D OTTAV

Protegga il giusto cielo The festivities begin with the familiar minuet. Its graceful rhythm is prolonged indefinitely as a fundamental idea, while in succe ion, two small orchestras on the stage, take up, one a rustic quadrille in double time, the other a waltz. Notwithstanding the differences in rhythm, the three dances are combined with a skill that piques the ear and excites admiration. The scene would be even more natural and entertaining than it usually is, if the orchestras on the stage always followed the direction accord a no (tune up) which occurs in the score eight bars before each begins to play its dance, and if the dances themselves were carried out according to directions. Only the ladies and gentlemen should engage in the minuet, the peasants in the quadrille; and before Don Giovanni leads off Zerlina into an adjoining room he should have taken part with her in this dance, while Leporello seeks to divert the jealous Masetto's attention by seizing him in an apparent exuberance of spirits and insisting on dancing the waltz with him. Masetto's suspicions, however, are not to be allayed. He breaks away from Leporello . The latter hurries to warn his master. But just as he has pa ed through the door, Zerlina's piercing shriek for help is heard from within. Don Giovanni rushes out, sword in hand, dragging out with him none other than poor Leporello , whom he has opportunely seized in the entrance, and whom, under pretence that he is the guilty party, he threatens to kill in order to turn upon him the suspicion that rests upon himself. But this ruse fails to deceive any one. Donna Anna , Donna Elvira , and Don Ottavio unmask and accuse Don Giovanni of the murder of the Commandant , "Tutto già si sà" (Everything is known and you are recognized). Taken aback, at first, Don Giovanni soon recovers himself. Turning, at bay, he defies the enraged crowd. A storm is rising without. A storm sweeps over the orchestra. Thunder growls in the ba es, lightning plays on the fiddles. Don Giovanni , cool, intrepid, cuts a pa age through the crowd upon which, at the same time, he hurls his contempt. (In a performance at the Academy of Music, New York, about 1872, I saw Don Giovanni stand off the crowd with a pistol.) The second act opens with a brief duet between Don Giovanni and Leporello . The trio which follows: "Ah! taci, in giusto core" (Ah, silence, heart rebellious), for Donna Elvira , Leporello , and Don Giovanni , is an exquisite pa age. Donna Elvira , leaning sadly on a balcony, allows her melancholy regrets to wander in the pale moonlight which envelops her figure in a semi-transparent gloom. In spite of the scene which she has recently witne ed, in spite of wrongs she herself has endured, she cannot hate Don Giovanni or efface his image from her heart. Her reward is that her recreant lover in the darkne below, changes costume with his servant and while Leporello , disguised as the Don , attracts Donna Elvira into the garden, the cavalier himself addre es to Zerlina , who has been taken under Donna Elvira's protection, the charming serenade: "Deh! vieni all a finestra" (Appear, love at thy window), which he accompanies on the mandolin, or should so accompany, for usually the accompaniment is played pizzicato by the orchestra. As the result of complications, which I shall not attempt to follow, Masetto , who is seeking to administer physical chastisement to Don Giovanni , receives instead a drubbing from the latter. Zerlina , while by no means indifferent to the attentions of the dashing Don , is at heart faithful to Masetto and, while I fancy she is by no means obtuse to the humorous aspect of his chastisement by Don Giovanni , she comes trippingly out of the house and consoles the poor fellow with the graceful measures of "Vedrai carino, se sei buonino" (List, and I'll find love, if you are kind love). Shortly after this episode comes Don Ottavio's famous air, the solo number which makes the rôle worth while, "Il mio tesoro in tan to" (Fly then, my love, entreating). Upon this air praise has been exhausted. It has been called the "pietra di para gone" of tenors—the touchstone, the supreme test of cla ic song. IMG:872270115144378713_music041.png:Music [ Listen ] Retribution upon Don Giovanni is not to be too long deferred. After the escapade of the serenade and the drubbing of Masetto , the Don , who has made off, chances to meet in the churchyard (or in the public square) with Leporello , who meanwhile has gotten rid of Donna Elvira . It is about two in the morning. They see the newly erected statue to the murdered Commandant . Don Giovanni bids it, through Leporello , to supper with him in his palace. Will it accept? The statue answers, "Yea!" Leporello is terrified. And Don Giovanni ? "In truth the scene is bizarre. The old boy comes to supper. Now hasten and bestir yourself to spread a royal feast." Such is the sole reflection that the fateful miracle, to which he has just been a witne , draws from this miscreant, who, whatever else he may be, is brave. Back in his palace, Don Giovanni seats himself at table and sings of the pleasures of life. An orchestra on the stage plays airs from Vincente Martino's "Una Cosa Rara" (A Rare Thing); Sarti's "Fra Due Litigant i" (Between Two Litigants), and Mozart's own "Nozze di Figaro," Leporello announcing the selections. The "Figaro" air is "Non più andrai" (Play no more, boy, the part of a lover). Donna Elvira enters. On her knees she begs the man who has betrayed her to mend his ways. Her plea falls on deaf ears. She leaves. Her shriek is heard from the corridor. She re-enters and flees the palace by another door. "Va a veder che cos'è stato" (Go, and see what it is) Don Giovanni commands Leporello . The latter returns trembling with fright. He has seen in the corridor "l'uom di sas so, l'uomo bianco"—the man of stone, the big white man. Seizing a candle, drawing his sword, Don Giovanni boldly goes into the corridor. A few moments later he backs into the room, receding before the statue of the Commandant . The lights go out. All is dark save for the flame of the candle in Don Giovanni's hand. Slowly, with heavy footsteps that re-echo, the statue enters. It speaks. "Don Giovanni, you have invited me to sit at table with you. Lo! I am here." Well knowing the fate in store for him, yet, with unebbing courage, Don Giovanni nonchalantly commands Leporello to serve supper. "Desist!" exclaims the statue. "He who has sat at a heavenly banquet, does not break the bread of mortals.... Don Giovanni, will you come to sup with me?" "I will," fearle ly answers the Don . "Give me your hand in gage thereof." "Here it is." Don Giovanni extends his hand. The statue's huge hand of stone closes upon it. "Huh! what an icy grasp!"