An opera in two acts
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
Music by Mozart
(sung in the original Italian)
Cast in order of singing: [see below]
Glyndebourne Festival Chorus
(Chorus-Master, John Pritchard)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(Leader, David McCallum)
Conducted by Fritz Busch (who also plays the continuo)
Produced by Carl Ebert
From Glyndebourne

Scene: A Spanish town

The world has refused to accept Mozart's and Da Ponte's evaluation of Don Giovanni as a dramma giocosa: the fact that metaphysical elements invade the framework of the comedy has evoked interpretations from such diverse figures as E.T.A. Hoffmann, Soren Kierkegaard, and Bernard Shaw. This is not so much due to the story itself as to Mozart's musical treatment of it. Whether or not one agrees with Kierkegaard that the whole work expresses 'the demonic element of sensuality,' there can be no doubt that Mozart was moved by the scene of Don Giovanni's downfall to writing some of his most tragic music. In particular, as the Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola has recently pointed out, the intervals of a tenth sung by the Statue, when he exhorts Don Giovanni to repent, are an anticipation of the wide intervals used in vocal writing by modern expressionist composers. (Deryck Cooke)

Act I
Scene 1: Outside the Commendatore's house. Night
Scene 2: A street. Morning
Scene 3: Garden entrance to Don Giovanni's pallazzo
Scene 4 : A room in Don Giovanni's palazzo
Scene 5: Don Giovanni's garden
Scene 6: A ballroom in Don Giovanni's palazzo