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Don Giovanni origins was in 1786, a year before its premiere, when the composer's comedy Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) was performed in Prague to ecstatic audiences. Figaro enjoyed an uninterrupted run of performances, and its tunes were heard from the opera house to the dance halls to the street corner organ grinders. Mozart himself, writing from Prague in 1787, said, with probably no small amount of exaggeration, "Here the talk about nothing but Figaro.  Nothing is played, sung or whistled but Figaro. Nothing, nothing but Figaro."

The local impresario, an Italian named Bondini, smelled success. He commissioned from Mozart another opera.

For the subject Mozart and his librettist, the Italian adventurer Lorenzo Da Ponte, chose the ancient legend of Don Juan. Like Faust, the character of Don Juan is undoubtedly the blending of many historical and legendary figures. The common thread is that of a character bent on sexuality and lust.

Pressed for time, Da Ponte lifted much of his libretto from a prior opera on the subject, and Mozart composed much of the score during the long carriage trip from Vienna to Prague. His wife Constanze told later of how Mozart sat in his coach, drumming his fingers, crossing and uncrossing his legs, his eyes vacant. She would speak only when spoken to; because she knew full well that his mind was far away, composing. For Mozart, the music was composed in his head. He then memorized the notes (apparently easy for him) and only later would perform the menial task of writing them down on paper.

Shortly after their arrival in Prague the Mozarts were joined by Da Ponte, who took rooms in an inn across the way. Both quarters opened onto balconies over the street, and the citizens would hear Mozart and Da Ponte standing across from each other, discussing and debating Don Giovanni morning and night.

Before long the score was done and the opera entered rehearsal. Interestingly, Mozart had "written" the overture to the opera weeks before, but only committed it to paper the day of the premiere. The music copyists busied themselves over the orchestral parts right up to the curtain, and delivered the sheets of music, ink still wet, to the musicians' stands just as the performance was to begin. The orchestra sight read the piece at the first performance. Mozart admitted later that "a few notes slipped under the table," but said that by and large it went fairly well.

Don Giovanni represents the first great attempt to fuse the traditional elements of both drama and comedy. In it, Mozart encompassed a variety of different styles, and in the view of most experts and generations of audiences the composer succeeded brilliantly.  Don Giovanni carries a charm and power unique and surprising for a work of its time.

Joseph Kerman said in his classic book Opera as Drama: "If Figaro was a clever work, Don Giovanni is magnificently brash.... Don Giovanni is Mozart's richest score, and the dearest of all of his operas to the musician, as it is to the opera-going public today."

PREVIEW:
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Don Giovanni
Saturday, April 24, at 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday April 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 30 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 2 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, Missouri
For tickets call 816-471-7344 or online at www.kcopera.org

Top photo: Christopher Schaldenbrand as "Don Giovanni."  

By Don Dagenais

City Classics Music and Dance Columnist; Classical Contributor

A lifelong classical music fan, Don Dagenais is a frequent preview speaker for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and has taught classical music and opera courses at several Kansas City venues. He has served on the boards of directors of a number of performing arts organizations including the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Lyric Opera Guild, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Opera Volunteers International, the Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Octarium, and the Friends of the Symphony.  He has been the past president of most of these organizations and is current the president of the Friends of the Symphony. 

Dagenais co-authored a history of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, published on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (2007) and has written books on the histories of both the Lyric Opera Guild and Opera Volunteers International, as well as an introductory book for opera novices (Your Passport to the Opera).  He has received several local and national awards for outstanding volunteer work for the arts, including a lifetime achievement award from The Coterie Theatre in 2000, the Kansas City Musical Club's annual award in 2001, a Partners in Excellence Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2002, a Bravo Award from Opera Volunteers International in 2004 and a community service award from the Daughter of the American Revolution in 2008 honoring him for his community service to the arts.

In addition to his music interests, Don is president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater and has served on the boards of The Coterie Theatre and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, serving as president of each organization.  He publishes newsletters for seven arts organizations.  When not involved in the performing arts, Don is a senior real estate attorney with Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has practiced law since 1976 after graduating from the Cornell Law School.

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