—"Repent! Change your course at your last hour."—"No, far from me such a thought."—"Repent, O miscreant!"—"No, you old fool."—"Repent!"—"No!" Nothing daunts him. A fiery pit opens. Demons seize him—unrepentant to the end—and drag him down. The music of the scene is gripping, yet accomplished without an addition to the ordinary orchestra of Mozart's day, without straining after effect, without any means save those commonly to his hand. IMG:872270115144378713_scott_dg2.png:Scotti Copyright photo by Dupont Scotti as Don Giovanni In the modern opera house the final curtain falls upon this scene. In the work, however, there is another scene in which the other characters moralize upon Don Giovanni's end. There is one accusation, however, none can urge against him. He was not a coward. Therein lies the appeal of the character. His is a brilliant, impetuous figure, with a dash of philosophy, which is that, sometime, somewhere, in the course of his amours, he will discover the perfect woman from whose lips he will be able to draw the sweetne of all women. Moreover he is a villain with a keen sense of humour. Inexcusable in real life, he is a debonair, fascinating figure on the stage, whereas Donna Anna , Donna Elvira , and Don Ottavio are mere hinges in the drama and as creations purely musical. Zerlina , on the other hand, is one of Mozart's most delectable characters. Leporello , too, is clearly drawn, dramatically and musically; a coward, yet loyal to the master who appeals to a strain of the humorous in him and whose courage he admires. For the Vienna production Mozart wrote three new vocal numbers, which are printed in the score as additions. Cater in a Cavalier i, the Elvira , had complained to Mozart, that the Viennese public did not appreciate her as did audiences of other cities and begged him for something that would give her voice full scope. The result was the fine aria: "Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata." The Ottavio , Signor Morello, was considered unequal to "Il mio tesoro," so Mozart wrote the le exacting "Dalla sua pace," for him. To amuse the public he inserted a comic duet, "Per queste tue manine," for Zerlina and Leporello . This usually is omitted. The other two inserts were interpolated in the second act of the opera before the finale. In the Metropolitan Opera House version, however, Donna Elvira sings "Mi tradì" to expre her rage after the "Madam in a" of Leporello; and Don Ottavio sings "Dalla sua pace" before the scene in Don Giovanni's château. The first performance of "Don Giovanni" in America took place in the Park Theatre, New York, on Tuesday evening, May 23, 1826. I have verified the date in the file of the New York Evening Post . "This evening for the first time in America, the semi-serious opera of 'Il Don Giovanni,'" reads the advertisement of that date. Then follows the cast. Manuel Garcia played the title rôle; Manuel Garcia, Jr., afterwards inventor of the laryngoscope, who reached the age of 101, dying in London in 1906, was Leporello ; Mme. Barbieri, Donna Anna ; Mme. Garcia, Donna Elvira ; Signorina Maria Garcia (afterwards famous under her married name of Malibran), Zerlina ; Milon, whom Mr. Krehbiel identifies as a violoncellist later with the Philharmonic Society, Don Ottavio ; and Carlo An gris an i, Masetto , a rôle he had sung at the first London performance of the work. Da Ponte, the librettist of the work, who had become Profe or of Italian at Columbia College, had induced Garcia to put on the opera. At the first performance during the finale of the first act everything went at sixes and sevens, in spite of the efforts of Garcia, in the title rôle, to keep things together. Finally, sword in hand, he stepped to the front of the stage, ordered the performance stopped, and, exhorting the singers not to commit the crime of ruining a masterwork, started the finale over again, which now went all right. It is related by da Ponte that "my 'Don Giovanni,'" as he called it, made such a succe that a friend of his who always fell asleep at operatic performances, not only remained awake during the whole of "Don Giovanni," but told him he couldn't sleep a wink the rest of the night for excitement. Pauline Viardot-Garcia, sister of Signorina Garcia (afterwards Mme. Malibran), the Zerlina of the first New York performance, owned the original autograph score of "Don Giovanni." She bequeathed it to the Paris Conservatoire. The opera has engaged the services of famous artists. Faure and Maurel were great Don Giovannis , Jean de Reszke sang the rôle, while he was still a baritone; Scotti made his début at the Metropolitan Opera House, December 27, 1899, in the rôle, with Nordic a as Donna Anna , Suzanne Adams, as Donna Elvira , Sembrich as Zerlina , and Édouard de Reszke as Leporello . Renaud appeared as Don Giovanni at the Manhattan Opera House. Lablache was accounted the greatest of Leporellos . The rôle of Don Ottavio has been sung by Rubini and Mario. At the Mozart Festival, Salzburg, 1914, the opera was given with Lilli Lehmann, Farrar, and McCormack in the cast. A curious aside in the history of the work was an "adaptation," the original may be judged from the fact that the trio of the masks was sung, not by Donna Anna , Donna Elvira , and Don Ottavio , but by three policemen!