the first pieces, he comes out as energetic and commanding as he gives orders to prepare a celebration. The part is short and with immense vitality; however, it fails to provide more information about his character beyond what the audience already knows. In the second solo piece, he sings a serenade, which is seductive and utterly gorgeous. However, a variation of this tune was used in a previous act where Don Giovanni was trying to draw Donna Elvira away from the scene to get an opportunity to seduce the maidservant. Therefore, even though the serenade is beautiful, it is just an insincere tool he uses when the situation demands it. In the last solo, he assumes the identity of Leporello, his servant, thus does not provide a clue as to who the real Don Giovanni is.
All through the nineteenth century, the character of Don Giovanni was considered romantic – looking everlastingly for perfect love. The majority of people nowadays feel that the love-struck, do everything for the love attitude of our predecessors is rather idiotic since what was considered back then as love is merely sexual desire. As such, Don Giovanni needs another purpose in the context of the contemporary environment. One such contextual relevance would be to say that Don Giovanni is a character of a person who desires to escape from his mortality. This would be a reasonable explanation than of a man searching for an everlasting affection. However, there is nothing in the music that supports such a contention.
In the scene where he forces Leporello to invite the dead Don Pedro to supper, and the awakened Commendatore sings the word ‘si’. Don Giovanni appears to be in profound misery at this suggestion of mortality. The accompanying music does not intimate any such distress, and it proceeds only to delineate Leporello's dread and Don Giovanni's beguilement. This thought Don Giovanni wants to escape from his mortality, similar to the nineteenth century felt that he is scanning for ideal love, is merely a projection on to the Don of our distractions. Regarding what is happening in Don Giovanni's brain, the audience doesn’t have any idea.
According to my observation, the music that best characterizes Don Giovanni is the opening bars of the finale. He is going to complete off his somewhat momentous day with a pleasant supper. The purpose of supper is a delight. Here we consider him as the paradigm of the existing power and the exemplification of the appetitive throughout everyday life. The music is growing, sporty, and especially blissful.
Throughout the performance, Don Giovanni engages in four distinct sensational strands, some of which overlaps. Each of the strands can potentially reveal the character of Don Giovanni; however, in each, he remains inquisitively and confined. The first is his association with Leporello. The conflicted emotions of Leporello about his lord is evident as he takes a vicarious pleasure in his lord's conquests, even find most of them amusing; however, he holds, in some case, adequate concern by feeling sorry the victims. He also recognizes that his lord is living a scoundrel’s life ('briccone').
On the other hand, Don Giovanni seems to take pleasure in making Leporello awkward. For instance, in the dinner scene where he thinks that Leporello is covertly eating a portion of the nourishment designated for him, he thus mischievously orders his servant to whistle (99). It also amuses him to watch his servant startled like in the memorial park scene (93). Beyond these incidences, there is nothing about Don Giovanni's affections for Leporello, and anything else the audience may propose on that score is, a projection of their thoughts. I instead speculate that he does not have any feelings for his servant. He is incapable of empathy.
The content of the opera contains very direct on various themes, and in some sections, it includes an expressly political text with a melodic section containing the refrain 'Viva la Libertà'. After doing some research, I realized that after its first introduction, the abstain was so disquieting to the authorities that it was changed to 'Viva la Società'. In Mozart's day, sexual indiscrimination was broad at all degrees of society.
The show offers us a rich experience with these inquiries, welcoming us to think profoundly and, all the more significantly, to feel profound about the issues of relationships between men and women, the appetitive throughout everyday life, the estimation of freedom, and the estimation of affectability to other people. It has adequately earned a spot in the Western ordinance for its treatment of these issues. ‘Don Giovanni’ is only a drama. As such, it exists to be appreciated as music and show. The story doesn't have to make perfect philosophical or need to be thoughtfully impeccable. Simultaneously, being mindful of the more extensive inquiries addressed by the work can enable us to draw more from work and improve our experience of it.
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