Overture to “Don Giovanni”

“Don Giovanni! You invited me to supper — and I have come.” These words introduce one of the most dramatic scenes in the history of opera: the entrance of the Stone Guest (the statue of the Commendatore, or Governor). Don Giovanni killed the Commendatore in the very first scene of the opera, and at the end, his statue appears at the Don’s house to carry him off to Hell. It is fitting that this protagonist should be punished by a supernatural being. No ordinary womanizer, Don Giovanni is an almost mythical figure, symbolizing the boundless ambition of modern man who challenges the traditional world order and conventional morality. 

The full title of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera contains the phrase II dissoluto punito (The Libertine Punished); Don Giovanni must pay for his transgressions with his life. Yet he is still a domineering presence compared to the other characters. The men — his servant Leporello and his rivals Don Ottavio and Masetto — are all powerless in their attempts to bring him down. The women — Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina — fall under his spell but ultimately resist his influence. In the end, it takes a transcendent power to defeat him. 

The overture to Don Giovanni opens with an evocation of the Don’s damnation. The slow introduction (in Mozart’s most dramatic key, D minor) anticipates the moment where the Stone Guest enters the dining room. The main section of the overture (now in D major) does not return in the opera, yet the unusually high energy seems to justify those who hear it as the Don’s musical portrait. The strong rhythmic profile of its themes, the frequent dynamic contrasts, and the close succession of imitative entries in the middle section all carry the same uncommon energy that animates this character, one we can’t help but admire, no matter how reprehensible he is. 

— Peter Laki 

Peter Laki is a musicologist and frequent lecturer on classical music. He is a visiting associate professor of music at Bard College.