Music from which other Mozart opera makes an appearance in Don Giovanni?
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Many people are familiar with the opera Don Giovanni, but did you know that music from another Mozart opera makes an appearance in it as well? It’s true! In this blog post, we’ll explore which other opera Mozart drew from when composing Don Giovanni.
Introduction
Many of us are familiar with the popular opera Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. However, did you know that music from another one of Mozart’s operas makes an appearance in Don Giovanni? The aria “Voi che sapete” from Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro is sung by the character Zerlina in act 2 of Don Giovanni.
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It is based on the legend of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer. Don Giovanni was first performed at the National Theater in Prague on 29 October 1787. Mozart’s opera is set in Spain and is one of the first to be based on a literary work in Italian rather than in the German tradition.
Mozart’s opera
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian-language libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater, now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. Da Ponte’s libretto was billed as a tragedy, though it is commonly classified as a comedy.
The work is one of the supreme masterpieces of opera buffa and includes appearances by such well-known operatic pieces as the “Champagne Aria”, “La ci darem la mano”, and the “Catalogue Aria”. Mozart later reused elements from Don Giovanni in his operas Così fan tutte and La clemenza di Tito.
Characters in the opera
The opera is set in Spain in the late 17th century and follows the activities of Don Giovanni, a young nobleman. The main characters in the opera are:
Don Giovanni – the title character, a young Spanish nobleman
Donna Anna – Don Giovanni’s former lover
Don Ottavio – Donna Anna’s fiancé
Donna Elvira – another of Don Giovanni’s lovers
Leporello – Don Giovanni’s servant
Zerlina – a young peasant woman whom Don Giovanni attempts to seduce
Masetto – Zerlina’s fiancé
Plot of the opera
Don Giovanni is a two-act opera with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer. Don Giovanni was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater, now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. Da Ponte’s libretto was billed as a dramma giocoso, a common type of opera that emphasized both serious and comic elements. Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an opera buffa. Although sometimes classified as comic, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements.
The opera was commissioned as a result of the overwhelming success of Mozart’s trip to Prague in January and February 1787. Da Ponte was contacted by František Maxmilián Vrtilek, a prominent member of Prague society who had organized the visit, on 8 May 1786 with an offer to write a libretto about Don Juan.
Other Mozart Operas
Don Giovanni is not the only opera by Mozart to make an appearance in another of his operas. The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte both have characters that make cameo appearances in Don Giovanni.
The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with a libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (“The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”), which was first performed in 1784.
The opera tells the story of Count Almaviva’s attempt to seduce Susanna, the maid of his wife Rosina. While the plot unfolds, various comic subplots involving Norina’s former fiance Dr. Malatesta, the servant Pasquale and others are also brought to life through music.
Don Giovanni makes an appearance in The Marriage of Figaro as a non-singing character in the third act. In this act, he is seen flirting with Susanna and trying to force himself on her. Mozart’s operas often contained references to other works in the genre, and this instance is no exception. The character of Don Giovanni is likely a reference to the protagonist of another opera by Mozart’s contemporary Giovanni Paisiello, Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville).
Così fan tutte
Other Mozart opera music makes an appearance in Don Giovanni. For example, the aria “Soave sia il vento” from Così fan tutte is heard during the ballroom scene.
The Magic Flute
While The Magic Flute is not as famous as some of Mozart’s other operas, it does make an appearance in Don Giovanni. In the second act of the opera, one of the characters, Zerlina, sings a snippet of “Pa-pa-pa” from The Magic Flute.
Conclusion
The Marriage of Figaro is the only other Mozart opera that makes an appearance in Don Giovanni. It is heard during the sextet in Act 2, when Zerlina is trying to convince Donna Elvira that Giovanni is not worth her time.
