Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) At the end of the 18th century, Viennese audiences preferred Italian operas to all others, and Mozart's operas were not that successful. His masterpiece Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) was received with rather restrained applause at its Vienna premiere in 1786. However, its Prague production a few months later met with boundless enthusiasm, and Mozart was invited to spend some time at the palace of one of Prague's noblemen, with conditions far better than anything he could expect in Vienna. Mozart accepted the offer and composed his next piece, Don Giovanni, for the Prague Opera. The 1787 premiere was an unprecedented success. The great debauched lover, known as Don Juan (or Don Giovanni, in Italian), was the subject matter for countless literary and dramatic works in many languages. The story originated in tales told in various Spanish monasteries. It was Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838), the librettist of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte, who suggested the subject to Mozart, and it was, naturally, he who wrote the libretto. Mozart's music is seemingly simple and lilting, but in fact reflects the ca. 9 mins. entire range of human emotions: love, hate, jealousy, disappointment, sorrow, joy, fear, revenge - there's hardly a human feeling not expressed in it. The dramatic personae are also characterized by simple and common musical means, used, however, with great sophistication. The overture to Don Giovanni contains a Mozart innovation that contributes to the dramatic integrity of the opera. The overture leads directly to the first scene (eventually Mozart wrote a concert ending for performances of the overture alone). It opens with a slow and festive introduction, based on the theme of the last supper, at the end of the opera. The theme becomes more and more dramatic, intense, energetic and effervescent in its development, thus establishing the mood of the entire opera. Orly Tal
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