Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote Don Giovanni in 1787, commissioned by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater, just a year after its audience enthusiastically welcomed Le nozze di Figaro. Faced with such success, then-22-year-old composer was soon asked to quickly create a new piece. Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist with whom Mozart had cooperated many times before, suggested writing about the libertine Don Juan. And so, Da Ponte took Burlador de Sevilla (The Seducer of Sevilla), a drama by Tirso de Molina, as the basis for this excellent libretto, also drawing inspiration from Molière’s famous play. The subject turned out to be incredibly inspiring for the young Mozart. Very shortly, he managed to create a piece that dazzled with its originality of musical arrangements, the perfection of form and maturity of sound.
Although Mozart listed the piece as simply opera buffa in his private catalogue, this work is often classified as a narrower genre – dramma giocoso (a jocular drama), since the Viennese genius crossed over the boundaries of established form and masterfully tailored the music to the dramatic events. By interweaving tragic and humorous elements, he was able to create a musical reality which perfectly rendered the complexity of the story and the psychological complexity of individual characters.
Don Giovanni holds an important position in the repertoire of the world’s most renowned opera theatres. Ever since its premiere in Prague in 1787 up to the end of the 18th century, as well as throughout the whole 19th century, there was no single year in which Don Giovanni wouldn’t be staged. What is more, its unparalleled popularity hasn’t faded away during the 20th and the 21st century. The archives of numerous productions over the centuries recall names of the most famous conductors and singers, including Ezio Pinza, Thomas Allen, Fiorenza Cossotto, Kiri Te Kanawa, Claudio Desderi, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm and many others.
Creative
STAGING, SET DESIGN, DIRECTION RYSZARD PERYT
COSTUMES MARLENA SKONECZKO
LIGHTING PIOTR RUDZKI
VIDEO PROJECTIONS MAREK ZAMOJSKI
CHORUS MASTER JAKUB SZAFRAŃSKI
ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR KAROL SZWECH
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR SŁAWOMIR JURCZAK
STAGE MANAGER DOROTA LACHOWICZ
STAGE MANAGER AGNIESZKA ORLIKOWSKA